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GLOBAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Chief Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein

A SOURCE OF COMFORT

Shabbat IN A TIME OF TURMOIL

s human beings, we seek to Now, as the ravages of Covid-19 con- This deep-seated trust in G-d is sym-
understand, predict and con- tinue to be felt, and the world we knew bolised by the two challot on our Shab-
Atrol. Not knowing is a pro- – the world we were all so certain of bat table. We know that G-d provided
foundly discomfiting experience. We – becomes less solid and dependable for our people in the desert for 40 years
don’t want to live with uncertainty. We by the day, we’re looking around for with the manna from heaven. The two
want to know. And when we don’t, that something to hold onto. Something challot at each Shabbat meal remind us
throws our minds into turmoil. that will give us a sense of stability in a of the double portion of manna that fell
Countless studies demonstrate the world that is rocking. Something that on Friday so the Jewish people wouldn’t
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causative relationship between intol- will soothe our existential angst and have to gather it for Shabbat (Shabbat
erance of uncertainty and severe mental give us relief and comfort. Is there such 117b). They remind us that our own
a thing?
health ailments – anxiety disorder, sustenance today is just as miraculous –
obsessive compulsive disorder, severe I believe there is. And I believe we can it comes from Heaven even if it doesn’t
depression. find it within our tradition. It is a mitz- fall out of the sky. On Shabbat, like our
ancestors in the desert, we put down
vah – the only mitzvah – described by
We crave a sense of control over our the Talmud (Shabbat 10b) as a gift from our burdens and our anxieties, and
lives and our wellbeing. And Covid-19 G-d. It is a mitzvah that helps us deal place our trust in G-d.
has whisked that away. with our deepest existential questions, We may no longer be wandering the
This past year, we have all lived through enables us to devise a more meaningful wilderness, but our future is equally
the most life-changing, unforgettable, lifestyle, and offers us hope for a better unknown and unknowable, and our
historic experience. We have seen future. circumstances just as precarious. Espe-
everything we know and trust turned That mitzvah is, of course, Shabbat. cially now. Throughout the coronavirus
on its head. Every certainty, prediction, crisis, we have felt our vulnerabilities
expectation has been upended. The Shabbat is the ultimate declaration of acutely, from a health point of view,
world has been tilted off its axis. The faith – a faith we proclaim through the from a financial point of view. But each
coronavirus pandemic has changed our Kiddush we recite on Friday night. With week, Shabbat instils in us the faith to
world in the most dramatic way, leaving the words of Kiddush, we testify that meet an uncertain future with tranquil-
no aspect of our lives untouched. G-d created the world. There is a great lity and trust.
comfort in knowing G-d is in control,
Uncertainty is everywhere. Uncertainty especially during times like these. At On Shabbat, we remind ourselves that
about our health, our jobs, about when a time when we’ve all felt so vulnera- G-d created this world; that He is ulti-
the pandemic will end, or whether life ble, we put our faith and trust in our mately in control of it and that He is
will ever return to normal. Creator. carrying us. When we gather around a
table as a family and say the words of
It’s an uncertainty that carries great Trusting G-d does not mean we believe the Kiddush, reaffirming our belief in
danger. In a recent webinar discus- everything is going to turn out exactly G-d as the Creator and in our holy mis-
sion I held with the renowned Jewish the way we want; rather, it is an under- sion to fulfil His commandments; when
historian, Rabbi Berel Wein, he noted standing that everything that happens we look at the two challot on the table
how the society-wide uncertainty that in our lives is part of G-d’s plan, and and remind ourselves that we are in His
accompanied the 1918 Spanish Flu ultimately for the good; that the world, loving embrace and that He is looking
pandemic led to the rise of Fascism. and our lives, are in His loving hands, after us and that we can trust Him to
Unfortunately, we’re certainly seeing and that He is carrying us through this. do what is ultimately for our own good;
polarisation and instability on the rise. (Chazon Ish, Emunah uVitachon Ch. 2) when we feel that sense of trust and

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