“If you have two Jews, you have three opinions,” is one of the most famous Jewish jokes. However, I take this as a compliment, since it shows that we are a thinking people. It is not only my opinion and your opinion that we are considering, but we even think about a third perspective. Perhaps a perspective that neither of us agree on, but hopefully we will come to an agreement.
When I think about the current situation regarding coronavirus, especially when I read the latest updates on the medical front and it says there is hope for developments at the end of 2021 (that’s right 2021 – not even 2020), I realize more and more every day that we are in this for the long haul. Although there are two sides to every argument, I hope there is at least the “third” perspective that we can all agree on, and that is that we want to end this pandemic as soon as humanly possible.
I am a rabbi after all, so I would like to share with you a lesson that we can learn from this week’s Torah portion. When discussing the subject of an “inadvertent murder,” we are taught that the victim can be avenged by the victim’s family. But in order to save the killer’s life, he/she can run to a “city of refuge,” and while in this city feel protected. Where no one can take revenge. Where they are safe. But when can this person leave the city of refuge? The answer is, once the “high priest” dies. (These laws, permission to take revenge, the ability to protect oneself in the city of refuge, and the condition to stay as long as the high priest was alive, applied only in the times of the Holy Temple.)
Not to get into the nuance of this law, but I do want to address one obvious question: What does the high priest have to do with this inadvertent murderer? Why does he go free when the priest dies? How are the two connected?
Aha! You see, every one of us is connected! There is no such a thing as one person sitting in the holiest chamber, in the holiest building in the world and only concerning himself with his own business. The fact that the high priest did not pray, every day, that a Jew should not err and kill someone – even unintentionally – automatically binds their lives together as one. I am here for you and you are here for me. We are intertwined, whether we like it or not. That is why, as long as the priest is alive, the killer must remain in the city of refuge. Once the priest dies, however, the killer is forgiven for his sin because the death of the priest, or his/her own death acts as atonement for the inadvertent death. To put it another way, the holiest Jew and the “killer-Jew” are one.
The lesson is clear: We cannot live life thinking only about what is best for us. We must realize, today more than ever, that our lives are intertwined. To work our way through this pandemic, we, as a nation, must come together, united as one, and do something – the same thing, so that we can achieve success. You and I are interconnected. We are one.
What that thing is, well, that is where the debate lies. … Should we be in total lockdown? Or open in a green phase with masks and social distancing? Or should there be a total reopening? Or, perhaps there are even more opinions. That is not the point.
It should not be a debate. The “thing” is to listen to the guidance of the government. If the government is saying that for now it is safe to be in a green phase abiding by CDC guidelines, masks, social distancing, hand washing, etc., then we should all be following those rules. The question whether the government is right or wrong, is beside the point. (That is like asking if the person is guilty of murder. That is not the discussion.)
Let us be united, and through unity, we will bring health and prosperity to the world.
Shabbat Shalom.
