Beauty Mask
by Rabbi Josh Knobel
I’ll always remember the first time we taught our daughter to don her mask. I waited anxiously for her to rebel, until I heard my wife Lisa lovingly explain to her that “wearing our mask is a way to show the people around us that we care about them and want them to stay healthy.”
Immediately, our daughter smiled and cheerfully strapped on her mask.
As we prepare, once again, to commemorate the tale of our People’s deliverance from Mitzrayim—the narrow confines of servitude in Egypt—it seems appropriate to consider what comes next for a world still entrenched within the narrow confines of epidemic.
Like our forebears who, according to tradition, endured 400 years of servitude, we yearn for a deliverance that will taste bittersweet at best, tempered by the griefs and disappointments we’ve suffered along the way. Unlike our forebears, though, who scarcely had time to bake flatbread for their journey, we have had ample time to prepare for the journeys ahead—and to decide what to bring with us.
Despite the daily frustrations and frequent sorrows foisted upon us all by COVID-19, our family discovered a source of unexpected beauty in face masks. While we will certainly look back at photos and lament the year we’ve spent hiding our faces, for the moment, we enjoy a small sense of satisfaction in knowing that there is something so simple we can do to exercise care for others.
Though we’ll be among the first to turn these masks into cleaning rags once we leave the pandemic behind, I pray that all of us will discover new ways to create kinship with our fellow human beings through simple kindnesses and to demonstrate care for others with as plain a symbol as a piece of clothing.
Read more from the Wise clergy and congregants in What We Carry Forward, Wise’s 2021 Haggadah supplement.
