Pesachim 23
“Be astounded with yourself.”
All of a sudden, I am getting advertisements in my social media account from purveyors of kosher meat. I am not a meat eater and definitely not kosher, but the algorithms must be picking up on the Daf Yomi’s discussion on deriving benefit from meat over the last few days. It is always somewhat disturbing how that works; at times, I haven’t conducted a search for a new pair of shoes but have simply thought about wanting something comfortable to walk in, and an add appears in my Facebook stream for flats. Today, there are ads for cuts of kosher beef and chicken. After yesterday’s reading, I will never look at chicken thighs in the same way.’
The Daf Yomi readings have been languid in pace lately, with the same topic about deriving benefit from discarded leaven and by extension, everything related to prohibitions, rehashed many times over. Today’s reading discusses the planting of a tree in one’s backyard for public purposes. I am not sure what public purpose the planting of a tree serves if its within one’s private domain, except that every tree planted improves the atmosphere in some small way. There is a prohibition according to Leviticus on benefiting from the fruit of a tree for three years. But Rabbi Yehuda tells us that if the tree is planted for the public, it is exempt from these laws.
There is a lot of discussion in today’s reading on deriving benefit from prohibited seeds and grains and discarded leaven and meat. But the one small thing that resonated with me is the planting of a tree for public benefit. Today is a remarkable day because as I write this post, there are trucks and airplanes headed to distribution sites containing deeply frozen vials of the covid-19 vaccine. Each vial represents a tree of hope.
There have been so many lapses since the initial outbreak of the coronavirus and all of us could have done better as a society in our response. The missteps along the way included the magical belief that we could simply wish the virus away. I wish that a strong driving rain could wash it away. A dedicated group of scientists applied a new protocol using mRNA to trigger an immune reaction that offers protection against the virus. Along with healthcare and frontline workers, they are the angels among us.
I am simply astounded with what our society can accomplish through the application of science. There are many lessons learned from how we responded to the pandemic. But one important lesson is to follow the science. Always, follow the science.