Rabbi Chaim Sabato – If We Were worthy

Our world has taken a hit. A pauper’s crown.

Would we be worthy, all public health experts would convene, discuss, resolve and recommend.

Not being worthy, the experts go each in their own direction, blaspheming the other, accusing, defaming.

Would we be worthy, pharmaceutical companies and scientists would unite to discover vaccines and drugs.

Not being worthy, each drug company races forward to beat rivals by a few days and fill its own coffers with millions.

Would we be worthy, those forced into isolation and quarantine would be thankful and acknowledge a debt to those who are protecting their health.

Not being worthy, each camp believes it is being hounded and locked down to humiliate it, batter it, and pierce its heart.

Would we be worthy, those who pray in synagogues and study in yeshivas would recall the Torah commandment to live by Torah maxim, “to live by them and not die by them.”

Not being worthy, they deem the closing of synagogues to be Antiochus-style decrees or the diktats of czars and inquisitioners.

Would we be worthy, those who earned in recent years significant sums of money would have saved-up for times of trouble.

Not being worthy, the wealthy leveraged their income to spend double their worth on luxury cars and palatial homes and extravagant travel, yet now are begging for handouts.

Would we be worthy, artists would be raising the spirits of our nation with their God-given talents.

Not being worthy, they furiously stalk street demonstrations.

Would we be worthy, aid would be directed to the weak, to strengthen and encourage them.

Not being worthy, each sector grabs what it can; gyms and pools and restaurants and banquet halls look out for themselves.

Would we be worthy, this moment of crisis and global pandemic could be the finest hour of our people, whose eternal values have shepherded it for generations; love your neighbor as yourself, [sustain] your brother that he may live aside you; do the righteous and good – [these teachings] would heal the hurt with overwhelming love.

Not being worthy, the Land of Israel is desolation and destruction; some demonstrate and others strike, some shout and others yank at the squawker’s beard; hatred and hostility pervade the atmosphere.

Alas, there was a precedent in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago; zealots burning with baseless hatred for one another torched food storehouses which could have sustained the city for three years. Will we today also set fire to the treasure troves of our country?

On whose neck does responsibility hang? Not only on the necks of our political shepherds, many of whom attend to themselves and not to their flock, as Ezekiel prophesied, but on the intelligentsia and the literati, cultural leaders, and religious scholars.

Had they educated toward neighborly love, modest lifestyle, altruism and eternal and spiritual values, and not to the pursuit of riches, fame, perks of power and authority, and the persecution of one another – we would not have descended so. The spoiled fruits of today stem from seeds of devastation that were sown over decades.

“I planted you like a noble vine, all with choicest seed; how have you turned yourself into a degenerate, alien vine?” (Jeremiah 2:21).

Just maybe, the heart hoards hope. Concealed currents of untainted water bubble under the rubble and will surge to the surface and form pure wellsprings and purify our land.

Perhaps. Would we be worthy.