Letter to the Editor

Community responsibility

By Nava Herzog, Congregation Beth Hillel; Rabbi Douglas Kohn, Temple Beth Jacob; Rabbi Roger Lerner, Monroe Temple Beth-El; Rabbi Marcus Rubenstein, Temple Sinai; Rabbi Rachel Rubenstein, Jewish Federation of Greater Orange County; Rabbi Rebecca Shinder,
Posted 12/31/20

As Americans, we live by a communal ethos of shared responsibility: we adhere to speed limits for everyone’s safety; we pay taxes so that schools are built, potholes are filled, and armies are …

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Letter to the Editor

Community responsibility

Posted

As Americans, we live by a communal ethos of shared responsibility: we adhere to speed limits for everyone’s safety; we pay taxes so that schools are built, potholes are filled, and armies are maintained; we heed public health guidelines so we can share public and private space with trust.

So too, we write as religious leaders of Orange County Jewish communities, as Jewish clergy who serve across our county in partnership with lay leaders and agencies to maintain a vibrant and cooperative religious life. We have studied the dictates of our early code of Jewish law, the Talmud, which states, Every Jew is responsible for every other. We all must take responsibility for each other’s well-being.

From antiquity to modernity, healthy communities have understood and fostered commitments to share responsibility for each other’s well-being. That is being an American. That is being a Jew.

Thus, today, during the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns and intersections of being Jewish clergy and American citizens merge as we consider communal leadership obligations, which compel our thoughts.

We understand that there are some who stress the Jewish value of gathering in prayer and sorrow, even at the expense of state-sanctioned social-distancing guidelines. We too empathize and feel ourselves with the deep pain of not being able to meet for public in-person prayer. We also know there are those who question the obligation to wear masks or become vaccinated, arguing that such behavior violates one’s freedom of religion or expression.

Yet, we are mindful of a guiding principle within the Talmud, that Rav Yehuda said: “You shall keep My statutes and My ordinances, which a person shall do and live by them” (Leviticus 18:5), and not that he should die by them. In all circumstances, one must take care not to die as a result of fulfilling a religious obligation. (Ibid.) When there is lethal danger in following a particular religious ritual, life should always be prioritized over the ritual, no matter how important that ritual is. This is what God asks of us at this particular moment.

No community can thrive when subsets or factions isolate and follow separate laws and rules to the detriment of another’s well-being. No individual is greater than the whole.

Therefore, we, Jewish clergy of Orange County who serve the synagogues in our County’s cities, towns and villages pledge to serve unity, not division. We commit to guide our congregational communities to do the same. We may differ with those who teach and behave otherwise, and we recognize their divergent Jewish opinions, but we stand behind our open-minded, inclusive, community-based understanding of our ancient and modern tradition.
This year, we stand together.