Shabbos 12
“The merit of Shabbat is capable of engendering compassion.”
Who is this Zav who walks about with his pouch in a state of impurity? He has made an appearance two days in a row in our readings. Can he be compared with someone who is carelessly walking around during this time of pandemic, perhaps infecting others with his impurity? And what about this person who goes out at night on the Shabbos flouting his phylacteries? Is he violating some sort of pandemic curfew? And by touching his phylacteries at all times is he unwittingly exposing himself to disease? And who are all these men who wear fancy clothes who might confuse them for their wives’ garments without the proper light? And how about the men whose clothes are ridden with lice but are prohibited from shaking the vermin off on the Shabbos because “even though it is a very small creature, it is as if he killed a camel.” Are they spreading disease through their lack of social distancing and poor hygiene?
The pandemic is the filter through which I am trying to make sense of things right now. This is the worse event I have lived through since September 11th. I lived near Union Square Park in New York City on September 11th and walked home from the World Trade Center where I worked on that fateful day covered in dust. I remember walking home arm-in-arm with total strangers who were openly weeping about what we had just witnessed.
There was a group of monks who chanted in Union Square Park for days after the event. People were hugging and comforting each other in the square. The subway station’s walls were full of photos for years afterwards of lost family members and friends. It was difficult to pass through the station without being reminded of all that loss, but at the same time, the incredible sense of solidarity that sprouted from the ruined towers. People would cheer whenever a first responder walked past. And the personal outpouring that I experienced because I was at the World Trade Center site from friends around the world was overwhelming. They kept sending me gifts and cards and prayers and words of support.
I may be missing the signs, but I do not have the same sense that we are weathering this event together as global community. Of course, it is difficult to demonstrate a sense of community and unity during this period of social distancing. This is a very different event and in the past twenty years we have lived more and more of our lives in electronic space and the cloud, but something appears to have fundamentally changed in our connection to each other. Has social distancing become the disease-ridden metaphor for our present society?