Corona Fallout: A Galut Within a Galut

The health crisis associated with the coronavirus outbreak has become serious enough to warrant vast changes to religious life.  While various locales have set different sets of rules for synagogue attendance during the crisis, there have been many communities that have shut down their synagogues altogether.  Chicago just recently became one of them.

This is an extremely difficult concept to wrap our heads around.  We know that we need to go to the synagogue to pray and have our prayers accepted, but we are unable to do so (based on rabbinic guidance) due to the danger involved.  So the rabbis who have always told us to go to the synagogue are now telling us not to, as Piku'ah Nefesh trumps almost all.

The gemara in Sanhedrin 105b says:

א"ר יוחנן מברכתו של אותו רשע אתה למד מה היה בלבו ביקש לומר שלא יהו להם בתי כנסיות ובתי מדרשות (במדבר כד, ה) מה טובו אהליך יעקב לא תשרה שכינה עליהם

Rabbi Yoḥanan says: From the blessing of that wicked person, Balaam, you can ascertain what was in his heart. God transformed the curses that he planned into blessings. He sought to say that they should not have synagogues and study halls, and he said instead: “How goodly are your tents, Jacob” (Numbers 24:5), a blessing on their synagogues. He sought to say that the Divine Presence [shekhina] will not rest upon them, 

Later, the gemara says:

אמר רבי אבא בר כהנא כולם חזרו לקללה חוץ מבתי כנסיות ומבתי מדרשות שנאמר (דברים כג, ו) ויהפוך ה' אלהיך לך את הקללה לברכה כי אהבך ה' אלהיך קללה ולא קללות

Rabbi Abba bar Kahana says: All of the blessings ultimately reverted to be fulfilled as the curse that he originally intended, as all of those circumstances befell the Jewish people, except for the destruction of synagogues and study halls, as it is stated: “And the Lord your God transformed the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loved you” (Deuteronomy 23:6). A curse in the singular, not curses in the plural, was transformed permanently.

And Rashi explains:

חוץ מבתי כנסיות ובתי מדרשות - שלא יפסקו מישראל לעולם:

[My translation:] Except for synagogues and study halls - which will not cease from Israel ever.

So, from this gemara, we are promised that synagogues and study halls will be part of the Jewish people forever.  So how can the coronavirus disrupt this promise?

One explanation that can be given is that the synagogues are still there.  They have not been destroyed and they have not left us.  Rather, we have been temporarily exiled from them, but we will ultimately return to them.

What makes this exile from our synagogues so sad is that it is an exile within an exile.  The Jewish people are already in exile.  Some see the whole concept of a synagogue historically as a consolation for the destruction and loss of the Beit Hamikdash.  This is why it is called a Mikdash Me'at - a little bit of the Beit Hamikdash.  An exile from our consolation prize is a blow to the gut.

On the other hand, perhaps, we can say that HKB"H is preparing us for bigger things with this Heavenly decree.  We know that:

כל המתאבל על ירושלים זוכה ורואה בשמחתה ושאינו מתאבל על ירושלים אינו רואה בשמחתה

Whoever mourns for Jerusalem will merit and see her future joy, and whoever does not mourn for Jerusalem will not see her future joy.

It could be difficult for some people to mourn for a completely rebuilt Jerusalem and the Beit Hamikdash not having seen it in their lifetimes while none of their ancestors for the past 1950 years having had seen it either.  However, now, we have a synagogue down the block that we cannot attend - that is something we can mourn over without having to use our imagination.  It's clearly sad to all.  And the more we mourn over our Mikdash Me'at, the easier it will be to mourn over the real Beit Hamikdash.

And then, and only then, will we merit and see the joy awaiting us, speedily in our days.  Amen.