Love thy Neighbor — Community and Coronavirus!
The Sanctity of Life and the Divine Imperative.
At home and around the world, the coronavirus intensifies what it means to honor self, family, and community.
The disbanding of Rabbi Chaim Mertz’s funeral procession in Williamsburg, Brooklyn brings home the reality that various people across the world — good, loving, well-meaning people — do not observe social distancing guidelines.
Individuals and groups congregating in defiance of governmentally endorsed recommendations, or in many cases, mandated directions, defend their actions on personal and religious grounds.
Yes, publicly grieving the life of an important leader is a vital act of honoring and celebration — and, as well, of mourning and catharsis.
Yet, as New York’s Governor Cuomo shared during one of his daily briefings, nothing warrants exposing others to possible death.
Human life is sacrosanct.
Or as a local rabbi I consulted with put it…
“You should protect your fellow souls very carefully!
Upholding life and love underpins every action. Putting another — or many others — at mortal risk can never be justified, save perhaps in the agonizing event that so doing preserves the lives of a great many more.
Especially when celebrating a leader who himself was felled by COVID-19.
Rabbi Mertz almost certainly contracted the novel coronavirus through close proximity with his congregants. He might be mortified that his funeral exposed many more people to the very same fate.
Any large gathering — whether a parade, a procession, a speech, a rally, a concert, a wedding, or a funeral — not only puts at risk those at the event, but also everybody with whom those people then come into contact; and so on.
Years ago, Fabergé Organics aired a shampoo commercial which encouraged satisfied customers to tell two friends, who would then tell two friends, who would then tell two friends. The company hoped word of mouth might exponentially increase their product’s popularity. To demonstrate, the screen rapidly divided into multiplying images of Heather Locklear, and her bouncy, lustrous hair.
Though the commercial depicted quick and powerful spread made possible through personal connection, it was fantasy depicted only on a screen. The most dangerous ingredients were wheat germ and honey. In today’s time of coronavirus, live personal transmission might be spreading death, a far cry from beautiful texture and easily managed style-ability.
Neither freedom or celebration take the form of sacrilege and violation.
One can only imagine the Rabbi himself would appeal to members of his own congregation not to endanger each other; certainly not for the sake of honoring him.
To understand more profoundly, you need go no further than Pikuach Nefesh. Expressed in the Pirkei Avot, one of the sections of the Mishnah (oral part of the Torah, the transmission of Moses’s spoken revelation of God’s word) Pikuach Nefesh stands as one of the principle tenets of Jewish Law.
Preservation and sanctity of human life serves as Judaism’s dominant behavioral and religious principle.
Pikuach Nefesh literally means “saving a life”.
The sacrosanct principle takes precedence over all else. In a religion in which obeying God’s word dominates, Pikuach Nefesh allows for obviating adherence to every Jewish practice; including dietary customs, keeping a Kosher home, and even, the strict guidelines for observing the Sabbath.
Or, according to my rabbi source,
“According to the Torah, life is the most important thing.”
“You’re not allowed to endanger yourself, or your neighbor, by potentially spreading Covid.”
In Leviticus 19:18 of the Torah, or The Bible, Hashem relates,
“V’ahavta l’re’acha kamocha”
or, God says,
“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
Jewish interpretation may have more to do with mercy and justice and sacred obedience. Christian interpretation may emphasize reverencing the Lord and honoring both yourself and mankind in His/Her name.
Still, in each religion — as in every religion — the Divine imperative becomes acting with love for those around you.
You are not loving either your neighbor, or yourself, when your actions risk lives.
Focusing on charges of possible persecution towards groups subjected to public health guidelines serves little purpose. A wide range of cohorts across the globe have been acting in strikingly similar fashion.
Still, Judaism holds clues which underscore human values.
As transcribed in the Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin 4:1, one of the books of the Mishnah, reads,
“Whoever destroys a life, it is considered as if he destroys an entire world. And, whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saves an entire world.”
I can only imagine the fate of a person who not only needlessly puts her or his own life on the line, but also endangers the lives of many others.
The verse assigns each one of us even more personal responsibility than Atlas carried on his broad shoulders.
Yet, it is an accurate depiction of the sacred obligation we all share, and a reminder both of the delicacy and power of our ever-increasing interconnectedness.
Some have chosen to become disgruntled by emphasizing their freedom to do as they please has been curtailed. These people reason that their particular group or community is not alone in disregarding common sense and public safety.
They seem to be crying out,
“Others get away with it. So, why shouldn’t I?”
This is the argument of a momentarily frustrated, aggrieved, undeveloped child who points to her/his siblings’ transgressions as justification for her/his own.
Though it may seem to go without saying, one person’s inconsideration, or a group’s endorsement of social behavior which endangers fellow human beings, in no way justifies, or condones, acting in kind.
Especially when the longer term reward of “getting away with it” is increased worry, possible infection, and potential tragedy.
Silence, or non-action, on the part of those entrusted with upholding public safety subtly sends a message of tacit complicity. Not intervening reinforces a most frightening personal and societal dynamic; namely, that no one is watching and no one is caring.
At first blush, group congregating during pre-vaccine coronavirus times eerily parallels the irresponsibility of untested people who continued to engage in unprotected sexual relations during the HIV pandemic.
No cure was in sight.
Still, these people engaged in inter-personally disrespectful, not to mention cruelly grotesque, behavior.
Pressing the fact that others are also acting recklessly creates no excuse for your own irresponsible behavior.
Other people‘s conduct doesn’t give you a ‘get out of jail card’. This isn’t Monopoly. There is no such thing as freedom from meaningful consequence and personal responsibility.
You, and those who you infect, will take no solace, nor receive the slightest relief — nor achieve freedom from inner turmoil, racking guilt, or simple suffering — just because others have also been imprudent.
I hope I’m not so easily impressionable that I react to the allure of the moment by losing my inner compass. If I am, I have no doubt there is someone out there willing to sell me the Brooklyn Bridge — or, perhaps, make a sales pitch so that my community buys it.
If on having realized I have thrown away my money, I respond by trying to end it all by throwing myself off that bridge, I trust you will do everything in your power to prevent both me — and the people convinced to jump with me — from throwing away our lives.
To this end, I would expect help, support, and swift decisive action from the police.
Take Away
After all, the novel coronavirus’s equivalent of the unstoppable spreading of “super shine” and “super body”, as Fabergé so presciently conceived years ago, is no laughing matter.
Fortunately, however, large scale public contact is much easier to regulate, and impact than is private sexual conduct, the major volitional territory of AIDS, our last major pandemic.
Taking bold action to safeguard people, and communities, stands as both reasonable and necessary, even courageous; an appropriate contribution to social behavior which endangers us all.
In these coronavirus times — which delineate the divine imperative to safeguard and celebrate the sanctity of life — acting for the collective good constitutes a vital part of what it means to, “Love thy Neighbor!”
