Rebbetzin Heller: This is a Time to Surrender and Enjoy (1-Minute Corona Video)

Rebbetzin Heller: This is a Time to Surrender and Enjoy (1-Minute Corona Video)

God bless Rebbetzin Heller, like a breath of fresh air and perspective. [By the way, I heard about this video from Shoshana Pear’s uplifting weekly parsha sheet, which is the first thing I read every Shabbat. If you’d also like to sign up for her free mailing list Email her at shoshanapear@gmail.com].

8 comments

  1. And she has a wonderful reason to be happy, as she just got engaged to Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb! Mazal tov!

  2. With all due respect, I find it highly inappropriate to laugh about people dying and to tell people to “enjoy every minute.”. As a wife of a physician, I can assure you that there is nothing funny or enjoyable about the risks faced by healthcare workers and their families. There is nothing funny or enjoyable about the plight of the immunocompromised patients my husband cares for. There is nothing funny or enjoyable about the situation of those who have lost their livelihoods and thus their ability to put food on the table. There is nothing funny or enjoyable about trying to figure out how to care for one’s aging parents who live out of state, when travel is highly dangerous and probably soon-to-be-prohibited anyway. There is nothing funny or enjoyable about the certainty that people one knows – probably people one holds dear – will lose their lives. And there is nothing funny or enjoyable about being so severely anxious that it is difficult to get dressed in the morning.

    There is so much suffering as a result of this pandemic, and one needs to reach out to others while honoring that basic truth. Trust me: those of us in the trenches (and that will soon be most of us) need empathy, kindness, and compassion. Period.

    • JewishMom

      Thank you for your comment, I agree with you completely. And I salute your husband and you and your family for the sacrifice you are making as soldiers on the front lines of this war for all humanity.
      I think that Rebbetzin Heller’s intention is not to belittle the fact that tremendous, unfathomable suffering is taking place in the world now. But rather to provide a reframe for the people who are “so severely anxious that it is difficult to get dressed in the morning.” In addition to the suffering taking place as a direct result of this pandemic, there is also copious additional, unnecessary emotional suffering on account of rampant panic and anxiety.
      What I personally take from this video is not to belittle the tragedy and pandemic God forbid, but rather to do the little I can (washing my hands with soap, leaving the house only when necessary, and praying) while remaining calm and normal enough to maintain a happy calm environment for my family.

      • Such a deep gut wrenching struggle we face daily- my friends husband is in the ICU, my other friends son is in the hospital and I can drown in the sadness and fear I feel for them as well as for all those suffering. But then my family will be drowning as well if they have a depressed, anxious, crying Mommy leading the helm. So, instead, I choose to work every second on being bsimcha and learning emuna and davening my heart out for all those who are in pain and suffering. But it’s a choice I have to conciously make. Blessings of love on good health to all

      • Thank you so much for your very thoughtful comment. Yes, we must each find a way to be strong for our children. We each have to go about this in our own way, finding that strength where we can.

        And I want to echo what Rachel said in her beautiful comment about blessings of love and good health!!

    • not to belittle or take lightly one word but lets cut the rebbetzin a BIT of slACK SHE JUST BECAME A kallah.

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