The Jewish People In a Post Corona World: Finding Hope Beyond The Darkness

thank you okay we are alive thank you still says waiting there we go there's a short delay but after that thank you so much for joining us today my name is Neftali Herman and on behalf of the Orthodox Union I'm honored welcome think all of you joining us today from around the world for this very relevant and from conversation today's topic Jewish people in a post aronia world finding hope beyond the darkness is one is very much on our collective mind before introducing our illustrious panel would like to briefly thank several individuals for their assistance putting together today's program as always thank you to the O you professional and lay leadership in particular mr. Marsh Bain mr. Allan Egan Robbie Moshe Hauer and Ravi a dear cozy but their own wavering commitment to the Jewish people to the wonderful collective team from three different institutions who in a very short span of time coordinated all of the details behind the scenes between collect who certainly deserved to be recognized and praised out loud rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks his office Joanna and Arusha from Robin wiles office Nancy and Nancy and Markovic as well as a special thank you to the senior managing director and Robbie Ephraim over org you know you are I'd also like to give a special thank you to my colleague and dear friend or are they still carriage for all the work he put into ensuring that this broadcast would take place without any technical glitches to craig goldstein Rachel left Jeremy Cherenkov Harry Bayless and the entire communications team at the do you and to all of the wonderful staff at the owe you our fantastic panel today and most importantly thank you to all of you at home or wherever you are for joining us today for this very important conversation today's presentation is dedicated as a referral Aimie for a complete recovery for all of those impacted by Kovan 19 or by any illness whether it be physical emotional and/or mental and for all of those affected financially may Hashem please stand to healing for all of those who need it safeguard and protect all of us all of his people and all of his creations and provide the financial stability to those in need additionally we would also like to honor our wonderful heroes and now we truly know who they are our unbelievable medical professionals or on the frontline combatting this virus despite the great risk to themselves our amazing or a button for their tireless leadership and to employees at supermarkets around the world as well as the delivery drivers who are ensuring we continue to receive all of the essentials that we need thank you to all the special people who make this world the special place that it is and we live in a great world a really special great world on behalf of the O you it is my great honor to introduce three very special rabbis who simply do not need who do not require an introduction so with that I will not take any more time it is my esteemed honor to welcome rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Robbie Ephraim Goldberg and rabbi Stephen wise and thank them in advance for being a part of today's program and for all they do on behalf of Omni Sorel and with that I pass the baton to rob a while thank you thank you very much enough telling on behalf of the öyou family it's an honor to spend the afternoon with everyone even though we're doing it through social media we want to thank on behalf of the öyou family rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks and we refer to a missive chief rabbi in America once the chief rabbi always a chief rabbi rabbi sacks over the course of the last eight weeks whether it's your philosophical works whether it's your works on ethics your partial works you've Altima Talib n our friend and you've taken us by the hand as we've been in quarantine and opened up business vistas to every one of us into rabbi Goldberg rabbi Goldberg in everyone's book if you're not the top community rabbi in the world you're in the top two or three and everyone's list and it's your Shabbos huddled rushes that over the course of the last fifteen years that now have been disseminated people who couldn't attend the Shabbos huddled Russia spent their pesos having you take them by the hand educate them and open vistas into what this holiday means and into what this time of reflection means the first question we'd like to ask the chief rabbi of rabbi sacks and of Rabbi Goldberg we have this concept in Judaism called show merps I'm Hashem it's a phrase based upon the verse in Psalms mm Allah the God protects those who don't necessarily put themselves in the ideal position and ramifications of that are it enables us to build bridges to build highways when we know there are going to be casualties on such projects it enables us to set up traffic laws where instead of everyone driving 40 miles per hour for the sake of expedience we can drive 60 miles per hour and there are many many manifestations of that that very challenging concept as it manifests itself today to every one of us whether on this side of the pond in the United States that side of the pond in England or whether wherever we are in God's earth and the question is the detention the conflict between on the one hand keeping people safe and healthy versus on the other hand the economic the emotional and the psychological downfall of our society by remaining in quarantine for another eight ten twelve weeks in in rabbi sacks rabbi Goldberg not to answer this as a doctor who works at the NIH or the CDC but from a hush Buffett from a philosophical perspective dealing with that tension between the long term welfare of our society and at the same time the short-term concern of trying to protect us rubbish sacks hmm bear with me if I analyze this in with some differentiation here because people are getting very very confused by this and therefore I would want answer it as precisely as I can and as this question that comes at three different