2020-03

A spiritual antiviral that's effective against coronavirus? Here's hope:
In a mad rush to prevent the global pandemic of coronavirus, researchers are looking for all types of defensive measures, such as boosting people's immune systems and looking for antibodies that prevent the penetration of coronavirus into healthy human cells. The difficulty of coronavirus is that its protein-like spikes serve as daggers that pierce and penetrate healthy cells. From a spiritual standpoint, though, I would take an offensive measure, and use a spiritual equivalent of what the pharmaceutical world calls antivirals, substances that fight off viral infections by attacking the viruses themselves. The power that knocked down the impregnable walls of Jericho can surely knock down the walls of the coronavirus. 
Related: Go back and hear our podcast from Feb. 9, 2020 entitled, Protection from Coronavirus

Recently, when I spoke at a girl's school in Brooklyn and discussed the importance of a person having his or her own personal relationship with the Creator and speaking to Him daily, a young lady shot up from her seat and said, "Hey Rabbi, what you're talking about might have applied to Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Leah and other holy women mentioned in the Torah, but not to me and my generation. How could God possibly care about me, especially when I'm far from Torah and holiness and all that stuff? What does He need me for anyway?" Here's her answer...

The desert is not unsightly desolation as many people think. Its vastness and its many unique features, especially in winter, bring out an indescribable beauty. When we're alone - like a desert - we too can flower, as we learn in today's podcast from McDowell State Park in Arizona.

Life in this world is like crossing a dangerous desert, but anyone who sticks to the path avoids the many perils that are as soon as someone veers from the path, as we learn in today's lesson.