March 11, 2021 – One year after….
This is the first anniversary of the declaration that COVID was a pandemic. I should correct myself: COVID is still a pandemic.
Anniversaries are a good time to reflect. So let’s reflect and see how much has changed. But I don’t want to reflect on how much has changed in our work styles. We are all too familiar with that. Or how much our shopping habits had to change or how two years ago the very thought of wearing a mask to get gas would never even have entered out mind. No, rather let’s reflect on how we have changed and what we have seen.
I have heard from people all year from the congregation who have shared with me how fortunate they feel that they are surrounded by their grandchildren or a partner. And I have also heard how lonely others feel and how they are pining away to embrace those they love. This year we have been unable to ignore our feelings because every moment lost reminds us of what we are missing.
I have heard a great deal of anger this year, too. People have shared with me their dismay and anger that too many others pretend that this disease is a hoax. They are bewildered why they would put themselves in harm’s way but are angry that they put us in harm’s way. In years past, personal boundaries might not have been such a big deal: today even those who were reticent to confront back off to six feet. How else to explain fist-fights in Bed, Bath, and Beyond or Walmart?
Those who want to ‘make a statement’ can make a statement but ought to confine themselves to groups of those who also want to make the same statement. But even that is questionable, especially from a Jewish point of view as we are not to risk our own lives or the lives of others for such a dubious purpose as not wanting to wear a mast.
But one year after the declaration of the pandemic, the end of it is in sight. But when the light gets brighter, it also gets dimmer at the same time. Why? Simple biology and the politics of uncaring. You see, the new variants of the virus evolve simply because it has a host and host is the one who allows it to breed. So those who refuse to protect themselves and others because wearing a mask is somehow politically oppressive are volunteering as nothing less than petri dishes for an evolving virus.
This is one of the roots of anger we see today. Anger leads to frustration which leads to more anger. And it works on both sides of the debate. It is no wonder that the virus keeps evolving. Hard to believe that a 2 nanometer virus has control over people who are supposed to have free will and capacity for thinking. Yet, here we are.
If we want to break this cycle I think we can look to Torah for a tad of insight. When talking about different sin offerings, the Torah tells us ‘if a person sins…’ Yet, when the leader offers a sin offering, the Torah says, ‘When he sins…’ The Torah knows that everyone is imperfect and prone to sin and those who ‘lead’ are definitely going to sin. Who are the leaders in the case of those who don’t protect themselves or others? Simply those who, by example, create the space for a biological virus to reproduce and mutate and a psychological virus to do the same. They show us how they have been formed by anger, frustration, lies and insist that nothing is wrong. One year later and too many people have not just helped mutate the virus. The virus has mutated too many people.
To put it in Torah-speak, yes, I consider not taking care of yourself and another a sin. It is missing the mark when we can do better. But like all sin, there is a way back. All it takes is a moment of repentance. One year later, who would ever have thought that the moment of repentance would be to put on a mask.
Oh, and by the way, do you know what Kippur means, as in Yom Kippur? It does not mean repentance, per se. It comes from the word ‘to cover up.’ How appropriate that one year later it is a good reminder that Yom Kippur happens every single time you protect yourselves and me.