levels level one the simplest which takes priority saving life or economic considerations on that there's no question equal my fashion overrides all but three mitzvah'd in the Torah sridhar dumb him Eloy I Rio de novo does around none of which irrelevant here saving individual life takes priority I don't know if we are fully aware of the miracle we have seen in these last three months virtually every single country in the world has taken the same decision in other words to establish a lockdown until there are clear signs that the peak of the infections and the death says passed from this is one of the most extraordinary moments in all of human history Judaism came into the world proclaiming in the Brittany Noah the sanctity of individual life chef Adam Adam ba dum dum oi you chef a key B'Tselem Alchemist aha this was in massive contrast to the ancient empires satirized or exaggerated dramatized in the tower in the terms of the Tower of Babel and the monumental building projects of the Egyptians we know that in both projects thousands of lives were lost as they were lost for instance in the great building project the Mayans and the Aztecs individual life didn't count but not only in ancient times in the 20th century between 10 and 20 million people died in the name of Stalinist Russia and communist China in the name of economic Dogma as Stalin said one person dies that's tragedy a million people died that's a statistic for the first time in all of history the sanctity of individual life has been taken as a priority by every single country in the world that is number one a real miracle number two is a different question which is a conflict between immediate present people at risk of death and possible future risks of death as a result for instance of economic shortages or what have you and here Judaism again Hawaii police is quite simply that the caller before no no the concrete individual the actual emergency in front of us takes priority over possible future emergencies those two are ethically clear the third thing that is not clear is how you balance their health risks in the long term against the economic damage and the psychological damage in the longer term how logically they belong to something called Hill Jota Medina or what we would call public policy decisions and those are based less on clear moral principles as on likely consequences the weighing of alternative maybes and here there is no clear hierarchy cancer different countries have taken different policies Poland and Sweden have been more relaxed than most other countries different states in the United States if they can different policies to judge that we need wisdom because there's no simple ethical clear-cut answer and for that we're dealing in matters about which Casals spoke about when they said these are things mushroom tikkun olam or Shalom and so on and so forth those are the long-term issues and we can debate those that needs a lot of wisdom a lot of careful judgment but the fact is that no country in the world has moved to there without first honoring life at stage 1 and stage 2 the final thing that has to be added is this fundamental halawet principle I say dothard lost business rakesh at EF shale a commission I am you only have to make an ethical decision if you can't fulfill both and here I think in the long run we're going to say a strong economy allows us to create a strong health system so it's not a matter of either/or but both and but first we have to see a clear decline in the numbers of new infections and in deaths before we can say it's safe to come out of lockdown thank you very much having sex by Goldberg echo enough tell these thanks to all the people who put this together and for me it's incredibly humbling and what a great honor to be on this panel while I was a high school teacher of mine has continued to be a mentor of mine and Robert Lawrence acts as a hero and teacher of all of ours and all of humanity and so to be together is truly great honor that was the brilliant analysis as anticipated I don't really have a lot to add only to say that in that third area that have a sacs delineated for us trying to measure and evaluate the impact of a closed and shutdown economy is not only a financial measure but as he alluded to it's a measure of some psychology of emotion I did something that I've never done before many of my colleagues did as well or her grateful to her they will again others who gave us the broad shoulders probably not to do it which is I gave out my phone number before the first days and the last days of PESA and even this past shamless and made clear that in a situation where a person felt was a real crisis a life-threatening crisis an intentional acted ambiguous people should be in contact and each time I spoke on the phone my children were shaky watching me on the phone and it was a real teachable moment for them but while there were a real and the medical questions equally important were individual people who called me because they felt entirely alone and risking themselves in a state of trauma and crisis and breaking down one of them doesn't even live in our community I know him and he was gonna call the I'm udom hotline I moved in very heroically set up a hotline for the Orthodox community not used to making phone calls to Orthodox institution on a holiday but he said why should I call and speak to a stranger I know you I called you and I was grateful he didn't give an opportunity for a few moments to do the best I could to reassure to offer a camaraderie and companionship my point is this the shut down country the shut down economy the shut down society has financial consequences an impact but also does for very real people and realized and that's what my stack said so brilliantly we have to turn to those who are wise who are knowledgeable who are experts to help us evaluate those moving parts those variables to understand the consequences and the unintended consequences and the unanticipated consequences even beyond what we see in front of us I just bought so Anne Heche