Is Avoiding COVID Selfish?
Question
Is it selfish to not want to get COVID? Before COVID existed, I used to do lots of nice things. I used to have people over for Shabbat meals, have people stay with me for Shabbat, give people rides where they needed to go, and help people in other ways. Now that COVID is here, I have quit doing all these nice things and said no to people making these very requests of me. The community at large doesn’t seem to understand why I’ve changed so much. I am fully vaccinated and boosted and not in a high risk category if I were to get COVID. I am just afraid of catching it. Am I really being selfish?
Answers
No, you are not being selfish. You are fulfilling the Mitzvah of guarding yourself from danger. Of course, it is impossible to fulfill the Mitzvah of guarding your health and to fulfill the Mitzvah of Hachnasat Orchim at the same time. This means that one aspect has to come at the expense of the other. You have chosen to guard your health, which means that your prolific Hachnasat Orchim needs to wait until you feel safe and comfortable enough to restart it.
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team