With her permission, I’d like to share a portion of an email I received from Wise member Adena Frank as her family is sheltering at home:
We have fallen into a rhythm and are adjusting to our “new normal”…not sure if we will ever completely get back to where we were just a month ago, but I do see a friendlier and kinder community going forward. I have lived in my neighborhood since 1986 and am meeting neighbors I have not ever seen before. Everyone says hello instead of just looking down or nodding. People have been so courteous when we do venture out to the grocery store or pick up at restaurants. A stranger in the market alerted me that they just stocked the shelves on the next aisle with a few essential goods.
My neighbors baked me the most delicious challah and left it at our doorstep last Friday. I left them a bottle of wine and my favorite package of breadsticks. My other neighbor left me home-grown produce from their garden. Simple acts of kindness and thoughtfulness are our silver lining.
Famously, the Torah says: “love your neighbor as yourself.” It is called the great universal Golden Rule by moderns and the klal gadol or the greatest rule in the Torah. Los Angeles is notorious for un-neighborly neighborhoods where, despite living within steps of others, we hardly know them. Several of my friends have mentioned that when they walk their neighborhood they are not only meticulous about staying six feet away from others but they also are sure to greet those they pass warmly—emphasizing that social distance doesn’t require being anti-social.
What if we kept walking our neighborhoods instead of getting our workouts solely at our gyms? What if we kept our heads up and greeted others as we passed them on the street? What if we checked in on the older woman who lives across the street, brought her groceries, and challah for Shabbat? What if we responded to cynical question posed by Cain in Bereishit (Genesis): “Am I my brother’s (sister’s) keeper?” with a most uncynical: “Yes, I am!”
— Rabbi Ron Stern