tropiclean this notion of the tension of the individual and of the community expresses itself in a lot of realms every time Russia why sleep and some of his Chi was talked about can a person a better person can they lie and say they have symptoms there are symptoms in their home to go avoid going into the hospital or serving on hot sulla where they'll be at risk take care of their own safety and it is announced as she says how could you have a modern state of israel with a police force and an army and medical personnel and firemen and fire women if at every time everyone had a personal real estate said shut down you couldn't operate as a society so the entire IDF our heroes indeed Israel Defense Forces the medical personnel totally spoke about everyone's taking personal risks they are so to say participating in an open part of society in order to protect society as a whole and i lastly i'll say i saw a fascinating story a cover story in Businessweek a few months ago a Tesla and the notion of the automated cars that ultimately if the whole world were to move to these automated cars they're much paper is much less error than human drivers the problem is to get to that point in that level it will cost human lives because in order to calibrate and correct in order to elevate the entire system the operating system of cars to a point where it will in fact be safer than human drivers and human error it will cost you in life and it's a fascinating analysis do we expend human life in order to preserve a greater amount of human life going forward so while we are acutely feeling the question now it's not particular than now it is a broader question in general if I can just add just add please please we are seeing certain allotted principles or meta allotted principles right now as rabbi Goldberg was reminding me that we should never forget number one Konohamaru yep ok rota Oh me tutor being in face-to-face presence with a friend is life itself and that's why isolation is so devastating secondly I I'm sure you know this the words load tote appear only twice in the whole terror load of hey Adam Lovato it is not good to be alone and when you throw comes and sees it's only Moshe Rabbeinu leading alone he says Latoya Dava a shout out say you can't lead alone you can't live alone those things are really really being born home to us and we thank hashem for creating Facebook and zoom and goodness knows what else just in time for this particular moment but at the same time it's that immediate personal presence that the terror and result saw as life itself ok vroom - oh me too - and I hope when all this is over we will come to reevaluate the sheer importance of karuta and Kayla rémi sex thank you and that's really a segue into the second question that we would like to ask the two of you these pays these past six weeks they've been an opportunity for incredible introspection for reflection as we all remain in quarantine what are the areas that each of you would encourage people to focus on and to reflect upon which ethical areas which theological issues does this particular quarantine in this particular state in our lives and humanity facilitate so to speak a catharsis an opportunity for us to grow and to become better Jews better human beings both on the theological and on an ethical level look I'm going to speak very personally because perhaps each of us has our own answer number one speaking personally I have come on several occasions in my life eyeball to eyeball with the angel of death and I've been through quite difficult life-threatening conditions and life-saving operations and the thing that carried me through was very very simple be a doll of kid roofie you know when when you've surrounded by danger it's an ultimate declaration of faith replenish Allah I place my life in your hands because you know better than I do whether you need me up there or you need me still down here I trust your decision and I have to tell you that takes all the fear away secondly a sense of real gratitude I mean here we are in a situation where oral fashion we did have lockdown in time and although many many casualties have occurred throughout the world and within the Jewish community nonetheless I say every single day with added caverna modern ela thank you a garage bar for giving me back my life third this may seem difficult and please don't do it if it sounds difficult but really really tough times in my life a Fraggle every to figure hundreds of them several of them in the present situation that puts everything else in perspective I have to say this is suffering you know compared to what they went through and all of a sudden the whole sort of danger the whole fear level is dampened because I knew so many survivors and I knew what they went through and I realized that I'm not facing anything like they felt fourthly when you're on your own this is a real chance to talk person to person to a Cornish barnacle that's the one advantage of Tefila biofield over fill a bit sabor I mean there are very few but that is one of them and the way to do so is certainly through safer to healing all through if you lie itself the normal City duel to feel arts editor Fela just slowing it down which you can't do bitsy so for instance what really touches me these days is I read that a college boy who is born a usual mhm Neff a Israeli finesse God is is orchestrating history and Mon amis balaclava mullah Mohammed retry he is the creator of the cosmos but in between those two things God is our affair leash for a life Omaha flashlights for Tom or rabbi Goldberg was talking about healing the brokenhearted administering into their wounds am i I say that line I can say it so slowly now boroka Shem and it really touches miraculous healing my broken heart and finally just for me personally music is very very powerful if I can't be lifted by the C bar at least I can be lifted by music there's a one in cliche rebo I then if you familiar with him but he actually wrote and recorded a song during the corona virus endemic called katiemelissa which is