Facebook Post by Rabbi Perlin in the Time of Coronavirus (4/19/2020)
Sunday Post 4/19/20: In Praise of My Colleagues – Clergy First Responders
by Rabbi Amy R. Perlin, D.D.
I cry every time I watch a commercial, or television report or special, highlighting the brave men and women who are on the front lines of this crisis. And I keep each and every one in my prayers, every single day. I hear and read the list of all those who are putting themselves in harm’s way, and I am in awe of their courage and sacrifice. I admire all that our teachers are doing to keep students engaged and feeling loved. I wave to the delivery man bringing boxes to the house, our lifeline to the outside world, as we have now passed 30 days in isolation, and show him my hand-to-my-heart in thanks through the window. I plan on making a sign and leaving a gift bag for the delivery people from now on each day. May they all stay safe and know they are appreciated.
But, for just a moment, I want to highlight another group that doesn’t seem to make it into the lists. As a retired rabbi, pressed back into limited service during these trying and challenging times, I stand in awe of the clergy on the front lines daily in the effort to keep people spiritually whole and communally engaged at a time of profound isolation. My rabbi and pastor friends and colleagues are working tirelessly to stay connected to their communities, often under the most difficult of circumstances. Without training and on-site staff, they are producing worship, video and Zoom content, programming, and a host of other services to maintain and sustain the faith communities they serve. They are handling illness and death, fear of pandemic and unemployment with grace and skill, compassion and wisdom. They are reaching out, when so many are stuck in, with content and continuity – for Passover and Easter, Sabbaths and daily prayer. These unsung heroes are working tirelessly to make sure that the faith family survives. For some alone at home, the synagogue or church community connection via the computer is all they have. For others, it provides meaning and messages that offer a respite from the news and the rhetoric, the curves and the models, the uncertainty and calamity that each day brings.
And in selfless service to their communities, under enormous stress and demand, so many clergy are being asked to make sacrifices and take pay cuts, and there are even those who are losing jobs, even as they seek to bring their skilled coping and caring to those desperately in need. Praise to all who are doing God’s work in this pandemic – not to those who gather their people in-person in defiance of science and communal restrictions!—No! Praise for those who are not using God or politics to harm our communities and further their own agenda, but instead are learning to communicate and serve in new ways, with gifts of heart and mind.
Praise to our clergy first responders, and those who support them in their sacred calling – the Executive Directors and support staff. Praise to my friends and colleagues who see the need and have responded beyond anyone’s expectations for the greater good – for God. You have my admiration and respect for all you are doing. Todah Rabah. Thank you. And may God bless the work of your hands and hearts.