Q&A: The Collective, the Individual, and Corona
The Collective, the Individual, and Corona
Question
According to the Rabbi’s view of the relationship between the individual and the collective, sometimes one may have to harm an individual, and even an individual’s life, because of “public life-saving necessity.” If so, does it follow that from a halakhic standpoint the state should have been kept open and a “lockdown” should not have been imposed? After all, shutting down the entire economy is a matter of public life-saving necessity that harms the whole public economically, and harms more people than those who might be harmed by the coronavirus.
Answer
This is a question of degree, and I don’t think there is a textbook answer to questions like these. Both sides involve harm to the collective as well as to individuals.