The Corona Offering

“The Kohen shall cause then to go up in smoke on the Altar, a fire-offering to Hashem; it is a guilt offering.” (Vayikra, 7:5) 

“Of what use are your many sacrifices to Me? says the Lord. I am sated with the burnt-offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle; and the blood of bulls and sheep and hegoats I do not want…Learn to do good, seek justice, strengthen the robbed, perform justice for the orphan, plead the case of the widow.” (Isaiah 1:11, 17) 

There is one primary difference between a holy offering performed in the Tabernacle that cleanses our soul by receiving forgiveness from Hashem, and a steak dinner grilled by the nearest Kohen. 

Repentance.  

Every Torah portion is directly related to what is happening in the world, so how does the Torah portion of the sin-offering and the guilt-offering relate to today? 

Over 30,000 people have died of Coronavirus. Still, not a single media outlet has told the truth: 

Hashem sent mankind a plague of unprecedented reach to bring us to repentance.  

Imagine having a pet. A dog or a cat. Imagine taking your animal, who now trusts you, to a place where before your eyes it’s neck will be slit and all it’s blood would spill out.  

It’s a harrowing experience.  

We seldom see the direct damage our sins cause. When we transgress Shabbat, speak forbidden, evil speech – especially as one of a thousand comments about, say, Bibi Netanyahu – comments he will never see and nobody may ever read, or when we eat pork, watch pornography on the internet, or look at a woman for her beauty. These are sins that don’t seem to cause any direct damage in the physical world our senses are bound to.  

The offering teaches us by first hand experience that a helpless animal died because of our actions. Our sins did do damage. We are supposed to internalize that it should have been worse. Our necks were supposed to be slit. Our blood is supposed to be spilled.  

Realizing the true damage of our actions is what shocks us into making changes to our daily behavior.  

Today’s Offering 

In the words of Rabbi Alon Anava (audio-only version), “Hashem has had it up to here with our behavior.” 

We have unleashed the worst immorality on the world, and took the brazen step of calling it moral. We have mutated our civilization to one that praises abominations, evil speech, robbery, violence, infidelity of every sort, and most of all: injustice.  

Coronavirus is a plague sent by Hashem to mankind for the sins of our world. Over 33,000 people paid with their lives to relay G-d’s signal to all of us that this madness has to stop.  

Just like the animal that died so the atoner could make repentance, the casualties from this plague can spark us into making changes.  

Returning the Crown  

Corona gets its meaning from Ancient Greece and Rome. It means crown. This virus is named for the crown of Edom, and everything it has stood for: murder, theft, hedonism, deceit, and the denial that Hashem runs every detail of His world which He created.   

For the past decade, we have passed laws allowing for acts that G-d calls abomination. We have passed laws absolving criminals of any punishment for their crimes. Honest people have lost their livelihood, their homes, even their freedom simply by being arbitrarily called racist.  

We broadcast on the billions of screens across this world every type of immorality under the assumption that Hashem isn’t watching, or worse, that Hashem, G-d forbid, isn’t here. We speak about Rabbis without a second thought, and believe the lies broadcast even by “Orthodox” or “Chareidi” channels. 

Screens made in China. Laws for criminals in New York. Terrorism in Iran. These are the epicenters of this plague.  

Why haven’t there been lockdowns in Japan, Germany, or Singapore? 

This is a spiritual disease that can only be cured in a spiritual manner.  

We all must repent. We all must ask Hashem where we need to improve and do it right away! 

The World Set Straight  

Many of us felt helpless to tell the truth.  

We were terrified to stand in the face of evil for fear of losing our jobs, our reputation, our friends, our future.  

The voices of sickness monopolized the microphone for so long, we felt like they were in control. They got away with so much filth, we silently conceded that the world stopped not with Him… but with them.  

Even as we knew with all our heart there is only One King in His world, we grew weak. We saw His earthly kingdom seized by its court jesters. They made us feel like their Sodomite Code was the New World Order and we would forever wallow in the opposition.  

It seemed pointless to stand against them.  

G-d is reminding mankind Who runs it. He is reminding the world Who created it.  

This is a call to arms to see who will stand up and greet Moshiach. Who will no longer be afraid to be His messenger to tell the world to reverse course immediately.  

To no longer be afraid to fight in full force for the world He demands of us.  

Hashem willing, we will listen. We will see that the loss of the world we knew is a huge sin-offering, and we will not let it be in vain by performing the final ultimate task the offering was meant for. 

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David Ben Horin lives in Israel with his wife and children.