by admin

Between Purim and Passover, a Plague

Where anxiety and fear keep us unsettled, it is important to try to keep our emotional and spiritual equanimity.

It has not escaped my attention that the pandemic is happening between Purim and Passover. Purim, like Yom Kippur, is when we read a story about chance. The tables get turned for the better —that the Jews are saved not destroyed
We acknowledge that fate can change at any given moment and we pray for it turns in our favor… 

We are also headed into Passover where it took ten plagues to get us out of Egypt. Yes, people died with each plague and we learn that we don’t sing Hallel because the Egyptians drowned in the Red sea and their lives also belong to the Holy One. Yet that story of liberation has fueled many a tradition and given many hope.

There is a story I have read on Yom Kippur, it’s a Zen Buddhist story not Jewish one, (because we don’t eat in the end:) but at times like this virus, it’s offering me some perspective I’d like to share:

One day in late summer, an old farmer was working in his field with his old sick horse. The farmer felt compassion for the horse and desired to lift its burden. So he left his horse loose to go the mountains and live out the rest of its life.

Soon after, neighbors from the nearby village visited, offering their condolences and said, “What a shame. Now your only horse is gone. How unfortunate you are!”. You must be very sad. How will you live, work the land, and prosper?” The farmer replied:” Maybe so, maybe not” (or “who knows, we shall see”).

Two days later the old horse came back now rejuvenated after meandering in the mountainsides while eating the wild grasses. He came back with twelve new younger and healthy horses, which followed the old horse into the corral.

Word got out in the village of the old farmer’s good fortune and it wasn’t long before people stopped by to congratulate the farmer on his good luck. “How fortunate you are!” they exclaimed. You must be very happy!” Again, the farmer softly said: “Maybe so, maybe not…. Who knows? We shall see.”

At daybreak on the next morning, the farmer’s only son set off to attempt to train the new wild horses, but the farmer’s son was thrown to the ground and broke his leg. One by one villagers arrived during the day to bemoan the farmer’s latest misfortune. “Oh, what a tragedy! Your son won’t be able to help you farm with a broken leg. You’ll have to do all the work yourself, How will you survive? You must be very sad”. They said. Calmly going about his usual business the farmer answered, “Maybe so…maybe not …Who knows? We shall see”.

Several days later a war broke out. The Emperor’s men arrived in the village demanding that young men come with them to be conscripted into the Emperor’s army. As it happened the farmer’s son was deemed unfit because of his broken leg. In the teahouse, the villagers again commented “What very good fortune you have!!” As there own young sons were marched away. “You must be very happy.” “Maybe so, Who knows? We shall see!”, replied the old farmer as he headed off to work his field alone.

As time went on the broken leg healed but the son was left with a slight limp. Again the neighbors came to pay their condolences. “Oh what bad luck. Too bad for you”! But the old farmer simply replied; “Maybe so, maybe not…Who knows? We shall see.”
As it turned out the other young village boys had died in the war and the old farmer and his son were the only able bodied men capable of working the village lands. The old farmer became wealthy and was very generous to the villagers. They said: “Oh how fortunate we are, you must be very happy”, to which the old farmer replied, “Maybe…Who knows? We shall see!” 

This is how I’m approaching the virus. Yes, at the moment it seems apocalyptic, people are panicking and buying things in a frenzy, predictions of many people dying; market crashing, and the government doesn’t know what to do, etc, etc

Yet I’m at optimist at heart, and I have let my mind wander to what if: the best case scenario. What if the corona virus:

Maybe …who knows? we shall see…..

We can’t and shouldn’t minimize the suffering, physical and economic, and agony that many people are experiencing and will experience in the coming weeks. As Jews we know that loss of life is never to be taken lightly. But imagining a better future arising from this crisis is an important spiritual exercise.

Hopefully in the spirit of Passover we will all feel liberated from the plague, we will not have taken foolish chances, and as a human family, we will be stronger from the journey through the narrow places.

© 2011 Lilith Magazine