Helping others keep rules
Helping others keep rulesOliver Petusi, Flash 90

Since January, we have been fighting Coronavirus the Israeli way: Using hi-tech and common sense.

As a secular state, it’s the only choice.

At first, it worked. The initial phase of this pandemic came and went with new cases falling to the single digits. Lockdowns, curfews, and distancing saved the day.

Then the next wave came. We used the same playbook, but to no avail.

After recording over 10,000 new cases over the last week, we have become the most infected nation on earth.

Science and hi-tech have failed. The human factor took over.

Unless we understand that there are better solutions to this problem, we will find themselves locked in with no end in sight.

It's time to remember that along with being an Israeli State, we are also a Jewish nation.

Time Tested Solutions

The warnings are here.

Last Sukkot, there were massive winds. The winds tore apart my Sukkah. I looked outside and saw all the sukkahs put up were demolished by an act of G-d.

Last week we experienced the hottest days in Israel, since temperatures were recorded back in 1880. The Torah portion we read is the section of the Book of Deuteronomy that includes the curses against Israel if we don’t return to Hashem.

We read a little bit from the Torah portion each day. The daily part we read on the hottest day in a century was the only part in that includes the curses.

This is the month of Elul. Judgment Day, Rosh Hashannah, where the decree for how the entire world will be for the next year, is fast at hand.

The Jewish answer to a plague is that it is a punishment from our Creator. He is angry with our behavior and sent us this catastrophe to tell us to fix ourselves.

Our Father is screaming at us to return to Him. He is making it clear that technology, treaties, and allies will not protect us from this plague nor exempt us from our duty.

We can fight Coronavirus with masks, social distancing, and hygiene. But we can only defeat it with merit from He Who sent it to mankind.

As G-d’s chosen nation, we have the responsibility and privilege to redeem the world with acts of repentance.

Every Jew can save Israel. Every Jew can save the world.

There are countless commandments in the Torah any of us can follow without changing who we are or what we believe.

Daily Prayer

Daily learning

Kindness

Refusing to judge a fellow Jew

Refusing to hate a fellow Jew

Guarding our speech not to insult or speak gossip about another

Charity

That is to name a few. . .

Bold Jewish Leaders to Execute Them

I am begging our leaders to speak out.

The Haredim command 16 Knesset seats. They can issue daily press releases to ask the nation to perform mitzvot. They can cut political deals with Prime Minister Netanyahu or Opposition leader Naftali Bennett to issue statements encouraging the nation to do more.

Any leader of a political party can give a daily podcast on faith in Hashem, gratitude for everything He gives us, even stories with Jewish ethics. It can be as little as 10 minutes.

Simply hearing a major leader in our nation speaking words of Torah and return sends a message that will reach everyone.

From the birth of Abraham almost four thousand years ago to this very day, Israel has risen, fallen, and emerged once again from the ashes on G-d's compassion and our repentance.

If we want this nightmare to end, to return to seeing our loved ones every day, to go back to work to take care of the most important people in our lives, to send our children to school knowing that they will come home healthy and happy . . .

We need to fight this disease like Jews.