Rav Yehuda Amital, late Rosh Yeshiva of Har Etzion, was accustomed to say that as a Holocaust survivor – someone who saw the magnificent Jewish world of Europe, its destruction, and its resurrection – he also felt this way:
"My beard had not yet turned gray and yet I saw during my lifetime – in the words of our sages – a world that was built up, a world that was destroyed, and a world that was rebuilt.
"It is difficult to believe that one person within the short chapter of his life could see so much change. We are living in an unusual era. This demands something from us. We need to live thoroughly in the spirit of these times, to know what we must do in our world at this moment and what God requires from us here and now. All of this creates an imposing challenge from which there is no escape."
Ever since the flood there was never an event from which the entire world suffered at once. Now, due to the ease of transversing our global village, not just one region on the map or just one continent has had to cope with a mysterious and deadly virus for nearly a year, but the entire globe.
Like Noah, we too are living in an historic period. We saw a lively and vibrant world before the corona, we see at present a strange world in the days of the corona, and with God's help we will see the world after the corona.
This is not a flood, but still a serious jolt. Perhaps we should ask ourselves: "What will we take away from the corona for the day after it's over? What will we learn? What will change? What kind of world will we build together?
• Translation by Yehoshua Siskin