We are in the season of Yetzias Mitzrayim, when we talk about leaving Egypt and slavery and gaining freedom. Sometimes people experience their own personal Mitzrayim. But when one chooses to rise above their circumstances, however troubled, and, instead of giving up and blaming their failures on their past, makes a better future, this essentially is their own private Yetzias Mitzrayim

I had the privilege of interviewing Mrs. Faigy Rabinowitz, the wife of Rabbi Pinchas Rabinowitz, director of Bikur Cholim. Faigy is an LCPC-licensed mental health counselor and an example of someone who experienced a Yetzias Mitzrayim of her own. She went from growing up in an orphanage in Meah Shearim to living a fulfilling life as a wife, mother, and successful professional in Baltimore.

Currently, there is a plague going around the world which has panicked entire nations. 

With our community’s children home from school, and much of our normal schedule disturbed, we are all trying to deal with a new and unfamiliar reality. It is now up to parents to structure the day and provide for davening, learning, education, exercise, and leisure time. Very important as well, however, is the need to maintain a calm atmosphere and give children rational explanations, according to their ages and their reactions to stressful and changing situations. 

The current situation has of course triggered anxiety in both adults and children. The suggestions that follow can be helpful. If, however, you feel that your anxiety is affecting your ability to function, it would be best to seek the services of a professional.

With all Baltimore shuls closed and many people in isolation, the internet has become a conduit for kedusha. Rabbi Binyamin Marwick of Shomrei Emunah was kind enough to explain how his shul is using Zoom for both shiurim and davening.

Zoom, a video-conferencing platform, allows davening “alone together.” Rabbi Marwick davens aloud, and each man in his own home can see and hear the other members of the “minyan.” It is not a minyan in the halachic sense, of course, and one cannot say kaddish or chazaras hashas or lein the Torah. But it does allow a group of people to daven at one time and to feel connected to each other and the community.

Hello, Rabbi Motzen, I would like to interview you about the coronavirus (COVID-19) as a message to the kids of this community. 

Akiva Schnitzer: What would you say to kids wanting to go to their friends’ house to play?

Rabbi Motzen: I would tell the kids it is against halacha right now to go play at friends’ houses, but I also want you to know that you have an incredible opportunity to save people’s lives like the greatest doctors and medical professionals. By staying home, you are helping save people’s lives, and that is an incredible opportunity that, normally, a 10-, 11-, 12-, and even a 35-or 55-year-old doesn’t have. So I want you to think about this and take into consideration that this is what is going to save people’s lives. It is going to be hard and challenging, but we know you can do it. And it is a huge mitzva.

Mrs. Klein is reading a picture book to her children at bedtime when she realizes with shock that it contains subject matter that she feels is inappropriate for children. She stops reading it and switches to another book. Mrs. Katz would like to allow her fourth-grade son to read the series that he claims “everyone” is reading but cannot find time in her busy day to pre-read it for him. Mrs. Smith pretty much allows her children to read from the library whatever they want but is plagued by an uncomfortable feeling that children’s books are not what they used to be. She wishes she knew how to guide their choices.

I write this from my room, listening to my children playing on day four of the COVID-19 shutdown. Life has changed, and we are trying to adjust to this new reality. Baruch Hashem, we are healthy, and the weather has been beautiful. If it weren’t for the worry for tomorrow and sadness for what has changed, we could truly enjoy what has become a beautiful family time.

In the face of the rapid pace of the changes, I would like us to pause and think about how we are doing – not what we are doing, but how we are doing. It’s stressful. We are facing school shutdowns and isolation. We can’t visit Bubby and Zaidy. There is a loss of income. We can’t go to shul, and there is a dangerous illness lurking everywhere. We have said goodbye to meaningful institutions and people, and we don’t know when things will return to normal. It’s w sad, and we are going through a lot. With so many real concerns, we need to be smart about what we do with ourselves and our children.

It was Sunday night, March 15, when a close family friend returned my call regarding a business-related matter. She sounded terrible. I assumed that she, like many of us, was scared of the virus: the injury and damage it has already wrought as well as the unknown potential effects, chas veshalom, that may loom ahead, Hashem Yishmor.

I was wrong. She had full faith in the Ribono shel Olam (G-d) – that only He was in charge and knew exactly what He was doing. Hashem would only do, or allow happen, what is best for His people. So why was she so depressed? The news of  the shul closures in Baltimore had just been released. The men in her family at home, her husband and 16-year-old son, would not be able to daven with a minyan. In particular, the thought that her son, who had developed an unswerving desire and love for tefilah b’tzibur, rarely if ever missing a minyan, would not be able to daven with his friends in yeshiva or his father in shul, was extremely distressing. I tried to “comfort” her with words I cannot even now remember. We talked it through for a few minutes. I think she felt better. But I felt worse.

In a mother’s womb, twins had a conversation.

One asked the other, “Do you believe in life after delivery?”

The other replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.”

“Nonsense” said the first. “There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be?”

The second said, “I don’t know, but it will be lighter than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths. Maybe we will have other senses that we can’t understand now.”

Dear Kids Who Are Home All Day,

My name is Rena Schor. I am 8 years old, and I am in third grade. I am homeschooled always, not only during the coronavirus!

I love playing with paper dolls! My grandmother, who runs the WWW with a few other ladies, once tried to make a paper doll business. She gave me lots of samples. We got more by printing out extras from the computer. Soon we had about 60! I printed them out and colored them in. They’re in a box in my room. Sometimes I take them out and play with them. You can make your own and make clothes and everything!