Pandemics through history and the religious response

God and the Pandemic, A Judaic Reflection on the Coronavirus, by Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel, First Edition Design Publishing ©2020, ISBN 978-1-5069-2928-8, p. 215, plus notes, $14.95.

By Fred Reiss, Ed.D.

WINCHESTER, California – The Jewish people are no strangers to plagues. One can argue Israel’s twelve tribes coalesced into the Nation of Israel as a direct result of the God-produced plagues on Egypt, described in the Book of Exodus. But the word pandemic first appears during the Plague of London (1665-1666), a plague resulting in the death of fifteen to twenty percent of the city’s population. The government demanded a thirty-day quarantine. The medical profession offered help through bleeding, purging, and chemical treatments, but mostly to no avail. Religion offered reasons for the calamity: Church sermons declaring sin to be the cause of the plague, requiring prayer and repentance as the remedy.

In his newest book, God and the Pandemic, Rabbi Samuel starts with a historical look at plagues in antiquity, comparing and contrasting leadership skills combating them, praising Marcus Aurelius, a stoic, for guiding his nation through the Antonine Plague in the second century, and condemning Roman emperors in the following century for failing to protect the citizenry during the Plague of Cyprian.

Samuel continues with a broad examination of the philosophical, theological and scientific thoughts and actions of past and present sages, scholars and writers struggling to understand and steer through dangerous and fearful times caused by an invisible enemy, among God’s smallest entities, viruses. In each of the eight sections, God and the Pandemic presents, through stories and brief essays, facts, opinions, and opposing views and thoughts on how individuals cope with faith and logic in times of pandemic.

Samuel muses over how French philosophers Voltaire, scoffing at the idea of a benevolent deity, and Rousseau, who finds evil within human nature, might react to COVID-19, and then turning to Christian and Jewish theology asks if viruses exist as part of the punishment for original sin? “The cure for a Christian is to accept Christ as his/her savior. Christians believe he alone endured all the pain of humankind.” Biblical Judaism, seeing sickness as punishment, believes disease is the outward manifestation of inner sin, calling on priests to act as medical investigators. Maimonides argues there is no quid pro quo, chastisement for bad deeds; reward for compliance to the law, between man and God. Samuel finds the Book of Job to be a powerful source of insight and faith, even as it, too, contradicts biblical teachings about reward and punishment, because it reflects “the type of opinions [contemporaneous] religious leaders express concerning the coronavirus pandemic.”

God and the Pandemic challenges the foundation and actions of many religious persuasions, including the Orthodox Haredim. The Coronavirus offered a test of their faith. Samuel reports the Haredim “always point to the secular Israeli state for being the root cause of their social problems.” However, Haredi rabbis failed to act in a timely manner and the rapid spreading of the virus in their ghetto-like communities, such as Bnei B’rak, “has shaken the confidence of their followers in their rabbis, whom they believe are incapable of making errors,” just as Catholics believe the Pope is infallible.

The President and many religious leaders want religious services to resume, but not all agree. Samuel wants readers to consider if centralized worship ought to be an “essential service,” a religious imperative. Is social distancing compatible with the Hebrew Bible? He notes lepers were segregated from the community, the Book of Jeremiah (21:9) suggests people leave the city to avoid dying from a plague, and in the Talmud “the sages taught: If there is a plague in the city, gather your feet, i.e., limit the time you spend out of the house.”

Practical and potential Jewish concerns are scrutinized in God and the Pandemic. How should funerals be conducted? Should cremation be permitted during the plague? Plagues need a villain, a scapegoat. The president called coronavirus the Chinese Virus. Anti-Semitism is certainly on the rise, could the plague become a Jewish problem? If so, he ponders, how should anti-Semitism be fought? Blankets infected with smallpox were given to American Indians in the nineteenth century as a means of extermination. How can we prevent coronavirus from becoming a bioweapon? The US government summarily demands schools to reopen in the fall, yet no plan is forthcoming to ensure the health and safety of students and staff. Is this a wise choice?

God and the Pandemic is a carefully crafted excursion into the realities of life under the influence of plagues. Samuel draws on ancient wisdom, timeworn traditions, and modern science, encouraging the reader to form plans before venturing out into a potentially hostile world. God and the Pandemic’s chapters are true thought-starters.

Pandemics, to the extent of their duration and the degree of havoc wrought on the community, can become events altering the lives of families and nations. Plagues are “acts of God,” how we perceive and respond to them “acts of man.” God and the Pandemic shouts the wisdom of Proverbs, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

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Fred Reiss, Ed.D. is a retired public and Hebrew school teacher and administrator. His newest book is the forthcoming A Deep Dive into the Jewish Calendar for the Mathematically Challenged. He may be contacted via fred.reiss@sdjewishworld.com.  Another review of Rabbi Samuel’s book  by Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin was published last month.