21 Apr Coronavirus (Part 7)

Just recently, Governor Mario Cuomo made an ann o u n c e m e n t extending selfdistancing and the closure of much of commerce in New York State for another 30 days. He also put into law the mandatory wearing of masks when going outside. This is a good warning for those who are feeling that they can now lower their guards. Students of history know that just because reports of death are decreasing, it doesn’t mean that we should be careless, especially if one is older or has health concerns. We must know that the numbers are lower because of prudent mitigation but sadly the disease is still in the air. Although it was much worse (and therefore, baruch Hashem, not a true analogy) during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, after months of quarantine people had so intense cabin fever that when it was reported that World War One was truly over, thousands threw caution to the wind and streamed to the streets to celebrate. The consequences were horrific and it has been documented that more people died afterwards than died in the war effort. So, we must continue to be very cautious. Having said that, it is unquestionably growing more challenging to be quarantined week after week with no clear light at the end of the tunnel. In the meantime I would like to make a suggestion for my dear readers. I think you will find it a good use of time, as well as an important tool-to ensure that we make good use of our time during these trying weeks and months. I recommend that you and your spouse sit down together and create a Corona Era Diary: a detailed log of how your life has been during these historic times. This will serve a dual purpose. First, ten years from now your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be fascinated to see a record of how you lived during this very unusual period. They’ll be astounded at how different things were during this time of crisis. Second, by keeping such a diary you will accomplish something even more important. You will become more aware of how you’re spending your time and will as a result use each moment more purposefully. As I started keeping such a diary recently, I found it truly fascinating. Here are some sample entries. On Purim, we already decided not to send out any homemade mishloach manos. After Purim, with reports of New Rochelle being attacked by the virus, we initiated social-distancing in the Agudah of Staten Island. A few days later, we closed our shul and then a couple of days after that, together with Rav Pollack, Shlit”a, outside minyanim were shut down. I shifted my Daf Yomi shiur to Zoom, Facebook, Torah Anytime, and Kol HaLoshon. (The Daf Yomi is now nightly at 7:45 p.m. [Sunday thru Thursday] and motzoi Shabbos at 9:30 p.m. For the Zoom ID, email rmmwsi@aol.com.) Families and individuals authorized me to sell chometz by fax, email and phone. The actual sale of the chometz to the non-Jew, Tony, was done with trough social-distancing, with me on my upstairs balcony porch and Tony downstairs in the front yard. We made the six kinyanim with a basket and a gartel. Three people, from a safe distance away, witnessed the sale and heard me be mafkir the chometz afterwards in front of a Beis Din. The next day, the destroying of the ten pieces of chometz was done by flushing them down the toilet. At the seder, together with my dear wife, she asked me the mah nishtana. The next day as we didn’t hear the mussaf of Tal, we stopped saying mashiv haruach by mincha. Additionally, for the first time in the history of advertising, there was not one newspaper or radio ad for chol hamoed entertainment. Our daughter Yocheved made a bris, baruch Hashem, and yet we weren’t able to attend. My new daughter Devorah Schwartz had a baby last Shabbos and, again, we won’t be able to make the bris. All throughout this scary time, we kept getting daily messages from different shul services saying, “We regret to inform you of the passing of …” If one is of the age, it’s reminiscent of the daily death notices during the Viet Nam war era. And alas, the shiva calls keep on piling up, may Hashem spare us from any more of this. In our next article, I hope to talk to you about some tips and strategies on how to make better use of all of the time that many of us find is on our hands. In the meantime, please be safe, make an extra effort to be kind to you loved ones, study Torah, give tzedaka, and pray hard. In that merit, may Hashem bless us all with long life, good health, and everything wonderful.