STAY HOME, SAVE A LIFE Time and again in this coronavirus pandemic, our political leaders have said that social distancing is vital so as ‘not to overwhelm the NHS.’ In plain terms, that means that we want to avoid the nightmare scenario when there are insufficient resources to meet the needs of those who require critical attention. Agonising choices would have to be made as to who should be treated. At the beginning of the pandemic, an article appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine spelling out some of the ethical challenges a pandemic might bring. When there are...

PRAYING FOR THOSE WHO ARE UNWELL The Torah goes into great detail in this week’s portion describing an affliction knows as tzara’at. This came upon a person as a result of transgressions such as slander. The practical application of these laws with the different kinds of sores and scabs and burns have ceased to be relevant for thousands of years. Nevertheless, a profound and pertinent detail emerges from the way the sufferer was to conduct himself. The Torah writes: “The afflicted person…shall cloak himself up to the lips and he is to call out: Contaminated, contaminated.” (Vayikra 13:45) In other...