One line caught me during Rosh Hashanah davening. I’m sure I’m not the only one who saw it. “Ki sa’aveer memsheles zadon min ha’aretz — Because You will remove evil’s dominion from the world.”
The wording struck me as passive. It will be G-d, not us, who will come to remove the evil. All we have to do is stay true to Him. He will do all the heavy lifting.
“Evil’s dominion” sounds so medieval. Unfortunately, it’s still alive and well. Evil’s dominion just looks a little different in 2020. It dresses more like a philanthropist in a pair of khakis and a sweater.
G-d will make use of some pretty strange resources to make sure this one-line prayer gets fulfilled. The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, came forward as an unlikely player on the team of G-d. He acted like that blunt dinner guest who says what everyone else at the table of polite society already knows but won’t say, and while everyone else is busy talking about their golf game, he says it. Bless him for it. He gave me the biggest gift: An explanation.
There are countries, such as Australia and Israel, that are still imposing extreme lockdown measures seven months later. It makes no sense to me. The virus has shown itself to be minimally lethal and we know many ways to treat it, including the drug that works but can longer be mentioned. I hate when things don’t make sense. It drives me crazy.
Lockdown measures are no longer warranted, helpful, or proportional to the threat. These measures are antithetical to a thriving country, a country rooted in freedom and self-determination. These lockdowns suck the life out of people and destroy the morale of a country. World leaders aren’t stupid. They know this. There had to be a clandestine reason that countries were still putting a chokehold on their honest, hardworking citizens. I just didn’t know what it was. Until now.
President Alexander Lukashenko gave me a beautiful gift, a peek behind the curtain. Although the world is still a strange place right now, at least I have a flickering glimmer of clarity. Clarity is Windex on greasy glasses. Clarity nods a knowing smirk amidst the chaos. Clarity can endure almost any madness because it sees beyond it.
I understand that countries around the world have been offered multimillion-dollar relief loans from the World Bank and the IMF. There are strict conditions that come attached to these loans, conditions beautifully exposed by the politically incorrect Lukashenko. He reportedly said, “The IMF continues to demand from us quarantine measures, isolation, and curfew.” The IMF offered Lukashenko $940 million in aid if he would comply with WHO recommendations to slow the spread of COVID-19, including increasing enforcement of lockdown, masks, and curfews.
According to Gerry Rice of the Communication Department of IMF, “We did not demand quarantine, isolation, lockdown, but we sought assurances for steps to contain the pandemic in line with WHO recommendations, which is our standard operating procedure in all countries.”
President Lukashenko, in openly refusing the tainted bailout, revealed to us the exact corruption being dangled in front of other world leaders. The mysterious motivation behind these inexplicable lockdowns suddenly starts to reveal itself. It all comes down to money. Complicit world leaders are kicking Lukashenko under the table.
This shocking revelation cleared up another baffling phenomenon, in case you were wondering why airlines have also gone communist crazy. If you have seen the viral videos of babies being made to wear masks on airplanes or exhausted moms forced off airplanes, we now have an answer to that one, too. Airlines are also being offered the same massive financial bailouts in exchange for tighter enforcement of mask policies. Airlines are hurting right now and desperate to survive.
What could the World Bank and IMF possibly stand to gain from crashing so many countries’ economies via prolonged lockdowns and controlling the airlines? I don’t know. Dominion of evil, perhaps.
The Hebrew letters of this year — tav, shin, pei, aleph — a year that is being played out on a global stage, forms an acronym that translates as, “you will be amazed.” The language is passive. It is not our responsibility to do the amazing things; we have the privilege of being grateful spectators while G-d does the amazing things for us. What a relief.
To prove it, G-d started the first night of this new year with something only He could do. G-d selected this most auspicious night to escort 87-year-old Ruth Bader Ginsburg to her portion of heaven.
Candace Owens, who has found fame by repudiating her former criticism of President Donald Trump, also found “G-d’s timing is always perfect.” G-d made sure that none of us could miss His Hand in that deliverance. Quite a kick-start to the Year of Being Amazed. Trump is set to announce her replacement this Saturday. What a gift. The world keeps spinning in the right direction. Thank you, Hashem.
With my newfound clarity of all things COVID and my optimistic anticipation of a year of amazement, I come to one conclusion. No matter how dirty the game gets played behind the scenes, G-d is even better than Windex; he can clean up evil’s dominion in a single swipe. The only thing for us to do is to stand tall as players on G-d’s team. Hang tight, have faith, and watch. All will be revealed.
Editors Note: Lukashenko‘s government is widely characterized as authoritarian and he has often been referred to by media outlets as “Europe’s last dictator.” Elections are not considered to be free and fair by international monitors, opponents of the regime are repressed, and the media is not free. The columnist’s opinions on dictators do not necessarily reflect those of The 5 Towns Jewish Times or 5TJT.com.
Dr. Gila Jedwab has been practicing dentistry for nearly two decades. She graduated from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) in 2000 and completed her residency in general practice at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Her dental practice is in Cedarhurst.