1 - HM 427:8.2121β Elliot N. Dorff and Susan Grossman

This deeply held individualism and commitment to liberty has been manifest in the refusal of many Americans to wear face covering and to observe the rules of physical distancing and other measures suggested by public health authorities during the COVID- 19 pandemic.1 This violation of public health mandates has been a major factor in the unfortunate The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the. [...] There are several facets to pikkuah nefesh and sakkanat nefeshot: first, the proactive obligations to preserve and protect our own life and health and the lives and health of others and, second, to avoid doing that which endangers our lives and health and those of others. [...] Until a large number of people can be vaccinated for the virus, which, as of this writing in January, 2021, is unlikely until at least the second quarter of 2021 if not the Fall, Jewish law’s prioritization of our own life and health and that of others over almost everything else requires us to follow the directions of public health authorities to quarantine, when necessary, to wear face covering. [...] As Jews, we have a responsibility to the well-being of the larger community and should not buy up supplies, like medical grade masks, that are necessary for the well-being of the very medical system upon which we rely to treat the ill and injured during this pandemic. [...] In light of the fact that the authority for asserting this is rooted in all versions of this teaching in the Torah’s story of Cain and Abel (specifically, Genesis 4:10), long before the Jews were a people, the versions stressing the universalist message of the text, i.e., lacking the word “Jewish” as a modifier before the word “life,” are clearly correct, and so this lesson is intended to refer to.