I enjoyed this special Pesach – Mostly

What an unusual Pesach!

As I wrote on Erev Pesach, although there was much about the impending Pesach that was negative, there was much room for hope as well.  Unfortunately, despite the hopes of many, it does not look like Mashiach will arrive before the end of Yom Tov. And yet more people passed away, and more were reported sick, although we are told that the curve is flattening.  I was once again disappointed by our leadership – with PM Netanyahu, President Rivlin (and gadfly Liberman who was hypocritically true to form) all violating the rules against having family that they enforced on everyone else.

But Pesach was undoubtedly much better than in Bergen Belsen.  And while we did not have a Chol HaMoed Tiyul, just going to the meadow near our home in Lavon was glorious.  And there were many online activities and chances to be together, from Shiurim to concerts, museum tours, and virtual hikes, and best of all family Zoomzitzes!  

And, to some extent, we got back to the essential Pesach that we are supposed to have every year.  That is getting rid of the overinflated excess (chametz) and getting back to the simple basics (matzah).  Let us hope we take some lessons from the to the future.

And now, the Last day(s) of Pesach are coming. They are far more oriented towards the future rather than the past, much as the last parts of the Seder focus on the Final Redemption rather than the one from Egypt. They center on what happened on the shore of the Yam Suf when the Israelites were literally between a rock and a hard place.  With the sea in front of them and the Egyptians approaching, the Talmud Yerushalmi (Taanis 2:5) writes that the People reacted in one of four ways:

• Some said, "It's hopeless," and wanted to drown themselves.
• Another group said, "Let's go back to subjugate ourselves to the Egyptians." 
• A third group proclaimed, "Let's fight them!" 
• A fourth group said, "Let us Pray to Hashem"! 

None of these groups really thought that they had a chance of survival.

In response, (14:13-14): "Moshe said to the people, 

וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶל הָעָם אַל תִּירָאוּ הִתְיַצְבוּ וּרְאוּ אֶת יְשׁוּעַת ה' אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשֶׂה לָכֶם הַיּוֹם כִּי אֲשֶׁר רְאִיתֶם אֶת מִצְרַיִם הַיּוֹם לֹא תֹסִיפוּ לִרְאֹתָם עוֹד עַד עוֹלָם. ה' יִלָּחֵם לָכֶם וְאַתֶּם תַּחֲרִישׁוּן

"Have no fear! Stand by and witness the salvation which Hashem will work for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again. Hashem will battle for you; you be silent".

The Talmud said that this included individualized responses.  To the first group who wanted to kill themselves, he said, "Have no fear! Stand by and witness the salvation ". To the second group who wanted to return to Egypt, he said: "the Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again. " The third group was told that their efforts were unnecessary. "Hashem will battle for you, "while the fourth group was told that their response was unwelcome, "you be silent. " What, then, was the correct response?  The response that saved them was to clamp down their egos, and to do as they were told, difficult as it seemed.  To march into the sea. At first, they were hesitant, until Nachshon and other leaders led the way, and the great salvation followed.

The correct response has been to move forward with confidence into our quarantine: not to lose hope, not to wish to go back to the way it was, not to try to fight it ineffective ways, and not even to come together to pray in minyanim.

I will not comment in this short essay about the seriously inadequate initial responses to the current coronavirus in many parts of the Orthodox world.  There will be time for that when this is over. But one thing is clear – different forms of the four responses were voiced, when the appropriate response was to listen to the medical experts, shut down the weddings, shuls, and yeshivas, and go into the heretofore unimaginable world of social distancing that we are living with, which would have seemed impossible just a few short weeks ago.  The correct response has been to move forward with confidence into our quarantine: not to lose hope, not to wish to go back to the way it was, not to try to fight it in ineffective ways, and not even to come together to pray in minyanim.  To do as we are told and wait to "witness the salvation which Hashem will work for you today," whatever form that will eventually take.

Let us hope that this special Pesach will, at the least, mark the beginning of the end of this awful plague, feeling confident that "while in every generation we are in danger, G-d protects us." Let us hope that just as happened immediately following the night of seclusion 3,300 years ago, the Redemption should follow, speedily in our days.

Chag Kosher Vesameach