"More People Will Strengthen Their Faith After Corona": How Yehuda Barkan Celebrates His 75th Birthday

How is actor Yehuda Barkan celebrating his 75th birthday these days? You too will be moved: Aside from regular Torah lessons over the phone, Barkan finds time for charity even during the Corona days, distributing food to needy families who have been in contact with him for some time.

In an interview with journalist Ran Boker from 'Ynet', Barkan (who added the letter 'A' to his last name a few years ago) said that despite the fact he's staying home like all of Israel - "one watches TV, another learns Torah with his rabbi over the phone. Everyone has their own way. I have two rabbis, Rabbi Schwartz and Rabbi Schinfeld, with whom we study the Torah portion of the week and the surrounding topics, trying to analyze whether corona is 'the hand of God'. I have a feeling that after the Corona crisis passes, many people will strengthen their faith."

When Barkan was asked why he believes this, he replied that "one of the things you learn in Torah lessons is divine providence, and there is something called the finger of Hashem." At this point, Barkan tells how Hashem gradually inflicted the plagues of Egypt on Pharaoh, and only with one plague - the lice, all the magicians said, 'This is the finger of Hashem.'

"A louse is an elephant next to corona," says Barkan. "So you understand that Hashem allows the whole world to comprehend, for those who flex their muscles and talk about bombs and atoms - it's all nonsense. If Hashem wants to show who controls the world, He sends one tiny germ, and look at the chaos it creates worldwide."

Barkan referred to all the tycoons controlling the Israeli economy and said that when Hashem wills it, they collapse and fall. "Therefore, one of the important things is to come and moderate oneself and not walk with your head held too high." According to him, he is not trying to make people become religious, but "every Jew should know that everything is in the hands of heaven except the fear of heaven. I am a believer with my feet on the ground, and I understand that everything that happens - something caused it to happen. All the superpowers shrink in comparison to Hashem, and no one created Him."

Barkan continued and said that he believes Hashem preemptively provided a remedy for the plague, and despite the economic and other difficulties we are currently experiencing in the shadow of Corona, everything should be blessed. "In Judaism, you bless the bad, you should bless the bad as you bless the good. So you also need to bless Corona because good will come from it," he concludes.