"People are thinking deeply about the big questions of life in a way that I have not seen in decades"

What I gained this week

“Learning Mishnayos Taharos has always strained my imagination. What will the world look like when Mashiach comes and the complex world of tumah and taharah comes into place? We’ll have to think twice about the status of everything we touch and every person we encounter, so now I’m hoping we’ll be prepared and Mashiach will flip the darkness we are experiencing into a society of pure light.”

—Author and educator RABBI MENACHEM NISSEL

“More white hair. I never thought that we’d ever see the day when the whole Olam Hazeh would one day say, ‘Sorry, not today!’ It turns out that every single thing we take for granted about this world is so fragile and so fickle. We know it, but we never imagine that we’ll actually see it. And yet here we are. That’s a gain.”

—Singer BENNY FRIEDMAN

“In addition to weight, I gained a deep and profound appreciation of the little things, like the ability to daven with a minyan.”

—RABBI EFREM GOLDBERG, Boca Raton Synagogue

What I’m most proud of

“My wife, and the amazing way she is dealing with all this.”

—BENNY FRIEDMAN

“Being a Yid. Nothing is like the Jewish People. I mean that.”

—Author and lecturer RABBI YECHIEL SPERO

“All the eating and hanging around together in the house, a newfound appreciation for the words of Chazal that ‘Gedolah legimah shemekareves halevavos.’ Our family is reading stories of Reb Shayale Kerestir zy”a together to highlight the significance and holiness of Yidden eating together…. Seriously — dramatic readings about yeshuos from eating Shabbos leftovers and home-made Masterchef competitions are recipes for meaningful fun and geshmak dinners.”

—RABBI JUDAH MISCHEL, executive director of Camp HASC, Mashpia of NCSY

“The extraordinary displays of chesed and concern being coordinated for the most vulnerable.”

—RABBI EFREM GOLDBERG

What moved me most?

“A friend of mine texted me to say he understands that I just bought a house and that my line of work has taken, is taking, and will be taking a huge beating, and then he asked me if a $20,000 interest-free loan would make my life a little easier. That was a beautiful thing for him to do and it almost made me cry.”

—BENNY FRIEDMAN

“What hasn’t? I’ve been moved 50 times a day. Watching my children and how they are learning from their teachers, who have shown once more why they are the Jewish People’s greatest treasure.”

—RABBI YECHIEL SPERO

“Zoom kumzitzen bringing Yidden together around the world, with Eitan Katz, Shlomo Katz, Joey Newcomb, and others… We need to sing together, daven together, farbreng together. Ki b’simchah teitzeiyu. Also, I’m proud of how quickly and effectively NCSY moved international outreach and educational efforts to an online platform under the slogan ‘Apart, But Always Together,’ providing creative and inspirational programming.

—RABBI JUDAH MISCHEL

“I’m getting messages from NCSYers and students across the globe asking for chizuk and hadrachah. People are thinking deeply about the big questions of life in a way that I have not seen in decades. Hashem has turned the world upside down in just a few days. It’s incredible how with a tool the size of one billionth of a meter He seems to be bringing the whole world to teshuvah.”

—RABBI MENACHEM NISSEL

“The images of people transforming their homes into thriving, inspired mini-shuls and batei medrash.”

—RABBI EFREM GOLDBERG

“I was moved to see all the group e-mails sent back and forth by mothers — busy, harried, overworked, overloaded mothers with no space, no structure, no quiet moments, not a minute of downtime — asking and offering advice for how to focus properly on their children and transform this tense time into days of connection, warmth, and uplift.”

—SHOSHANA FRIEDMAN, Mishpacha managing editor

What was the item or project that proved indispensable?

“For my kids, it’s the dedication of their teachers and the online school that they created immediately after their school was closed. For me? The daily shiurim given by my beloved uncle Rabbi Josh Gordon, zichrono livrachah, on Chabad.org.”

—BENNY FRIEDMAN

“The daf yomi remains a constant in a world that is changing by the hour.”

—RABBI EFREM GOLDBERG