very very special a spiritual piece of music and he's asking eye colors for who moderate session is Shanna Ave in Missa what he what is it that you want us to learn from all this there's some wonderful wonderful spiritual music coming out of Israel and I recommend that you listen to it because it's really very sublime it comes from the heart and it lifts to fill our and it helps you on that journey towards our colors for who which and sometimes be more intimate and a more powerful alone than it can in a congregational setting that goldbrick that's why we all love you and admire you not only for the brilliance of your mind the sensitivity of your heart and sharing with those reflections I also wanted to speak a little bit personally and sharing what I've been reflecting on and what I hope that we will not only individually but collectively organizationally and there's a people this is a global crisis and we are part of the greater humanity but there are also reflections that we can have as a Jewish people within a concentric circle an Orthodox community even from within a further concentric circle the reflection by Sachs articulated in a gratitude enough faith of course and I'll just draw a contrast very personal to me my first cousins husband it's a great time of Holcomb Lakewood New Jersey rabbis I Manila from Dell published many Styron humble modest brilliant of the start of my Safari from Dell you may be familiar with his works he was struck with the illness of literally a few later is neshama was taken from this world he left twelve children six of whom were married in six of whom not yet married and leaves my my dear beloved first cousin as a widow it's simply incomprehensible it's unimaginable why it leads to so many questions and crises of faith of all people someone so extraordinary and I think all of us are struct particularly in this time we're morning the students are ready Akiva wondering how could God take scholars tell me to come and righteous students of Torah and we're seeing disproportionately it seems at least the list of Jewish communal leaders of people of extraordinary accomplishment and righteousness and so it's so painful and and it brings about so many questions but I've telling you you know when when his breathing was so labored and I saw it took him to the hospital - unfortunately they were unable to help him there after a few days but it was a Friday evening and they asked him what do you want before you leave and he said I just want to give a brush-up to my children and he blessed each of his children give a breath up to each one of them and they asked him do you want to bring anything and he said I just want my good money and he left this world in his hospital room all he ever says Gemara and he left interacting with his family have been given each of them a barakah and that to me captured as a model of faith a model of strength and courage that we can ride the coattails of people who even in those waning moments what are you want to display that but nothing else mattered at that point not the size of someone's portfolio not their home the car they drive not how many followers and friends when they have an influence on social media and I can track that with my wife's first cousin 34 years old who spent three weeks on a ventilator and because of the incredible advocacy of his wife and endless prayer an amazing medical personnel came home today to a hero's welcome after three weeks on a ventilator please got on the road to a full recovery and the video taken neighbors were outside playing music and welcoming him and as he embraced his children we hadn't seen in a month three weeks of which he was literally unconscious there's nothing else that matters all that matters are the core fundamental things that we have and I hear how quickly that will move on how quickly will forget but hopefully this time is an opportunity to reflect and and you know if a person has their health and we have some level of income then all of our problems are first world problems Mickey Pesach for the first time have you finished everything there is to watch online and feeling bored the struggle of home schooling there are real problems I don't mean to minimize them or or negate them entirely there are somewhat real problems but we have to see them in the context in which they belong and be grateful that we don't have the problems of others but I want to briefly just share but I think our other reflections we can all have this notion of exact said moto Kadam without though that we're all seeing and I describe the pain the loneliness of the person who lacks interaction camaraderie in this week's passion career we have the positive punishment for the one who speaks ill of another but I shave me quits on my own Emma should have both their punishment is to be alone but Dad to be alone rosamma theroths Kenan is his name the Torah great robbed in Poland before the war Israel after the war you have to see this commentary inside as 9 the Torah he does something I went to predicted he would do but he says why is that the punishment the consequence because when you speak ill of another you've isolated them and you need to know what that's like you have to experience just how painful and just how be human if isolation is and then he says if you want the best example of this he says how several tion did you do the honor moats in the safe there Robinson Caruso if you want to know how painful it is he says see the book Robinson Caruso who's isolated alone on an island who describes the pain of isolation it's fascinating look in the s9 moto as he spells it out but one of the reflections we have to have is the people who are alone are not only alone during coronavirus they're often alone for shamans needles they're awfully forgotten they're often not invited they're often neglected and I think one of the reflections community have to have and we please got to come out of this is not only in times of crisis how do we ensure sensitively people are alone but even when we're operating at full steam