Emerging from the cave of covid.

      A story is told about Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai and his son, who hid from the Romans who wanted to put them to death. For twelve years they lived in a cave studying Torah. God supplied them with water and the fruit of a carob tree. Hearing the edict against them had been revoked, they emerged from the cave. They saw people engaged in commerce. Bar Yohai said: These people abandon Torah study for temporal life! Wherever they looked with their eyes was burned up. God said: Stop destroying my world. Return to your cave! A year later, they re-emerged. His son still sought to destroy, Shimon bar Yohai sought to heal. They were still unhappy with this world until they saw someone hurrying home to observe Shabbat. (Shabbat 33b).

    We too have been living in a cave, our existence limited by covid. Bar Yohai and his son were sustained only by water, the fruit of a carob tree, and each other. We too have been confined, having had limited contact with others, our lives disrupted from their routines. The only way we were able to get out of the narrow place was through zoom, Netflix and email. What lessons have we learnt from this period of limitations? What did we learn about what is essential and not essential as we lived a stripped-down existence?

    Bar Yohai and his son seemed to learn that only one thing mattered---the study of Torah. Not family or friends. Not the work that is required to sustain life. Only Torah. In fact, it was an ideal abstract vision of Torah, unchallenged by everyday existence. They re-emerge from their world of Torah and can’t believe that people are engaged in working to earn a living. The trauma of their 12 years of isolation is transformed into a vision that destroys everything it sees.

    Exiled by God for another year, they once again emerge into the world. Caught between the impulse to heal or harm, Bar Yohai finally realizes that Torah is not lived in a theoretic ideal. It is lived in everyday life. Torah is to be translated into a practice that helps us live our lives in challenging times as well as in ordinary times. Torah points to a vision of a better future. Seeing a Jew who has spent the week working, hurrying to observe Shabbat teaches them that life and Torah are one, not opposites. Real Torah is not lived in a cave sustained by miracles. It is created by people in real life. As we emerge from the cave of covid, we need to have patience with others and with ourselves. We need not to scorch the earth with judgement. We need to reflect honestly on what Torah we take with us from this year of limitations and lack of control. We need to engage in life’s central question: How can we each strive to increase the Torah of caring, transformation and hope in this world?