On this Shabbat we conclude the readings of the Four Parshiot, four special extra readings on these Shabbatot that Chazal (the Sages) instituted before Purim and Pesach, with Parshat Hachodesh. We take out two Torah scrolls from the ark instead of the usual one scroll. In the first we read the Parshat Hashavua, the weekly portion, and in the second one we read the special reading, Hachodesh.
A number of years ago I got great inspiration from the reading, and I recorded my feelings here in my Author Blog:
My following words will fit like a glove with the above mentioned post as an introduction:
There is certainly a feeling in the air that it could be that we are seeing the last days of the galus and mashiach is right around the corner. Everyone is talking about it.
On the other hand, meanwhile now we are in a time of real danger, and we all have to protect ourselves and our loved ones, and all of society. Even if a person will say that I have no loved ones, and I am young and strong without any real danger from the virus, still he must follow the guidelines set by the government, and society will force him even if he doesn’t want to behave.
This is an interesting trial in which we are being forced to have concern for the community at large, to bend our own personal will for the benefit of others that we may not even know. In a similar vein, people who were tooth and nail at odds with each other are now finding common ground for working together.
One thing that we for sure all have to do is to pray again and again that G-d should have mercy upon us and take away the pandemic.
Many recommend strengthening ourselves in certain things. I am not going to mention any of them, rather I will jump straight to what I think.
This is truly a very big suffering/trial/punishment, really big, and what I told myself is that it requires from us improvement in a really big way.
They write in the name of Rav Dessler that each person has his area of trial, where his daily battles are fought. But there are certain things that are all the way over in the good side, and he is almost not tested on them. For example, I don’t have an urge to drive to the synagogue on Shabbat, I would never do that, and it is not a test for me.
And on the other hand, everyone has his area or areas which are all the way over in the bad side. And these things are not a trial for him either, because he just transgresses them all the time. He doesn’t even fight. Big areas, like Vanity, Lust, Jealousy, Machloket (flaming dispute), Pursuing Honor.
Everyone knows the suffering of his own soul, what he is weak at.
My opinion, and I tell this to my family all the time not just now, is that it is critical, all the time, to be in a position of improving. Getting better. Not necessarily completely righteous, but improving. I think that now in our current suffering with the pandemic virus, that it would be an appropriate response that not only should I be in a position of improving, but I should also be trying to soften up those deep areas that I don’t even work on, which are totally rooted in the bad, and to start making progress on those things also.
I am a 65 year old heart patient, therefore I have to be extra careful. I stay home now as much as I can.
If you would like to share with me your story, your experience, I would love to hear it.