how do we have a focus on the people that are alone number two I think that there's a major reflection evaluation that has to happen the speed with which the Jewish community responded and I won't elaborate for different segments of the community who responded in different response times at different intensities with different levels of leadership I think we have to talk about in advance and plan because more crisis will come up how do we react how do we make decisions whom do we empower with those decisions what are the experts that we consult with those decisions how coordinated are our reactions and the timeline within our greater Jewish community one of the beautiful things we've seen that I hope will only be built upon and continued are several statements co-authored and signed by a gooda Oh Urca lakewood young Israel I don't remember in my young life time seeing that and I hope that that one would be reserved for a crisis I hope the different segments of the community that heretofore have not fully collaborated will find our ability to do it not only in response to crisis but proactively in healing and repairing our world as well and lastly I'll just say this is a point of reflection there was a recording that went around he called viral for the in a good way in our world I don't know who this speaker was who spoke all about in the voice of God what God is telling us our celebrations are too elaborate and ostentatious my sense that he can't have them go home or this is to our condition gluttony God says he can't have it fails I tell you how many were inspired I was deeply pained because anyone who uses this opportunity to pretend or proclaim that they know why God does what he does to me is a statement an act of heresy our responsibility as leaders is not to blame our responsibility as leaders is not to make sure guilty I think and I'm interested in whatever my sachs has to say our responsibility as leaders is to empower them to challenge them to elevate you can draw on the very same lessons about how we can become more modest in our lifestyles and in our celebration but you can present it not pretending you are the voice of God who can explain why but presented as a challenge to the community to be able to respond and be the best version of ourselves with the lessons we've learned from this and the words of rehearse you'll have to get caught up in the llama why did this happen I think one is God to give the answer but the Lama how can we grow what can we gain there are many points of reflection individually and collectively I hope we will pause maybe now during the crisis is not the time but I hope we won't rush back to life of the euphoria and will at least pause to meet and to think and to reflect about what we can learn and grow thank you very much having over our final topic our final topic of discussion is the following question I'm going to ask each both Chief Rabbi sects rabbi Goldberg if you could paint an idealistic portrait we're not talking about what is which I might in your perfect world if you could paint an idealistic portrait of the postcode kovat 19-2 rabbi sacks if you could focus on the world community the greater community please as well feel free to answer this visa be the Orthodox community in rabbi Goldberg when you answer possibly you could focus on the Orthodox community but not limited please feel free to speak about the greater community what would you like to see as a consequence of this quarantine experience what would be the everlasting takeaway and how we act as individuals as families as communities when we come out of this how do you see the Jewish community in the postcode of nineteen world how will the Jewish community operate differently in your ideal world how should it operate differently and how should our relationship to God our avodah session be different in terms of how we relate to our spouse our parents our children how we relate to the community the shul the day schools but how we relate to humanity in general please for my snacks yeah let me begin where rabbi goldberg left off and expose the key question ezra pushed said and as of soloveitchik said is not to ask why has this happened but to ask what then shall I do and that is the key question that we have to ask right now there's a personal level a Jewish level and and a global level the personal level and it's a tough one is that I think just speaking personally my biggest question that I have to answer while this is happening is rabona shall along what do you need me to do that I have not yet done it's a very simple but a very deep question for each of us and if we're blessed we get an answer and that gives us direction for the future as far as the Orthodox community is concerned rabbi Goldberg has already hinted number one of first and foremost every single Orthodox community I think every single Jewish community as now or as soon as he can to reach out to the lonely the elderly being capacitated they are the ones who have suffered most every fool should put together if it hasn't already got one a welfare committee of volunteers that will invite such people as soon as it's safe to do so that will visit them that will phone them weekly or even daily is there anything you need they will have missed out on pesos they will have missed out but after Shabbat I said in the biblical sense it's about the widow the orphan the stranger the people at the margins of our community and this is a wake-up call have we ignored a single lonely person in our community welcome shouldn't do so from here onward number two is a very practical task a shul should put together a team of business people successful ones retired ones to help what the Rambam defines is the highest level of the sadaqa which is help people who may have lost their jobs whose businesses may have failed if them advice maybe financial support because there are real real economic problems that are going to arise that have already arisen and somebody else is gosh me that is my workmen I sure should be helping at an economic level