Rabbi Tzvi Sytner, The Village Shul

First and foremost, I hope everyone is keeping healthy and staying safe.

If there’s one word I’ve been hearing time and time again over the last few weeks, it’s “unprecedented”. Everyone’s saying we’re living in unprecedented times. I believe it’s true, we are, but for many reasons. I believe we all have an opportunity right now that we’ve never had before in our lives, and may not ever have again. You see, in times of fear, people go into survival mode. Everyone begins to look out for themselves. Do I have enough toilet paper?Enough food? Let me empty the shelves of hand sanitizer. The natural human response at times like this is survival. Yet, while that may be out natural response, our higher self can transcend our nature. All of humanity stands at a fork in the road. Will we look out for ourselves or for those around us? Can we put ourselves aside and think, which elderly person may need a call at this time? Who can I text to check in on? Perhaps I can send matzah or groceries to someone who can’t afford? My wife and I often discuss the distinction between selfISH and selfLESS with my kids, and sometimes when they have a choice to make, we'll ask them, do you want to be “ISH or LESS”? Let’s use this unprecedented opportunity to move away from ISH and move towards LESS, so that when this is all over, we are living in a much more giving world.