QUARANTA GIORNI

Isolation, confinement and even depression are feelings that many of us who are reeling from the Coronavirus experience today. All of these are in some measure the result of the quarantine under which we are living. But “Quarantine” is such an odd word! Perhaps having more time on my hands these days has led me to think about the word “Quarantine” and its origin. But if you are like me, you probably haven’t had the faintest idea whence it came! 

A quick search tells us that its derivation is from Italian and goes back to the 14th century during the Black Plague. Ships were required to be isolated offshore for forty days before the passengers and crew could disembark. “Forty days” in the Venetian dialect of the day was “quaranta giorni.” Yet, it wasn’t until Congress legislated a quarantine in 1878 during a Yellow Fever epidemic that it became used regularly in the U.S. 

The notion of groups of forty is widely used today in all domains of our lives. Just think about it for moment...forty  winks of sleep, the music chart’s top forty, baseball’s forty player roster limit, the forty spaces on the Monopoly board, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, a forty-hour work week...and so on. The use of the number forty is also prevalent in all major religions. As I began thinking about this topic, Christians were celebrating Easter which is preceded immediately by Lent, in Latin, Quadragesima, meaning ‘Fortieth,’ which does extend for forty days. It emphasizes that by sacrificing things that are important and by cleansing ourselves for forty days, we, too, can experience rebirth. And there also was Muhammad who first received revelation when he became forty years old1.

Perhaps the most instructive comments for our purpose about the importance of the number forty go back to a famous work entitled, “Life Begins at Forty,”2 whose message is that after going through mid-life crisis, one could look forward to many happy and fulfilling years.

It, too, was a set induction to thinking about the periodization of forty years as a struggle which would lead us to our higher selves.

In Judaism there are numerous texts which focus on the number forty. Aside from the number seven, forty is the most prevalent number in the Hebrew Bible, describing both periods of days and years.

We of course think about Noah’s Flood which lasted “forty days and forty nights”(Genesis 7:4,12). It represented the ultimate suffering of humanity, which, however, then led to the ‘recreation’ of the world. The second well known example is the three periods that Moses spent on Mt. Sinai, identified in Deuteronomy with Horeb. First, Moses received the initial set of tablets after totally fasting for ‘forty days and forty nights’.....a period of deprivation  (Deuteronomy 9:9-11). Second, Moses destroyed the tablets and again fasted for the forty days and nights, and prayed to God to forgive Israel (Deut. 9:15-26). And finally, after a third period of ‘forty days and forty nights, ’God forgave the Israelites and gave Moses the second set of tablets. These traumatic 120 days of struggle for Moses not only resulted in the Israelites continuing their march towards the Promised Land(Deut. 10:10-11), but according to the Rabbinic tradition, they parallel the three periods forty 40 years of Moses’ life. 

The periodization of forty days or forty years as a time of suffering for Israel is underscored by Israel’s traumatic journey to the Promised Land and its ongoing suffering and rebellions in the desert. This is the focus of the Torah itself in Numbers 14:33-34, which speaks of the twelve spies sent by Moses to scout out the land, ten of whom characterized the land as unconquerable. This led to the people as a whole claiming that God brought them to this land only to die by the sword and it would have been better for them to have returned to Egypt! They scouted out the land in forty days, which paralleled Israel’s suffering in the desert for forty years, each day corresponding to a year of Israel’s suffering (Numbers 14:34).

There are other biblical examples of “forty” representing a period of suffering. These include Ezekiel lying on his right side for forty days, symbolizing the forty years of the sins of the southern kingdom of Judah (Ezekiel 4:6). In addition, we read of Elijah fleeing the wrath of King Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel and walking ‘forty days and forty nights’ in the heat of the desert to Mt. Horeb (1 Kings 19:8). Jonah’s prophecy that Nineveh would be destroyed in forty days due to its sins (Jonah 3:4) is a further example.

We also find examples of how over the centuries the rabbis themselves understood forty days or years as periods of struggle and pain.3 In Chassidic theology, in order for people to gain stature, they first have to live through a period of recognizing their severe human limitations...a period of “self-nullification” before they can begin to truly grow.4 Similarly, in the Midrash, the rabbis emphasized that the Israelite slave in Exodus 2:14 angrily chided Moses, saying: “Who made you chief and ruler over us?” when Moses was then only 20 years old.5 He was yet undeserving of playing a leadership role. He lacked knowledge and experience. Only when he attained the age of forty did he grow in stature and achieve an understanding of God. This coheres with the well-known rabbinic notion that one cannot comprehend the knowledge of one’s teacher until he or she reaches the age of forty. Likewise, in the famous dictum in Pirkei Avot: “Attainment of wisdom comes at the age of forty.”6

But note that these last citations begin to challenge the prevalent notion which has been underscored thus far that the periodization of forty days or forty years represents a time of pain and struggle, and when it is over, it is nullified and we reach a kind of “new beginning.” Thus, though students may not fully understand the Torah teaching of their mentor until they reach the age of forty, it does not mean that they are bereft of all knowledge prior to forty. The years prior surely entailed learning and a growth of knowledge. Similarly, one may not be able to instruct others in matters of law till he/she is forty years old,7 but to get to this new stage, one needs to be immersed in preparatory study. A new stage is achieved, but what came before was crucial and should not be dismissed. This even applies to the key biblical texts which we cited above. 