and finally at the spiritual level we have to think what I did it as sham asked from time to go the Arcada to almost lose his job why did hashem know that our people would have to go to egypt and lose their freedom because i think the things that we have almost or nearly or briefly lost are the things we take care never to lose again and so to do jews became the most child-centred people in history and the most liberty-loving people in history because we almost lost our first child and we almost lost or we did lose for a while our liberty we have lost a great deal we've lost face to face contact claire futa Caitlin to Philip Seymour with lots simcha Bobby Nichol my Berryman we've lost half naser oric in all of these things we should look at with a renewed sense of spiritual appreciation because I think those things are terribly important those are the things that should be done right as soon as possible within every Orthodox community finally how does this affect humanity so the first time ever that all humanity has been faced with the same problem at the same time and forced into the same political and economic and and hygienic measures it has emphasized the Brit Binet Noah what I call the Covenant of human solidarity that's number one we should begin to realize that javea Vardhan share never a bad speller that there's something that unites us all as humanity number two we have seen one tiny little microscopic thing this virus bring all of humanity to its knees despite all our affluence and technological prowess and scientific knowledge you should create a new covenant of human vulnerability which should enhance our efforts which have been too little too late to guard against future dangers to manatee which climate change is clearly one the most important one but a cyberattack may be another and yet another pandemic may be yet another we have to realize our vulnerability and hence develop humility and hence make the world safe for our grandchildren are not simply focused on now a number three I think we have all seen that along with some very selfish and irresponsible behavior on the part of some there's been incredible heroic selfless behavior on the part of others there really is a dimension of we of acting for the common good which has made all the difference without which we would not have survived this so yes there is the eye of competition for wealth in the market and for power in the state but there is also the we of cressid said it of all the values that the nervion spoke of and I hope that having had a relentless generation me and a consumerist society and an economic driven vision of what we're about we realized that there are other and more important things in life and reaching out to help one another is one of those thank you very much rabbi Goldberg well my success of written about the butterfly effect applying it to the butterfly effect of kindness and one of the things that strikes me is that an invisible virus in an isolated in an area of the world has been able to absolutely turn the entire world the whole globe literally upside down and if that's the truth for something so negative then it can be true to something positive and if we all see that and take that responsibility which one of us will flap our wings in a way that can create a tsunami of kindness and change around the globe but as much as this has stopped the globe from spinning on its axis in the negative way that it has I started to be with Mark Cuban the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and he said you know I think in 10 or 20 years from now he posited we will look back and see that the most innovative changes the companies that were born that had the biggest difference came as a result of this crisis right now and he pointed to history which I'm not in a position to do that some of the greatest innovation entrepreneurship breakthrough happened after a time of retraction crisis tragedy and loss and while that might be true on an economic standpoint from a financial or company staple and I think it can also be true from a spiritual standpoint if we do this the right way what do I mean by that well let me first tell you what I'm a for you these are the fears that for the last several weeks the last month throughout case I have gripped me the concern that people have experienced things in a way that they might be satisfied with though they are not really they're not authentic so for example I'm worried in the future where people say I don't have to see the RAM but I saw bahamut's if I can do it online that year I can do it online every year or how many people come to show just for you scoffs unaffiliated you affiliated you don't make their way to show those Lots in addition but what will stop in the future they're saying you know for those who can't make it let's do at the end of home or a zoom you skir service and then will we lose out on those who that was their contact with school well people say why get dressed and fight for parking I don't have to go to my saxs class in person let's broadcast and stream all classes for now on going forward rabbis teachers will teach to empty rooms and everybody will be watching from the comfort of their own home these are just a few examples but they concern me with what did people experience during this crisis that I'm afraid don't want to take forward with them and I hope we won't on the other hand on the other end I think there are things we've been deprived of now I will give us a renewed sense of appreciation for maybe in a way that is unprecedented that we haven't had until now and let me explain to what I mean a few years ago I wrote an article Shino used to watch action challenging Millennials after a conversation wondering why Millennials don't come to yell mushrooms yeah heroic survivors they are literally paradigms of faith and courage a likes of which I don't know has ever existed or will again and we're running out of the opportunity to direct and I a challenge where are the Millennials and their answer was we experience your mushroom