06 October 2020

"19 Reasons to Thank Hashem for Covid-19": One that stands out

 18 Tishrei 5781


Shmuel Sackett, known as Moshe Feiglin's sidekick assistant since long before I left the USA for my ancestral homeland, sometimes writes divre Torah and sends them by email (which is how I got the material for this post). Within them he often comes up with thought-provoking points. I present to my readers an especially good one to ponder, that he included in honor of this past Yom haKippurim. Shmuel explains:

My outlook on this – and things like it – is simple. While I do not ignore the sadness, tragedies, and danger, I try – as best as I can – to see the positive as well. Unfortunately, I am far from being a “Gam Zu Le’Tova” (this too is for the best) guy, but I do try to see the good and focus on it. During this past Shabbat Shuva I pushed myself to see the good in the Covid-19 challenge that Hashem has sent our way… and then I went one step further. I not only want to see the good, I want to thank Hashem for the good!

Therefore, even though we are still extremely far from this being over – and many challenges still lie ahead – I plan on thanking Hashem, on Yom Kippur, for the following 19 things. When a daughter of mine asked me what the connection was to Yom Kippur, I answered the following: Maybe we have to do teshuva for not recognizing these good, positive things. Obviously, Hashem has sent this pandemic for a reason and it will continue until we learn these lessons. Everything our King does has a purpose and a message and if we don’t understand that message… the lesson may still continue. So, dearest friends, let’s stop complaining and start focusing. I don’t have all the answers – and I struggle with many of these things myself – but after 7 months of living with the Covid-19 pandemic, let’s do our best to see the good that has come out of this and ask forgiveness from Hashem for only seeing the bad.

And I've picked out the best one, in my humble opinion:

18. Less people dying – Although many have died from Covid, the overall death rate in Israel in the last 7 months is lower than ever! I checked the numbers myself with several “Chevra Kadisha” workers who have told me that it’s 100% true… less people have died in Mar-Sept 2020 than in the same period in the last 10 years!

Can you believe that?! It even lends itself to analysis, and could lead to more with some hard numbers from his cited source and from elsewhere. I attempted a synopsis in the next two paragraphs:

  • Any Israeli Jew who knows what the Hevra Kadishah is, knows that these are the "boots on the ground" here, and that they ought to know what they're talking about! 
  • That fewer Israelis have died from all causes in the seven whole months between March and September 2020, during the period of coronavirus contagion in Israel up until now, than in the same period since 2010 without the magefah, is highly significant and noteworthy for the Qiddush haShem  (sanctification of G-d's Holy Name and Reputation) it represents!

Here's how the חֶבְרָה קַדִישָא operates in Israel under Bituah Leumi (National Insurance Institute). (CAVEAT: This page does not specify the rules for handling those who passed due to Covid-19. I searched, and found none, not even links.)

Read the entire Shmuel Sackett article here. (Yes, he posted as well as emailed. But I had to search for this link! Could he have sent the email before posting it? -HDG)

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4 comments:

yaak said...

Very interesting. Thanks!

Neshama said...

See how the government LIED LIES AND CONTINUES TO LIE about their involvement with this PLANDEMIC Fiasco! Playing with numbers, tests, infected, cases, and all the other innuendos to confuse and cause distress, depression, and death from their actions and intentions, especially against the Haredim!!

HDG, Yerushalayim, E"Y Shlemah said...

Yup.

I imagine the situation is highly confusing to the average person. The testing method is highly questionable; even the list of symptoms changes too often not to include other diseases with "covid-19."

I will say now - I wrote a while ago, probably back in February, that I was thinking of asking to get tested, long before they began it here. Now I have changed my mind about that. A lot of things happened, but that lady whose brain barrier got punctured by the long Q-tip — or whatever it is — really scared me off; then I heard about the lens-like material that may be the reason a lot of people suffer pain from the test — and that might be connected to 5G or something else on the internet — I'm not interested in being personally hooked up to the internet or whatever replaces it. And I haven't been sick enough in the last 7 months, really, to reconsider.

I am glad I backed off and watched first. Flu shots are bad enough, but at least I can correct that with some vitamin C.

HDG, Yerushalayim, E"Y Shlemah said...

Dear Readers: Just so that you all know: I found backup of the Hevra Qadisha people's words from the Israeli CBS (Central Bureau of Statistics) an English-language summary of the death rate this year, from March until July 2020. Here is a telling portion of the summary, with figures:

"From the beginning of 2020 to the end of July, 27,500 residents of Israel died. There were 27,550 deaths during the same period in 2019. During these months, the crude death rate, which takes population size into account, was slightly lower in 2020 than in 2019: 3.0 per 1,000 in 2020 compared with 3.1 per 1,000 in 2019."

You can read these reports in their entirety (the whole report, in Hebrew only).

English
Hebrew (PDF)