The Word of the Rabbi - Chabad Lubavitch of Athens Greece

Freedom in quarantine?

Thursday, March 26, 2020 - 9:42 AM

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Dedicated for the speedy recovery of
Chaim Levi ben Chana Priva and Avraham Baruch ben Esie

Chodesh Tov! Today is the first day of the month of Nisan, the month of Pesach, the month of freedom.

Freedom? How can we speak about and celebrate freedom when we are confined in our houses due to the pandemic of Covid-19? What can give us the strength to stay strong and positive in such limiting conditions?

I saw a funny cartoon the other day about how our parents and grandparents were called to war in the most trying circumstances. We, on the other hand, are called to sit on our couches! This helps to keep things in proportion.

We can always learn from history. In the ghettos and the concentration camps, there were still people who stayed human, helped each other, shared a small piece of bread with someone else… “How is it possible for people to retain their humanity under such horrifying circumstances?" wondered Dr. Victor Frankel.

He was a psychiatrist who grew up in Vienna and during the Holocaust was sent along with many others from his community to the concentration camps. There, he witnessed something which amazed him: how people under such inhumane conditions, were able to keep their humanity.

It brought him to the following conclusion: “Everything you have in life can be taken from you except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation”. We don’t always choose the circumstances and many times we wish things would be different, but we can always choose how to react.

We are now facing a very challenging period with many limitations, but we have the freedom to choose what we will do with this situation: descend into anxiety and hopelessness, or react positively by increasing in good actions, by utilizing this time productively, by adding meaning to our lives, by strengthening our bonds with our family and friends. This will certainly add much good and light to the world, and help it overcome the challenge we are all facing.

May G-d grant a full and speedy recovery to all the sick. May G-d grant our world healing real soon, and especially the ultimate healing — the coming of Moshiach!

What is the connection between the coronavirus and coffee?

Friday, March 20, 2020 - 9:43 AM

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There are 3 ways in which people respond to challenges.

A young woman once went to her mother to tell her about her struggles and troubles in life. She felt she did not have the strength anymore and wanted to give it all up. The mother listened to her and then took her to the kitchen. There she placed 3 pots of water on a high fire until the water boiled. Then she placed a carrot in the first pot, an egg in the second and coffee beans in the third.

After half an hour, the mother took out the soft carrot and the boiled egg and poured the fragrant coffee into a cup.

"See," said the mother, "all three items faced the same challenge, the boiling water. But each one reacted differently: the carrot was hard and strong, but it became soft and weak. The egg was fragile and soft, but it reacted to the boiling water by becoming hard. The coffee, on the other hand, not only did not surrender but it transformed the hot water into a delicious beverage."

In front of the challenging coronavirus situation, we can react in three different ways: The stress, the uncertainty, and the difficult measures can cause us to lose our strength and to fall into depression and despair. Yet some people don't let the adverse conditions break them and they become strong and resilient. And finally, there are those who not only don't let adversity destroy them but utilize it to progress and transform the challenge into positivity and growth.

Let's be like the coffee beans, see the positive in the current situation and how we can grow from this challenge. Let us utilize this time to develop solidarity, patience, and faith. Let us take this opportunity to strengthen our relationships with our friends and family. Let us use those days indoors to learn, pray and connect to our inner self, which is often overlooked in our busy "outdoors" life. Let us make sure that we will not only emerge from this situation unscathed but come out better and more connected people.

An island of certainty

Thursday, March 12, 2020 - 8:53 AM

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We are all concerned with the continuing expansion of the coronavirus. As days pass, cases multiply and more measures are taken, many thoughts pass through our minds.

I would like to share with you the thoughts of one of my friends, Rabbi Zalmen Wishedski, whose daughter went through leukemia last year.

“We learned many lessons last year during those long months when our Mussi was fighting leukemia. […] But the most meaningful of all of them was “Living with Uncertainty.”

When a person is being treated for Leukemia, no one knows how his day will look. He can’t plan anything. In the morning he may feel well, and after two hours he will be ill. He can be at home in the morning and be hospitalized by evening. For how long? “We’ll see. In an hour we will check and then we’ll know.” This can go on for hours, days and weeks.

We are programmed to live according to some plan and suddenly, when one is living in such uncertainty, things become confusing and upsetting. But then you understand that that is exactly the lesson that you are supposed to learn – the crash course.

And that is when you begin to cope and accept, and also to learn. The heart practices and trains and slowly, slowly it gets used to accepting the uncertainty with a smile. Usually this includes a look upwards.

You know what’s amazing? As the days pass and the uncertainty course is internalized, you suddenly understand that lack of certainty is not ee-vada’ut (uncertainty), but ee shel vada’ut – an island of certainty. The more you hand over your fate, time, money and life in general to Hashem, you acquire powerful amounts of certainty and trust, and they enter your heart and your life, and then – you live on an island of certainty.
[…]

We don’t know why and for what purpose the Master of the Universe decided to attack the world with the fear and anxiety of the Corona virus, but it is already clear that there is one central thing that is happening to almost all of us: plans are being disrupted. And they keep changing and getting disrupted again from one moment to the next.

But maybe Hashem just wanted to give us all a crash course – sharp and painful, interactive and replete with live demonstrations called “Life on the Island of Uncertainty”? I can say only one thing, from my experience: it is worthwhile to open one’s heart and listen to this course. You might yet discover that it is not uncertainty, but an “island of certainty.”

Rabbi Zalmen Wishedski, Basel, Switzerland

In these difficult times, it is important to follow the instructions of the competent authorities about protection from the coronavirus. Alongside with physical protection of ourselves and others, we need to strengthen ourselves spiritually, with faith, positivity and prayer.

With this in mind, I would like to propose to you to read Psalm 121 which we traditionally read in times of need.

Take good care of yourselves,

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Mendel and Nehama Hendel