We need a little hizuk in light of the Coronavirus. People have been asking what to do, so we will suggest something we can all do to protect ourselves. While it’s not my job to tell people to wash their hands, stop shaking hands or the like (please follow recommended medical guidelines), I can try to offer some spiritual techniques for protecting yourself. Before we get to that though, we need a little background to understand the source for this concept.
The Torah tells us, at the end of Parashat Hukat, that the Jewish people sang a song, Az Yashir Yisrael (very similar to the song Az Yashir Moshe, sang at Keriyat Yam Suf) after an event called Nahalei Arnon.
The Gemarah, in Masechet Berachot explains that this place, the Valleys of Arnon, is on a list of places where miracles occurred for the Jewish people, and where we should say a beracha for the miracle that took place there. But the Gemarah asks what happened, because the Torah is not very clear on exactly what happened there. It’s not black and white, and I have found, that when I ask people about Nahalei Arnon, most aren’t really sure what happened there.
What happened was that as the Jewish people were passing through this valley, between two large mountains, their enemies planned to hide out in the crevices of the mountains, and attack by pouring boiling oil and throwing stones down onto them, to kill them. The Jews knew nothing about this at the time, but G-d made a miracle, moved the two mountains together, and the enemies were crushed before they could attack. Since the Jews weren’t aware of this, G-d brought the Well of Miriam, to reveal the bodies of these enemies, and that’s when the Jews saw that this was a hidden miracle and sang the song. That’s the end of the story, and this is now the example for a hidden miracle. So we sing for open miracles, such as for Keriyat Yam Suf, and we sing for hidden miracles, such as at Nahalei Arnon.
Then, immediately following the incident at Nahalei Arnon, we have the story of Balak and Bilaam, which is on the list of the ten things we are supposed to remember every day. Why are these two events juxtaposed? What’s the lesson?
The story of Balak and Bilaam trying to curse the Jews is the only episode recorded in the Torah, from the time of Moshe Rabbenu on, that Benei Yisrael did not witness themselves. We never met Balak or Bilaam. They stood on a mountain and wanted to curse us, and we didn’t know anything about it. We were in grave danger, unbeknownst to us, and G-d protected us.
Why? What was the zechut that saved us from being wipe out by this hidden curse?
It was because of what happened after Nahalei Arnon, when the Jewish people learned about hidden miracles.
Moshe Rabbenu taught them the concept that G-d is protecting us even when we don’t know He’s protecting us, and they learned to thank Hashem for the hidden miracles that occur. We say Modim every day, to thank Hashem
ועל נסיך שבכל יום עמנו
for the miracles that happen every day.
And that protects us, because when G-d sees that we appreciate His protection, He continues to protect us.
And now we come to our point:
The Gemarah says, in Masechet Berachot, that we are surrounded by so many demons, that if we were able to see them, we’d die of fright. There are more demons than there are people! That’s scary.
So, simply speaking, there are demons we can’t see. But there’s another thing surrounding us, that we can’t see, that would terrify us if we could... It’s the bacteria, and fungi that is all around us. Our bodies are worlds unto themselves, and there are all kind of outside forces trying to get in. They’re terrorists.
One of the greatest things we have to thank Hashem for every day (and if you haven’t done so yet, now’s your chance), is your immune system. There are tens of thousands of different things that don’t belong in our bodies. They come in, and our bodies fight them. Our bodies have trillions of cells. It’s a whole world. Imagine a terrorist trying to get into America, who is caught because we have special eye scans, so we know who he is. Well, the body’s immune system can catch diseases too. The only reason corona is such a danger now is because is what’s called a novel (new) virus, so the body doesn’t recognize it yet, or realize that it’s a danger. It takes the body time to realize this is dangerous, and then it fights it. Sometimes, Chas VeShalom, it can be too late. Most people who get the caronavirus, however, will beat it. Nothing will happen. The same goes for the flu and other illnesses. I remember once having a blood test, and the doctor asking me if I had mono. I said I didn’t. But he said he saw that I’d had it at one point. He could tell from the antibodies in my blood. It is possible see all the things our bodies have beaten, from the antibodies. Think about that.
One of my teachers in elementary school once explained what a pus pimple was, and I never forgot it. She said that our white blood cells are our fighters, our soldiers, and when there’s a war going on (such as in an infection) there are some casualties, some blood-cells get killed. The pus is the dead soldiers, and that’s why pus is a sign of infection, not the infection itself. When people hear the words “elevated white blood cell count” they think that’s the bad part. But the white blood cells aren’t bad, it just means that they are fighting an illness. We have an army inside of us fighting all day! We have to thank Hashem for this army. It fought off the flu, it fought off measles, it fought off a billion things.
That’s how vaccines work. They inject a very minute amount, or a very weak strain, of the disease into our system, and our bodies have a week or two to figure out how to beat this “bad guy”. It’s not dangerous, because it’s not strong enough to hurt us. But once we know who/what it is, once we identify and label it, we can make sure to have the whole battalion ready to fight if the real strain comes along.
The body has an unbelievable system for fighting off infection. If you saw what comes out and surrounds you when you sneeze, you wouldn’t leave the house. But suddenly, with coronavirus, we are all scared to go out. I’m not saying it’s not dangerous. But do you know how many other things are out there besides coronavirus? Hamas is not the only terrorist out there. There’s also Moslem Brotherhood, Fattah, and ISIS. There is no end to how many terrorist groups there are. So you heard about one guy and you get all nervous? They’re all over the place! But don’t worry, you have a great army! Appreciate your army, because most people aren’t going to get sick. Most people’s immune system’s will fight things off. And the more we appreciate it, the greater the zechut we create to protect us. What we should be doing right now is appreciating our immune systems.
Appreciate your immune system and all that it has done. Acknowledge that you have a great soldiers, and encourage them to keep fighting, to do a good job.
And say, “Thank you Hashem for my immune system.”