Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher, Dean of Students and Senior Lecturer at Diaspora Yeshiva, is not only a popular speaker and teacher, but also a dynamic thinker and writer. A student of Harav Yaakov Kamenetsky and Harav Gedalia Schorr, Rabbi Sprecher was granted smicha (rabbinical ordination) by Torah Vodaath Yeshiva. Prior to his current position, Rabbi Sprecher was a professor of Judaic studies at Touro College in New York. In addition to his duties at Diaspora Yeshiva, Rabbi Sprecher writes a regular column on various Judaic topics in the Jewish Press, and lectures regularly at the OU Israel Center in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Sprecher on the Exodus and the Corona virus. What are the lessons:
The Exodus Message for CORONA
Published: Monday, March 30, 2020 07:21:27 PM
L’ILUI NISHMAT ASHER SHMUEL CHAIM Z”L ben EPHRAIM v’TZIONA
What can the events leading up to the Exodus teach us about dealing with Coronavirus? Rav Soloveitchik posed the question on the verse in Parshat Shemot, “And G‑d saw the suffering of the children of Israel and He knew He must help them.” Rav Soloveitchik asks that if G‑d knew that He must help us, then why did He wait decades before redeeming Israel? Rav Soloveitchik answers that G‑d waited for Moshe, His human partner, who at the time was unprepared to accept the mission of redemption.
As King David teaches in Tehillim, “The Heavens belong to G‑d but the Earth was given to human beings.” G‑d acts only in concert with His earthly partners. Thus, only when Moshe was ready for his mission, he found G‑d waiting and calling to him at the Burning Bush!
That is our dilemma now in the year 2020 as we are being overwhelmed with the Coronavirus pandemic all over the world. The message for us is that just like Moshe, G‑d is waiting for us to be His partners to find a vaccine to stop the deadly plague. This spiraling out-of-control Coronavirus forces us to reflect on the existential realities and uncertainties of life. The sudden health catastrophe of the entire world awakens us from serenity and leads us to extreme hysteria. G‑d’s message is that despite our tremendous scientific and medical knowledge, we are not in control at all!
Rav Soloveitchik points out that the erratic nature of life and our susceptibility to seemingly random turns of events is all part of G‑d’s plan to teach us Who REALLY is in charge. He wrote that our occasional helplessness is not simply a tragic truth. “It is an ethical postulate that gives rise to modesty and humility in the human being. Instability serves to ennoble us, and to dispel arrogance. The awareness of our vulnerability, that there lurks a deadly threat which can transform our complacent condition, that suddenly without reason we can be cast down from the height of success to the pit of despair – should enhance our ethical character.”
People were convinced that modern scientific cures protect us from almost all diseases. Now we see the bitter truth. Thus the Mishna in Avot teaches “Be exceedingly humble and modest.” Perhaps the Coronavirus will convince us to act with more humility and modesty.
A good and ethical society depends on a system of restraints. That is the main feature of living a life lived according to Halacha. As the Mishna in Avot states, “Who is a hero? The one who is able to restrain and control his passions and impulses.”
How do we deal with our fears? One way is by taking action in our own personal environment. We CANNOT control what happens to us, but we CAN always control how we respond to it.
G‑d’s message to us now is to be humble, NOT helpless! As Rabbi Nachman of Breslov famously said, “The entire world is a narrow bridge and the main thing is not to be afraid at all.”
CORONA means CROWN. Now is the time to restore the Crown of Kingship to G‑d. As we are all praying now during this crisis, “Our Father, our King, we have no king, only You!”
To learn more of Rabbi Sprecher’s thoughts on the current state of the world and what it may be teaching us check out more of his writings here:
Rav Specher’s Articles
Rabbi Sprecher on the Festival of Chanukah
Crosby Stills and Nash had a number one hit song called “Teach Your Children Well.” Were they singing about the Festival of Chanuka? Because the Talmud Shabbat 23 states, “One who is careful about Chanuka lights will have children who are Torah scholars.” Rashi explains this enigmatic passage referring to the verse in Mishlei 6 which states, “A candle is a Mitzva and the Torah is light.” On the basis of this Mitzva of the Chanuka candles, the light of Torah will illuminate us and our children.
However, Rashi does not explain why. To answer this question, we will ask another. Some of the laws of Chanuka seem strange. For example, a poor person is required to light the Menora, even if this entails begging from door to door to get money to purchase the oil and wicks.
This is not so for any other Mitzva, where one is not obligated to spend more than 20 percent of one’s assets to fulfill the Mitzva. Why is there such a tremendous stress on the lighting of the Chanuka candles? How can it be that the Mitzva of Chanuka, which is only Rabbinic, requires one to spend all his money to observe it? How can it be that by observing this Mitzva we will have worthy and learned children?
https://youtu.be/nFmeTsB4Bgo
To answer these questions, we must face a simple reality – candles burn out. It was a miracle that the oil lasted for a week longer than expected. The Menora of the Beit Hamikdash had to be tended and refueled daily. When the little amount of oil lasted for eight days, it was a miracle. This seems like such an obvious fact, but it often passes us by.
The Mitzva of Chanukah is so precious and important because it reminds us of this elementary fact of life – we must constantly provide fuel if we expect candles to burn. This fact is also true regarding the Light of Torah. Whatever is true in the physical world is certainly true in the spiritual world. Chanuka teaches that in matters of spirituality there is no status quo. If we are not progressing spiritually, we are automatically regressing.
https://youtu.be/k3sRli3btDQ
