The Mystery of COVID-19

And Israel saw the great hand, which the Lord had used upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in Moses his servant. (Shemot, 14:31)  

For generations, the great physicians and natural scientists have been trying to find an explanation for the spread of a contagious disease during an epidemic, but to this day they have been left with great perplexities, because there are some things for which no explanation has been found according to the rules of nature.  

The biggest mystery is, that during an epidemic, there are three types of people: 1) Humans who become infected even when they are locked alone in their home; 2) Humans who are not infected even when standing next to infected patients; 3) Humans who become infected with the disease while standing next to the patient.  

Researchers have found nothing natural that connects the human beings of every one of these three types. Any sane person can see from this that everything happens under Divine personal providence.  

This matter is well explained by the holy Rabbi Chaim Vital (Yado Bacol 153) and other great rabbis (Shut HaRashbash 195), in a parable: A king was angry with the people of a city whose inhabitants rebelled, so he sent soldiers to punish them. The king gave them three lists of names of people: 1) People whom they should pursue even if locked in their houses; 2) People who must not be harmed in any way; 3) People whom if they meet them on the street, they may put them on trial to check their background history and evaluate them, and they will be judged immediately if they deserve to be punished.  

So too, when God the King of the world is angry with human beings, he sends a plague to them. The angels in charge of these tiny destroyers have in their hands three lists of names of people, like the three lists mentioned above, where everyone is listed in one of the lists where he was entered according to heavenly accounts.  

The Seforim explain, that for this reason one should generally avoid approaching a patient infected with a plague, because everyone who wasn’t infected yet, should consider the possibility that he is among those on the list of people who can be infected by this, because the viruses who are connected to this patient will try to prosecute him by arguing that he is deserving to be infected by them too, and then he will be judged in heaven for all his deeds. At this time, he may easily be convicted, because a time of plague is like a time of war, when military trials are quickly convened without the benefit of a defense, and then even a good man can receive a severe punishment for a minor sin, as explained in the Book of the Holy Zohar (parshat Metzora, as explained by the Ramak in his Ohr Yakar Commentary). But nothing is happening without Divine providence.  

At such a time, the children of Israel are clearly aware of the Divine personal providence and are strengthened in it by faith in God. They increase observance of His commandments, which has the power to overturn Hashem's trait of Strict Justice into the trait of Mercy. But the nations of the world usually do not think about it and do not wake up from it to stop their evil deeds, and even the few that may wake up while the plague is raging, are forgetting about it as soon as the plague passes.  

In this regard, my ancestor Rebbe Yitzchak Isaac of Komarna related, that a learned secular scholar once came to Komarna. He was witness to a remarkable miracle when a very sick man was brought to the Rebbe. The Rebbe prayed for him and he immediately stood up, completely healed. This scholar was absolutely amazed at the Divine Providence and the power of righteous men that he had seen with his own eyes. Nevertheless, some time later this "scholar" published an essay in which he scoffed at these miracles and attributed them to illusion deception and trickery.  

When they told this to the Komarna Rebbe, he said: "We see this in the Torah, at the miracles masterpieces that Moses demonstrated in Egypt before the children of Israel and before Pharaoh. The children of Israel believed through the miracles (Exodus 4: 5). But regarding Pharaoh it is written (ibid. 7:13) And Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not hear them. Someone who doesn’t want to believe is not affected by anything that he sees with his own eyes”.  

Indeed, when one looks at the story of the Exodus, one sees that God showed to all, that He is not only the Creator who created the world in the six days of Genesis, but He also leads the world and always oversees all creatures under Divine personal providence.  

When God sent to the Egyptians the frogs, lice, and the mix of wild animals from all over, as well as the small virus creatures that were harmful in the plague of the cattle, the creatures were harmful only to the Egyptians and not to the Jews who were there, so everybody was able to see that there is a supreme leader leading all creatures. But Pharaoh tried to ignore it.  

When the firstborn of Egypt died and not the rest of the country, they virtually saw that God was behind it, and human life depended on Him. Pharaoh awoke to hear the word of God and send out the children of Israel. But he and his people soon forgot about it, and pursued the children of Israel to bring them back to Egypt.  

It can be said, that in this matter the scripture came to tell in praise of the children of Israel, that they did not behave like the Egyptians and other nations of the world: "And Israel saw the great hand" – the children of Israel saw that there was a great hand, the leader to all creatures, "which the Lord had used upon the Egyptians" – They saw that plagues affected only the Egyptians, but not the children of Israel, and from this itself they clearly saw that there is a supreme leader who sends the plagues to whoever He wants, and this caused "and the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in Moses his servant”.