My Four Questions: Why Is This Year Different Than Any Other

On the night of April 8, we come together to celebrate the story of Passover and the freeing of the Jews from Egypt. In the Torah, God has always done things to cleanse the world. I wonder if the fact that the world is in the midst of the coronavirus during this year’s Passover is some sort of sign.

Every year, families sit at the Passover seder and the kids ask the “Four Questions.”  This year, I have my own four questions.

1.  Why is this year different than any other year?

Many of us are used to having a large seder with extended family and friends. This year, we are having virtual seders online.  Also, this year, we may want to add the coronavirus as one of the plagues we dip our finger into the wine for.

In the Passover story God inflicts 10 plagues upon Egypt for keeping the Jews enslaved. Over the past several years, the modern world has see its share of “plagues” that in many ways resemble the plagues that God sent to Egypt when he was trying to get Pharaoh to listen and change his ways. The plagues continued because Pharaoh wouldn’t given in, even after multiple plagues.

Maybe God been trying to send us a modern-day message. There have been major floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters throughout the world in recent years. For a short period of time after each disaster, parts of the world would come together to help. However everyone soon went back their normal way of living. Maybe God kept sending more and more natural disasters, hoping that we would wake up, but realized it wasn’t enough to get the world to change its ways permanently.

Now, like the horrific 10th plague of the killing of the firstborn males in Egypt, we have a virus that has affected every person on the planet. This might be the only time in modern history that the entire world has literally been stopped in its tracks.

Before the coronavirus, our world was out of control in many ways. People were constantly running in circles, too busy for their families, fighting each other over politics and religion. Racism is on the rise and we have been hard on the environment. Children have been over programmed, often focused on meaningless drama and meaningless things in general, and not appreciative of the little luxuries in life. Could the coronavirus be God’s eye opener for our world?

2.  Will good things come out of this situation?

We have seen throughout history that there can be light at the end of the tunnel. At the end of the Passover story, we were given the Ten Commandments.  At the end of the Holocaust, the State of Israel was born.

Maybe this worldwide pandemic will result in the re-set button the world needs. In the Torah, there are mandatory re-set buttons such as Shabbat. There is even the shmitta rule where we need to let the land and animals rest every 7th year.

The world has literally stopped in many ways. People are slowing down, reconnecting with their immediate families. Neighbors are helping neighbors, pollution is clearing up (this week in Los Angeles the air quality has been better than it has been in many years), the entire planet is working together and we are learning to appreciate the little things in life such as the ability to give someone a hug or to go to school, which we all complained about and took for granted. Now, when we go back to school, many will be grateful for the privilege of learning and being with friends every day.

3.  Will our worldwide bonds be strengthened? 

I can’t think of another time in history that the entire world was fighting towards one goal. It’s almost as if aliens invaded, yet this alien is microscopic. Countries are helping each other by sending ventilators and other life-saving equipment. Doctors worldwide are sharing their findings to help people who are sick with the virus, and world leaders are mostly supporting each other’s efforts. This virus does not discriminate, and it seems like people are now realizing that we are all in this together. We are now one race – the human race.

4.  Will our religious faith be strengthened during this challenging time?

The world has always seen tragedies, but this time it has affected the entire planet.  Many people are anxious and afraid. Some teens have lost faith, or their faith is now shaken, asking why God isn’t intervening and making things better. Others, however, are finding strength in God and their religion. Hopefully, this will pass soon, and we will all be stronger for it.