Parshas Bamidbar
By Rabbi Dovid Zauderer
Lots of people are worrying these days – and for good reason. What with the Coronavirus itself we can worry day and night (let alone the financial crisis that it caused!) Who knows who will be rushed to the hospital next and put on a ventilator? It is downright scary!
And even though most States are re-opening, many people are still worried that the virus will come back with a vengeance.
So what to do about it? How can we deal with all this worrying?
Maybe this will help:
Pele Yoetz is a popular book of Jewish Mussar (Jewish ethics and character refinement) first published in Constantinople in 1824 by Rabbi Eliezer Papo.
This classic work compiles essential Jewish concepts organized according to topics following the order of the Hebrew alphabet.
In the entry under da’agah (worry), the Pele Yoetz writes the following:
“It is written (in Proverbs 12:25), ‘When there’s worry in a man’s heart, he should suppress it …’ Our Sages in the Talmud (Yoma 75a) explained this to mean that he should remove it from his heart or that he should discuss it with others. Both explanations are true: In the beginning a man should attempt to remove it from his mind with pure thoughts and logical arguments that are capable of suppressing anxiety. If this does not work, then he should discuss it with others, meaning Torah scholars and men of erudition, who can direct him with proper advice, offer calming words that eliminate worry and settle the heart. A wise man already said, ‘The past is no longer, the future is not yet here, why worry?’
[Another Hebrew version of this saying, made popular by the Jewish music star Mordechai ben David (MBD), goes like this: He’avar ayin, v’he’asid adayin, v’ha’hoveh k’heref ayin, da’agah minayin? Or in English: ‘What’s past is past, for the future there is no hurry, the present is like a blink of the eye, so why do you worry?’ Of course there’s also this (similar) saying: “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, that’s why we call it the present.â€]
“If the matter has already passed, what good will worry do? Can he return it? Is it not enough that he already experienced the misfortune? Why should he add on the grief of worry and live a life of pain? Let him remove it from his mind! If it something which is in the future and he is capable of correcting it, let him do so. If it cannot be fixed, what good will worry do? Let him trust in G-d and rely upon his Master – this is a fundamental approach to removing anxiety!’â€
One of the greatest Torah scholars and Jewish leaders of our generation, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky shlitâ€a, also deals with da’agah and anxiety in his classic book on Jewish ethics, Orchos Yosher:
“There are people that are constantly scared and afraid of all kinds of calamities like disease, war, evil people, etc., and they live their entire lives scared and worried about many things, maybe this will happen or maybe that will happen … and the worrying itself is bad for the body and causes all kinds of illnesses, may G-d save us. And all this comes from a lack of emunah (faith), for if a person truly believed with a complete faith that everything comes from G-d, and that “a person does not stub his toe down here (on earth) unless it was decreed from Above†(see Talmud Chullin 7b), then he would have nothing to be afraid of: For if bad was decreed on him, G-d forbid, then ‘There is neither wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against G-d’ (Proverbs 21:30), i.e. nothing avails to nullify G-d’s will. And if it wasn’t decreed on him, then he has nothing to be afraid of. [In truth] we are always in G-d’s Hands every moment – whether in times of war or times of peace, and G-d has many ways … [Therefore] there is nothing for us to fear except for G-d, and to be afraid of committing sins, or not doing mitzvos – but outside of that one has no reason to be worried at all. And even though our Sages have cautioned us in times of plague to quarantine ourselves (see Talmud Bava Kama 60b), that is all part of the minimum hishtadlus (effort) that we are required to do [so as not to rely on open miracles -dz] … but there is no place at all for fear and worrying – except for worrying about Torah and mitzvos.â€
http://www.torchweb.org/torah_detail.php?id=616