Richard Hidary, "Tractate Coronavirus"
David Shasha
Tikvah Tablet Rabbi Richard Hidary on How Coronavirus “Plague” is Not So Bad
We have already encountered the “New Talmudism” of Brooklyn SY Rabbi Richard Hidary, which is a proud extension of the neo-Christian, anti-Rabbinic ideology of Christine Hayes and Daniel Boyarin:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LPbxxP_kkV536tPTvMpsUE9feBgoBSa7QEP8iXXDHIk/edit
Like his fellow self-hater Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo, but perhaps in an even more duplicitous manner, he has embraced the Anti-Semitic Spinozistic academic world of Wellhausen and Source Criticism and hidden it from public view, as he continues to remain ensconced in the YU Modern Orthodox world.
His viewpoint on the classical rabbinic tradition can be seen in the original title of his current book Rabbis and Classical Rhetoric, which was The Rabbis as Greco-Roman Rhetors.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1NQdm28qvvXY1EwMmJpQ1F2eEE/view?ths=true
Indeed, his scholarship is part of the larger academic framework arguing that the Sages “created” Judaism by “adapting” Greco-Roman culture:
https://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/2017/01/vis418018.shtml
Naturally, he is a part of the Tikvah world, having written a number of articles for The Jewish Review of Books:
https://jewishreviewofbooks.com/authors/?a=richard-hidary
So, it is not surprising that he was recently brought on by Alana Newhouse:
https://www.tabletmag.com/contributors/richard-hidary
His latest Tikvah Tablet article is on Coronavirus:
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/belief/articles/tractate-coronavirus
The complete article follows this note.
It is another in a long line of “Plague” articles that Newhouse has published, which try to minimize the importance – and danger – of the disease, in a way that aligns with the Lysol Talking Points:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/Davidshasha/tablet/davidshasha/MBv7Kkr0O4A/JrmDUBFPAQAJ
Here are the previous entries in the series:
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/science/articles/doidge-plague-journal
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/belief/articles/how-to-pray-in-a-plague
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/luttwak-kyle-harper-fate-of-rome
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/history/articles/susan-einbinder-abraham-caslari-plague
Newhouse has also published pieces on the China angle, which, as we will soon see, Hidary also notes:
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/science/articles/origin-covid-outbreak-wuhan
Here is Hidary’s “Talmudic” contribution to the Tikvah discussion:
While the current pandemic is unprecedented in its global reach, humanity has suffered plagues of lesser and greater severity throughout history. Jewish liturgy bears scars of that pain in its daily repeated pleading to ward off pestilence and plague, words that have tragically become very relevant for the first time in a century. As we mourn for those who have died alone in hospital beds isolated from their loved ones, and as we stagger back to normalcy, I hope we can find comfort and confidence from the ancient empathy, wisdom, and survival skills of generations past.
I am not sure that the current pandemic is “unprecedented in its global reach,” or that mass suffering is a new thing, but it is important to note the way in which Tikvah Tablet has followed the Trumpist directive to make the whole thing not so much and relativize it. People have always suffered throughout history, so do not be so worried. Just find some comfort!
Very Mister Rogers.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/Davidshasha/gETkqdw5kD8
But what is most important is not what the article says, but what it does not say.
As has become routine for the Tikvah world, Donald Trump’s holy name is treated with the utmost care. It is rare to find Trump mentioned directly in Tikvah articles, and even rarer to see him held responsible for his criminal malfeasance and debased contempt for humanity.
Indeed, as I mentioned earlier, Hidary even gives us the “Wuhan Virus” Trump meme:
The plague may begin as punishment against a wicked individual, but once inflicted, it spreads without distinction to the undeserving righteous as well. What the rabbis named “the destroyer” we may now understand as another semi-life-form we call viruses—but the lesson of collective consequences remains just as relevant. The first person to contract coronavirus was likely illegally trafficking pangolins, an endangered species whose scales are believed to have healing properties in traditional Chinese medicine, even after other murderous viruses transferred to humans through similar routes. The sin of the few can bring disaster to the many.
Rather than honestly address the matter of White House incompetence and malice, Newhouse and her writers are not interested in pointing fingers and making moral judgments.
That is not at all the “rabbinical” way of doing things.
As we see in the Hidary article, it is more important to muddy the COVID waters by applying “historical” lessons in an occult religious key, as he avoids the actual moral issues facing us today.
That “history” is of a piece with his “New Talmud” scholarship, which is more concerned with the elusive abstractions of the past, than with the actual moral needs of the present.
David Shasha
Tractate Coronavirus
By: Richard Hidary
Three basic options confront any person trying to exert some control over uncontrollable danger: science, superstition, and prayer. The strategy that most successfully removes the danger may not be the one that most effectively allays fear, and the best overall choice depends largely on the quality of the science. The talmudic rabbis, as piously monotheistic as they were, offer a spectrum of approaches in their discussion of avoiding the common perils of crossing a river:
Rav would not cross a river in a ferry in which a gentile sat. He said: “Perhaps a judgment will be reckoned with him, and I will be caught together with him when he is punished.”
Shmuel would only cross in a ferry if there was a gentile in it. He said: “Satan does not have dominion over two nations together.”
