American Jewish Life

Title

Empathy in a Time of Pandemic

Description

Reflection by Rabbi Helen Cohn of Congregation M'kor Hayim in Tucson on the challenge of practicing empathy, of the Mussar middot, during the pandemic.

Empathy in a time of Pandemic

Mussar is the Jewish practice of character refinement, based on working
with specific traits called middot (sing., middah). Our congregation has
two Mussar groups who work with a middah for two weeks at a time. Last December we created the list of middot for 2020, months before COVID-19.

However, each trait during the past several months has been surprisingly
fitting for our unique situation, including the current middah, Empathy.

The English words Empathy and Compassion are often defined slightly
differently. Empathy means sympathetically feeling oneself in
another’s position; Compassion means doing something specific because
of a feeling of empathy.

As we huddle in place, our ability to act in an empathic way is greatly
limited. Yes, we are touched and inspired by acts of generosity and
kindness that we hear about, and the actions that some of us do here in
our own community. But we also personally feel our many constraints.

Our Jewish texts offer guidance for caring for someone who is ill. This
is one of my favorite examples:

One of the students of Rabbi Akiva became ill. The Sages did not visit
him, so Rabbi Akiva visited him. He swept and cleaned the floor, and the
student recovered. The student said, “My teacher, you revived me.”
Rabbi Akiva then taught: anyone who does not visit the ill, it is as if
that person is spilling blood. (B. Talmud, Nedarim 40b) Interpretation:
it could be the sick person has no one caring for him, and if he has no
visitors, no one will know his situation and therefore no one will come
to his aid.

But our situation is exactly the opposite: we cannot (under most
circumstances) visit the ill. We cannot even visit a person who needs
consolation because of fear, anxiety, or being in a period of mourning.
What, then, can we do? How can Empathy guide our behavior? We might ask:
What do we want from others, as we isolate in our own homes? Perhaps
looking with empathy at our own situation we will be guided to see what
we can do for others.

Date Created

June 1, 2020

Community

Congregation M'kor Hayim

State

Arizona

Place

Tucson

Creator

Rabbi Helen Cohn, Congregation M'Kor Hayim

This item was submitted on August 11, 2021 by Jewish History Museum in Tucson using the form “Contribute Your Materials” on the site “American Jewish Life”: https://americanjewishlife.org/s/american-jewish-life