Good morning, everybody. Welcome to class number 308B. It’s 308B because we’re giving a special coronavirus double dose. That means sometimes, when you take your Advil for the first time, they say you can take two. I think we’re in the double-dose stage. There’s mass hysteria and panic going on. We’re not saying that we don’t have to take precautionary measures, but the mass hysteria and panic that’s going on is absolutely absurd. And I’m going to explain why. People are buying and shopping like there’s no tomorrow. Someone told me they want to stock up on six months of medicine because who knows if we’ll have medicine, and there’s just more panic and more hysteria. Panic and hysteria breed panic and hysteria. It’s called emotional contagion. People’s emotions are shared. If you smile at a baby, he smiles back. Panic is contagious. It’s a real concept, and I want to talk a little bit about why. Why is it getting so crazy? Someone just sent me a text: “Can someone please update me about Corona? I haven’t received a message in three minutes, and I’m worried that everyone died except me.” I don’t know if you’re like me. I don’t have a smartphone. I have a regular dumb phone, but I’m getting bombarded with these silly texts all day. It just doesn’t stop. We’re getting obsessed with this. It’s going beyond. And the question is: why? Hacham Yosef Raful, who I think is... He’s been around. He says he never saw any panic like this in his life. I mean, he was on an airplane that was hijacked, and he didn’t see panic like this. So what is going on now? What is going on?
As I’ve mentioned in the past, I have a good friend. His name is Dr. David Rosmarin. He’s an assistant professor at Harvard University. Smart man. I’m not going to go into his background, his bio, but about last May, we gave a whole class on what he said at a convention for eight hours. I spoke to him recently, and this is his exact same point: we’re in the era of anxiety. What does the era of anxiety mean? It means we’re more anxious than ever. More anxious than ever. There are more people on anti-anxiety medicine than there have been since the beginning of time. And we’re just anxiety plus.
When I was a kid, you know when you went home—when school was closed? When there was 18 inches of snow and you trudged home. That’s when school was closed. Today, the day before, based on a prediction of three inches of snow, they shut the school. Why? The answer is because we cannot deal with uncertainty. We can’t deal with uncertainty. We have to be certain at all times. And therefore, I have to know that I have enough food for the next six months because I don’t know if there’s going to be enough food. I have to have enough medicine. I have to have everything because I cannot be uncertain. So the question is—and that is anxiety. Anxiety means—the definition of anxiety is the inability to tolerate uncertainty. Anxiety means—the definition of anxiety is the inability to tolerate uncertainty. Anxiety means—the definition of anxiety is the inability to tolerate uncertainty. What’s it going to be? I don’t know what it’s going to be.
In the old days—and this is his answer. Sorry to crush so much concept. It’s a short amount of time. This is the reason why we cannot deal with anxiety, with uncertainty, today, and why everyone’s panicking off their rockers. Twenty years ago, there were no cell phones. And therefore, when your husband didn’t come home from work, you didn’t know when he was coming home from work. He didn’t have Waze. So he left the office, called you up on his landline, and said, “I’m leaving the office.” And that’s it. And you waited for him to come home. When’s he coming home? When he comes home. So a lady was able to deal with uncertainty. Where are your kids? I don’t know where they are. Who knows? They ask anyone over 40. They got on the train. They went here. They went there. Their parents had no idea where they were at any given time. Hashem’s watching, and they’re wherever they are, and I’ll deal with it.
Today, if you call your kid on his cell phone and he doesn’t answer, he’s kidnapped. He’s dead. We cannot deal with uncertainty. We have to know the weather. I’m scared at all times. Check my weather app. I have to know when I’m going to get there. I use my Waze. Technology took away our ability to deal with uncertainty because it enables us to always be certain. The only way to deal with the fear is to expose yourself to it. If you’re afraid of dogs, the best thing to do is exposure therapy. Hug the dog. If you hug uncertainty, you can deal with it. But we’ve been so trained in the inability to deal with uncertainty. You don’t have the feeling to fall into it. Every day: let me check. Someone told me they have an app on their phone called Worldometer that gives constant updates on the casualties, fatalities of coronavirus as it’s happening live. So you’re sitting there looking at your phone. So you think, “The more I know, the better I am.” No. The more you’re feeding your need to be certain, the worse you’re getting. So you want to function? Stop following it. Just be normal. What’s going to happen? I don’t know what’s going to happen. And you know what? I never know what’s going to happen. Because what a smart man once told me is: the only thing certain in this world is uncertainty.
We have no idea. We’re never supposed to know what’s going on. People are making weddings. They’re switching the dates. We don’t know what’s going on. We never know what’s going on in our life. HaKadosh Baruch Hu (The Holy One, blessed be He) is in charge. But our need to always be certain... I have a friend that, when I look at him and see he’s wearing a vest, I know that it’s that—whatever the degrees is. I said this before. I asked him, “You know, how come sometimes you wear a vest and sometimes you wear a sweater?” He said, “I checked the app and I had to decide based on this, based on that.” He took away his whole ability to deal with uncertainty. He’s walking around on crutches and in a wheelchair. And he wants to know, “How come I’ve been on crutches and in a wheelchair for six months, and I can’t walk anymore?” Because all your muscles are shot. Because you’re not using anything. You’re not using your ability to deal with uncertainty. And therefore, you just fall apart.
What’s going to be with the market? I don’t know. Are we going to have medicine next month? I don’t know. Are we going to have food tomorrow? I don’t know. Are we going to lock down the whole country? I don’t know. And I’m not going to keep checking to find out, because I’m going to deal with uncertainty. That’s it. I’m uncertain. God’s running the world, and that’s just fine. And until we get that clear, we’re just going to be in panic mode. Keep checking the text. Keep checking the thing. Keep checking this. And you think you’re feeding it. You know what it’s like? Sorry, guys. You’re all OCD. You see the guy keeps on washing his hands, washing his hands. Nobody keeps washing his hands. Maybe I’m dirty. Wash your hands again. But maybe it’s not clean again. Wash your hands again. Maybe I’m going to die. Check the app again. Maybe I’m going to die. Check the app again. I’m sorry, everybody. We’ve broken all rules of normalcy. I’m not saying don’t be careful, but they’re hoarding at the supermarket. You can’t find toilet paper and other items. It’s absurd. It’s absurd. I’m sorry. Everybody get normal again. Have a Shabbat Shalom.