Rabbi Yannai would examine the ferry and cross. Rabbi Yannai acted in accordance with his reasoning stated elsewhere, as he said: A person should never stand in a place of danger saying that they will perform a miracle for him, lest in the end they do not perform a miracle for him. And, moreover, even if they do perform a miracle for him, they will deduct it from his merits. …
Rabbi Zeira would not go out and walk among the palm trees on a day when there was a southern wind blowing.
Rav Yitzḥak, son of Rav Yehuda, said: A person should always pray that he will not become ill, as if he becomes ill they say to him: Bring proof of your virtue in order to exempt yourself. (Bavli Shabbat 32a)
Rav, assuming that gentiles bore sins and that sins cause maritime mishaps, sought safety in religious segregation, lest the righteous get swept up with the wicked. Shmuel, who factored in the reality of Jewish transgressors, followed the opposite policy hedging his risk since Satan judges only one nation at a time. By juxtaposing these two opposite portents, the Talmud mockingly demonstrates the inanity of such omens and sets us up for Rabbi Yannai’s common-sense and comically simple option. Rather than rely on a shady superstition or a chancy miracle, why not just check the boat for leaks?
With this in mind, we can explore how the talmudic sages sought safe ground when threatened by the even more unpredictable and deadly plagues that menaced them with some regularity. The first line of defense recorded in the Mishna was to declare public fasting, prayer, and blowing the shofar once the epidemic reached a set threshold: “What constitutes a plague? If in a city that can supply 500 foot soldiers and three deaths occurred on three consecutive days, behold this constitutes a plague, less than this is not a plague” (Ta’anit 3:4). Assuming nine civilians for every potential infantryman yields a frighteningly high mortality rate of three in 5,000 within only three days.
The goal of fasting and prayer is not only to arouse God’s mercy, but also to prompt the community toward repentance. This implied link between sin and suffering received further specificity when the rabbis associated specific transgressions with particular disasters. Thus, plagues come as a form of capital punishment, on account of improper use of seventh-year fruit, and for miscarriage of justice (Mishnah Avot 5:8; Bavli Shabbat 33a).
Besides the prayer approach, the Talmud also provides scientifically sound directives (albeit presented in the language of demonic forces, thereby blurring the distinction between science and superstition). A series of such teachings at Bava Kama 60a begins with a bold explanation of theodicy:
Once permission is granted to the destroyer to kill, it does not distinguish between the righteous and the wicked.
The plague may begin as punishment against a wicked individual, but once inflicted, it spreads without distinction to the undeserving righteous as well. What the rabbis named “the destroyer” we may now understand as another semi-life-form we call viruses—but the lesson of collective consequences remains just as relevant. The first person to contract coronavirus was likely illegally trafficking pangolins, an endangered species whose scales are believed to have healing properties in traditional Chinese medicine, even after other murderous viruses transferred to humans through similar routes. The sin of the few can bring disaster to the many.
The Talmud continues with advice derived from Exodus 12:22 where Moses commands the Israelites not to leave their homes lest the destroying force attack them:
The Sages taught: If there is plague in the city, gather your feet, i.e., limit the time you spend out of the house, as it is stated in the verse: “And none of you shall go out of the opening of his house until the morning.” And it says in another verse: “Come, my people, enter into your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourself for a little moment, until the anger has passed by” (Isaiah 26:20). And it says: “Outside the sword will bereave, and in the chambers terror” (Deuteronomy 32:25) …
At a time when there was a plague, Rava would close the windows of his house, as it is written: “For death is come up into our windows” (Jeremiah 9:20) …
The Sages taught: If there is a plague in the city, a person should not walk in the middle of the road because the Angel of Death walks in the middle of the road, as, since they have given him permission to kill, he goes about in the open.
In other words, quarantine at home, be careful of airborne particles, and if you do need to go out, walk on the edge of the road and practice social distancing (from the Grim Reaper most of all). The talmudic sages had perfect faith in God’s omnipotence, justice and mercy, and they voiced their anguished grieving and desperate hope through prayers and cries of shofar blasts. At the same time, they never held themselves up to be so perfectly righteous that they could presume God would break the laws of nature for every foolhardy handshake. Fully aware of the diabolical forces spreading virally to wicked and righteous alike, they prayed and studied from within the safety of their homes.
While the current pandemic is unprecedented in its global reach, humanity has suffered plagues of lesser and greater severity throughout history. Jewish liturgy bears scars of that pain in its daily repeated pleading to ward off pestilence and plague, words that have tragically become very relevant for the first time in a century. As we mourn for those who have died alone in hospital beds isolated from their loved ones, and as we stagger back to normalcy, I hope we can find comfort and confidence from the ancient empathy, wisdom, and survival skills of generations past.
Rabbi Dr. Richard Hidary is an associate professor of Judaic Studies at Yeshiva University, a rabbi at Sephardic Synagogue, and a faculty member for the Wexner Heritage Program. He was recently a Starr fellow at Harvard University’s Center for Jewish Studies and a LEAP Katz fellow at the Katz Center for Advanced Jewish Studies, University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Dispute for the Sake of Heaven: Legal Pluralism in the Talmud (Brown University Press, 2010) and Rabbis and Classical Rhetoric: Sophistic Education and Oratory in the Talmud and Midrash (Cambridge University Press, 2018). He is currently writing a new translation and commentary on tractate Sanhedrin and he runs the websites teachtorah.org, pizmonim.org, and rabbinics.org.
From Tablet magazine, July 16, 2020