The Hasidic master, Shneur Zalman of Liadi noted in his Torah Ohr that instead of destroying human life through a flood lasting forty days, God could have obliterated humanity in one moment. According to his teaching, however, the flood was a necessary period of purification of the world, a kind of Mikveh. And it just so happens that in the Talmud, a Mikveh must contain at least forty seahs of water  (200 gallons) so as to cover the entire body.8 Similarly, the third forty-day period in Deuteronomy describing Moses on Mt. Sinai receiving the second set of tablets is thought of in the tradition as extending from the beginning of the month of Elul to Yom Kippur. It is seen as a period of Teshuvah, repentance, through which Israel is completely forgiven by God. 

Similarly, Israel’s trek through the oppressiveness of the desert could be understood as a time of maturation following the experience in Egypt, preparing them for entrance into the Promised Land. This again underscores the notion of forty years of growth. Likewise, the Torah was given on Mt. Sinai, but it took forty years for Israel to fully understand it. This is reminiscent of a tradition which argues that repeating a teaching in Torah forty times renders it unforgettable.9 In addition, the rabbis draw parallels between the forty days it takes for a soul to be formed in a human being,10 the formation of the gender of a fetus in the womb11, and the Torah being given in forty days.

Surely the Israelites suffered much during their forty-year trek through the desert, experiencing feelings of extreme hardship, isolation, deprivation and depression. Yet, as we have stressed, an important thrust of the rabbinic tradition emphasizes that though the Israelites struggled to survive the desert and often rebelled due to the hardship they experienced, the forty years were also a time of introspection and maturation. They learned about themselves as individuals and as a fledgling people, and their relationship with God, even as the generation of slaves died prior to their entrance into the Promised Land. As the rabbis later would emphasize, the forty-year journey brought them to greater wisdom.

“As we reflect on the stories from our people’s past and the tribulations of our ancestors, who themselves experienced quaranta giorni, forty days and also forty years of struggle, what do we learn about the world around us and about ourselves?”

As we reflect on the stories from our people’s past and the tribulations of our ancestors, who themselves experienced quaranta giorni, forty days and also forty years of struggle, what do we learn about the world around us and about ourselves? What wisdom can we gain as we live through our quaranta giorni, our quarantine, which has extended longer than 40 days?

Suffering through this epoch of COVID-19 and the changes wrought in our daily routines due to this monstrous pandemic has had a positive, even though less conspicuous effect on our lives and on our environment. For example, there has been a significant diminution of air pollutants, especially nitrogen and carbon dioxide, from vehicles and power plants, which also cause global warming. In addition, noise pollution has been significantly diminished. Similarly, without cruise ships sailing, ocean pollution and ocean noise around the world were instantaneously reduced. We also don’t realize that by decreasing ocean noise, we increase the reproductive capability of marine life.12

This horrendous virus which has killed thousands and brought potential ruin to our economies also underscores for all of us that which helps us overcome our deep sense of vulnerability and isolation. We learn just how much our lives are shaped by the relationships and the communities of which we are blessed to be a part. Sharing with those whom we love, even on Zoom or Face Time, brings us the joy, the warmth and the sharing of self that defines who we are as human beings. Ironically, Covid 19 has enabled us to reach out and connect with those who mean so much to us in a more expanded way. 

But there is more. We Jews celebrated Passover amidst this quaranta giorni and it highlights the importance of being a part of the Jewish community. As we participate in Shabbat worship, in Torah study, in our Passover seders and even in sad events such as shiva visits all on Zoom, we learn in a deeper way that we are part of a tradition that goes back some 3500 years. And as the newest link in this chain, we must do everything we can not only to keep it alive, but also to act out of its deepest values- that every human being is created in God’s image, possesses the power to help bring the world to wholeness, and, therefore, the preservation of a single life is tantamount to preserving the entire world. In so doing, we bring meaning to these “forty days” with all of its suffering and fears.  

We as Jews always carry with us memories of a harsh Egyptian slavery, the journey of our ancestors through the heat and aridity of the desert, and even the deaths of the generation born in Egypt. Yet, may we also never forget that it is possible to move from Egypt, Mitzraim, meitzarim, the narrow places, towards the Promised Land, to God’s place.

We pray that the suffering caused by COVID-19 will lead us  to a greater understanding of our power to preserve our environment, strengthen our relationships, which at times we take for granted, and the potential for our continued growth as human beings, even in our “Life after Forty.”

Endnotes 

1. Muhammad’s first revelation is identified with Sura 98 in the Koran.

2. This self help book was written by the psychologist, William Pitkin, and was a best seller in the 1930’s.

3. See the Maharal of Prague, Yehuda Lowe, in his work, Tifferet Yisrael.

4. See Susan Handelman, “Fortysomething,” republished on Chabad.org from Wellsprings.

5. Shemot Rabbah 1:30.

5. B.T. Avodah Zarah 5b.

6. Pirkei Avot 5:21.

7. B.T. Sotah 22b.

8. B.T Eruvin 4b.

9. B.T. Pesahim 72a.

10.B.T. Menachot 99b.

11.B.T. Berahot 60a.

12.Marina Keren , “The Pandemic is Turning the Natural World Upside Down,” The Atlantic Magazine, April 2, 2020.