Hindsight 2020

The Corona Warnings 

In 2017, I was living in Netanya. My wife and I started seeing rainbows (although rainbows are pretty, Judaism teaches that it’s a bad omen to see a rainbow – it means that G-d wants to destroy the world again, and isn’t only because of His promise. That’s why in the times of special righteous sages like Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, there was never a single rainbow that appeared!).  

They were huge. We could make out all of the colors very distinctly. It was scary how huge they were, how close they were, and how often they appeared.  

In 2018, we saw something even more menacing: We saw double rainbows. A big rainbow would stand atop a smaller rainbow right inside it.  

We moved to Afula that year.  

The rainbows moved with us. They also got fiercer.  

We saw double rainbows in Afula. Big ones. They were so big, and so close to us we could see exactly where they began.  

In 2019, we put up a Sukkah. The winds were ferocious. By the second night our Sukkah fell. The winds were so angry, they bent the metal holding the Sukkah together.  

We learned that most of the Sukkot in Afula were destroyed by the winds. Hashem took away our Sukkot. This was in the autumn of 2019. It was in October, exactly when first reports came out of China about Coronavirus.  

Then the lighting came. It was big, and intense, and there were a lot of lightning bolts. They were so large, and so close to us that we could see the specific branches extending from the trunk of the bolt. They were so powerful that we could smell the electricity for hours.  

Then Corona came to Israel. Lockdown after lockdown brought the country to a standstill. To date over 1 million infected and 7,400 fatalities.  

Since then, we have seen zero rainbows. Our Sukkah in 2020 rested nicely on our balcony. No lightning bolts from the sky terrify us.  

The Corona Warnings 2021 

This summer saw the end of Coronavirus. By July, there were just five reported cases over a full day.  

Then, the other rainbow appeared.  

Yair Lapid, newly elected co-Prime Minster, put up a rainbow flag in front of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.  

Immediately, the weather shot up like never before. For days on end, we baked in 100-degree afternoons. The heat wave never broke until after Rosh Hashanah. It was one of the most brutal summers on record.  

Coronavirus came back with a vengeance. Israel, the most vaccinated nation on earth, quickly became the most infected nation on earth.  

Hospitals filled up to capacity. The unvaccinated were cut off from society. Huge swaths of students and public workers went into quarantine as the whole nightmare began again.  

For all of our high-tech wonders, we have not developed a machine that can create rainbows in the sky, nor have we developed a vaccine for this plague that works permanently. The only cure is the antibodies G-d gives you.  

This is Coronavirus. A plague that started with a decree from the King of Kings, the Almighty G-d Himself.  

It can only end with Him, and our heartfelt regret, repentance, and revolt against those among us doing everything to provoke His wrath.  

We, the righteous, must stand up to the forces of Sodomy, Subjectivity, and Social Media to give Hashem’s world back to its rightful Owner.  

The warnings were there for years. We just didn’t see them.  

They got louder and louder.  

We had eyes but did not see. We had ears but did not hear. 

Why does mankind call this plague Coronavirus? 

Corona means a crown – because it comes from the King.  

Maybe in a few decades we will find out what exactly happened in southeast China. Right when they are done telling us who killed JFK, they will reveal whose hands Hashem used to unleash His plague? 

It’s not really important. This comes from Hashem.  

The plague starts with Him. If we make repentance, it will end with Him.  

We can appease His anger with acts of kindness, prayer, and Torah learning.  

Hashem was warning us for years.  

What small thing can you do to make 5782, the new year which just began on Rosh Hashanah different? Can you start speaking to Hashem in your own words for even 15 minutes a day (hitbodedut)? Or pray for the Jewish people? Or start loving each other? Light Shabbat candles on time, or put on tefillin and say Shema every morning? Hashem isn’t expecting big changes overnight – but choose something small! 

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David Ben Horin lives in Afula with his wife and children. Since moving to Israel in 2002, David has discovered Torah, writing hi-tech, hiking, coding ReactJS Apps, and hearing stories about the Land of Israel from anyone excited to tell them. Check him out on Highway 60 or email him your favorite Israel story  at:  david.ben.horin@spreadyourenthusiasm.com.