Rabbi Aryeh Weingarten has been working his entire life to helping others, leading a unique charitable organization. Rabbi Weingarten recently released a Hebrew language video offering insights into the Omicron variant.

“Everything in the world happens by the hand of God and if you look carefully, you can see what it means,” Rabbi Weingarten said.  “This is certainly true of the Omicron.”

Rabbi Weingarten noted that the term Omicron is the name of the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet. 

“Omicron was first detected during Hanukkah,” Rabbi Weingarten said. “We celebrated the victory over the Greeks on Hannukah and here, with this disease, we have another opportunity to conquer the Greeks through the merit of the light of Hanukkah.”

Rabbi Weingarten noted that Omicron was the 15th letter and in gematria (Hebrew numerology), 15 is represented by the Hebrew letters י (yud) and ה (heh). 

“This word, yah, brings us to the verse in Exodus 17:16,” Rabbi Weingarten said. 

He said, “It means, ‘Hand upon the throne of Hashem!’ Hashem will be at war with Amalek throughout the ages.” Exodus 17:16

“The aspect of 15 is of utmost importance,” Rabbi Weingarten emphasized, explaining that the letter Omicron is written as a circle, or a zero. “ In the system of Greek numerals, Omicron has a value of 70. This hints at the 70 nations of the world. This dual meaning hints that we are close to the end of days when the nations that reject God, those who follow in the ways of the Hellenists and the Greek alphabet, will be as zero, worthless.”

The rabbi noted that the word ‘Omicron’ (אומיקרון) in gematria equals 413, which is also the value of God’s name plus David (דויד) the Messiah (המשיח).

“The purpose of this disease is becoming clear,” the rabbi said. “To bring us to want the Messiah even more than ever. Omicron came during Hanukkah. Seven signifies nature and physical completion; the seven days of the week, the seven Noahide laws, the 70 nations. The eight days of Hanukkah teach us to go beyond nature in the service of God, like the eight days leading up to circumcision. Omicron is a physical challenge but it came during Hanukkah, showing us that with God’s help, we can transcend this physical challenge.”