when so many other dates on the calendar online I posted a sad story I read i retweet i watch a video and they don't necessarily show up in person and I had a healthy exchange about it I learned a lot from it but one of my takeaways in this article that I challenged was there's an element and a notion called community that shrimp fans the individual going to transcend the experience it cannot be online it's something that can only be experienced in person Ashlin amount of tortoise component can leave odd number atom the notion that we see one another the reflection of one another's eye when he made his face there's a MIT professor psychologist sherry Turkle who wrote a book called alone together why do we expect more from technology and less from each other alone together and it's amazing thing the more you're connected online the lone heir you are when you come offline and this past month has been a real experiment in exactly this type of a Jewish society we have our classes some are even streaming a Kabbalah Shabbos or vomiting at the same time albeit it's not a minion you can't save I'm sure that Ducie we've been able to recreate and reproduce a lot of Jewish life but here's the thing we couldn't reproduce community human contact face to face heart to heart we've deprived a Velen of the ability to say Kaddish for their loved ones only when we are a community and even if our diving is better when we're by ourselves we owe it to mourners to create community so they can properly grieve and they could properly mourn their loved ones and there are countless more examples of it so my hope is that we come out from this realizing a few things the role first of all of our homes the Gemara the measures tell us that a forum called the Temple Mount to Haram at me when a sends you climb for that place of spirituality Yitzhak Thunder field he had a conversation my shell is folded this but Yakko who has a say at the most accurate description calls it a bias based elokim because what we've all done is we've created many synagogues and many button magician many facet batteries within our home and I hope that studies I hope we can preserve that I hope we can expand upon that I hope we're not always looking for the solution outside our home we're not running for companionship outside around that detainment outside our home we're not always inundated with guests but we've experienced what it means to be a family a nuclear family and what it means to shrimp or our homes into those holy places but I also hope it will renew our sense of love for community then maybe the house minion on my block is more convenient but this has taught me that I need to show up at the shore because community strengthens convenience and comfort I hope this shows me my effort to pay ship a call in person even if I don't know the person so I love deceased because what it means to be a community in good times and in bad times but community is something so much greater our tip rushman and seaboard burov anhydrous nella the thing that we've all been deprived with classes we have forms of Davin and we have forms of this and paste like we had all of our foods but we've been deprived community obviously as rabbis maybe we feel that we're pointedly more of acutely but I hope that we all feel that and that drives us to feel it and to contribute and to support it and to expand it to make it bigger and stronger than ever going forward rabbi sacks another goldberg on behalf of the o u family in the o u community you want to thank you really from the bottoms of our hearts for opening your personal stories and your personal perspective and also for taking a step back and looking at this on a global level and giving us the guidance and giving us food for thought as we move forward with our lives as we so to speak we take the lemons and we try to turn it into lemonade we want to move forward as better jews better human beings better members of god society in god's community and and on behalf of all of us you're both very busy and you both have many many responsibilities thank you for giving us of your heart your thoughts and your time to both of you you know one it turned it at this point over to Naphtali Harmon I want to thank Naphtali and the great people at oh you synagogue services and oh you community engagement who literally have been giving us these kind of quality programs day in day out throughout the quarantine and throughout coronavirus Neftali thank you very much for either while and thank you too so much Tara unbelievable panel for an incredibly informative enlightening and fascinating conversation I hope that all of you enjoyed it as much as I did it please note that you are if you are aware of those who may have missed today's program please inform them let them know it's available online at together dot o you not o RG together dot o u dot o-r-g and it could be watched on demand at any time thank you once again Robin Lord Jonathan Sacks probably add from Goldberg there are beasts even while and to all of you at home for joining us today I would like to draw your attention to a daily program at the O you coordinates which draws thousands from around the world every day at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time we have a short call which features a different pulpit rabbi from across the country who shares brief words of inspiration recites three chapters of tehilim many of our daily call participants have shared with us and it is these calls that keep them going for the next 24 hours for more information and to be added to the daily email call reminders please visit oh you dot o RG that's oh you org and it is the feature story and with that we hope and pray that all of our collective efforts for safety strength and a revoir for all of those in need will be answered lou Toba and may the rabona show them the master of the world speedily please bring an end to these days of concern and uncertainty stay strong hopeful and optimistic wishing everyone a wonderful meaningful joyful healthy and safe day thank you