I’m starting the month obligated for jury duty. Each evening I will call and listen to the recording telling me if I need to appear the following day. Each time I have gone through this process I’ve felt a tension between impersonal procedure and personal anticipation of the unknown.

 

We all go through it, whether it’s waiting for a medical appointment, handling legal issues or a myriad of other examples. Jury duty is slightly different because it includes an obligation that is more than handling personal business. While other states may exempt seniors from jury duty, in California, there is no upper age limit. Residents 70 or older can be excused due to medical conditions without a doctor’s note, but we still have to respond to the summons notice. This process reflects my view of Judaism as a symbiotic relationship between the individual and community. It reflects Hillel’s famous statement in Pirkei Avot, “If I am not for myself who is for me?  And being for my own self, who/what am ‘I’?  And if not now, when?”

 

I serve others only if I am healthy enough to do so. In doing so, I am making my community safer – for you and for me.