Parshas Tazria-Metzora
Thought you might enjoy these jokes (now that you’ve got lots of free time on your hands to read them – thanks to that crazy Coronavirus):
"So far it’s been pretty fun at the house. We’ve been doing lots of coloring, arts and crafts, making pillow forts, while the kids have been watching TV in the basement."
"With classes canceled around the country, lots of people are home-schooling their kids. I am home-schooling my kids and it’s working out pretty well, in fact, my kids have already learned a valuable lesson: Their dad is an idiot."
“Here’s something I learned. This is a very good tip. Did you know that you can make coffee at home, for yourself? It’s crazy. I even spelled my name right, on the cup.â€
“Day 2 without sports: Found a young lady sitting on my couch yesterday. Apparently, she’s my wife. She seems nice.â€
Judging from the jokes, you can probably figure out that not everyone is having such an easy time staying indoors with their close family members all day and all night long!!!
But wait, it gets worse! You know the saying: “Familiarity breeds contemptâ€. Well, then check out this article that I recently clipped from a local newspaper (remember them?):
“Divorce rates could spike as couples stay home together to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Being together 24/7 may push people over the edge to the point where they want to untie the knot. Bloomberg is reporting that cities in China such as Xi’an and Dazhou recorded record-high numbers of divorce filings at the beginning of March, creating backlogs in government offices.â€
And then you have POTUS putting major pressure (which he later denied doing) on the state governors to re-open businesses … as if the deadly virus is gone and everything is okay now and back to normal.
Well I don’t know about you guys but I’m taking the advice that was given over 1500 years ago by the great Sages of the Talmud for what to do when a plague is raging all around you, Heaven forbid, just as we are experiencing today:
The Talmudic Sages in Tractate Bava Kama 60b offered the following simple and straightforward advice:
“If there is plague in the city, gather your feet, i.e., stay indoors, as it is stated in the verse: ‘… and as for you, you shall not leave the entrance of the house until morning’ (Exodus 12:22). And it says in another verse: ‘Go, my people, enter your rooms and close your door behind you; hide for a brief moment, until the wrath has passed’ (Isaiah 26:20). And it says in yet another verse: ‘On the outside, the sword will bereave, while indoors there will be dread…’ (Deuteronomy 32:25). [The Talmud asks:] What is the reason for citing the additional verses introduced with the term: ‘And it says’? The first verse seems sufficient to teach the principle that one should not emerge from one’s house when there is a plague. [The Talmud answers:] You might say that the advice to stay indoors refers only to the night, but not to the day; therefore come and listen to the [second] verse: ‘Go, my people, enter your rooms and close your door behind you’, [even in the daytime]. And you might say that these fears apply only if there is no terror indoors, whereas where there is terror indoors it is better to go out and sit in the company of other people; therefore, listen to the [third] verse: ‘On the outside, the sword will bereave, while indoors there will be dread…’, which implies that even where the terror is indoors, the sword [of the Angel of Death] will bereave [more] outside.â€
So there you have it, folks. The Rabbis are telling us that no matter how hard it is for us to be all closeted up inside our homes, we must resist the urge to go outside and “sit in the company of other people†and instead just stay indoors … “until the wrath has passedâ€.
It is my hope and prayer that we follow the Sages’ wise advice as directed and stay safe and healthy for 120 years! (Oh, and I also hope and pray that this dreadful virus goes away very soon … before everyone gets a divorce!)
[Ed. Note: Since it is undoubtedly true that ‘familiarity breeds contempt’, and that human nature is that even good friends often get sick of each other over time, one can wonder how come we see so many couples who enjoy wonderful and long-lasting marriages that seem to get better the older they get. Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin ZTâ€L, in his classic commentary Ruach Chaim on Ethics of the Fathers (6:1), explains that even though many friendships and marriages tend to go sour over time, there is a special blessing given to the Jewish bride and groom that the longer they stay together the more beloved they will become to each other. In one of the blessings that are recited under the chuppah (wedding canopy), we wish the newlywed couple that G-d should gladden the rayim ha’ahuvim – the “beloved friends†– with the intended meaning that the more their friendship grows, the more they will love each other.]
http://www.torchweb.org/torah_detail.php?id=612