The latest news from California is that the state is allowing hospital staff WITH COVID to keep working, as long as they don't have symptoms. That's right: they can still spread the virus, but as long as they don't have symptoms, they can come to work and... care for vulnerable patients? What is going on here?
Well, there's a huge staff shortage. Some of it is due to the fact that there is so much demand for hospital services; and some of it is part of the overall labor shortage problems; but at least some of it is due to the fact that Governor Gavin Newsom proudly imposed a vaccine mandate on health care workers.
The result is that instead of having a healthy but unvaccinated health care worker treating you, now you could have a COVID-positive health care worker treating you, vaccinated or not. The idea is that they'll only treat COVID-positive patients -- but how do you know? Are they in a quarantined wing?
This is just the latest example of a left-wing policy whose results were predictable. The idea is to encourage vaccination and reduce risk to patients. But do you really do that when you can't afford to lose staff for any reason, and most of them worked for a year without being vaccinated? Yes -- in California.
This week’s portion launches the great story of Abraham, who is told to leave everything of his life behind — except his immediate family — and to leave for “the Land that I shall show you.”
There’s something interesting in the fact that Abraham is told to leave his father’s house, as if breaking away from his father’s life — but his father, in fact, began the journey, moving from Ur to Haran (in last week’s portion). His father set a positive example — why should Abraham leave him?
Some obvious answers suggest themselves — adulthood, needing to make one’s own choices, his father not going far enough, etc.
But I think there is another answer. Abraham (known for the moment as Abram) needs to establish his own household. This is not just about making one’s own choice, but really about choosing one’s own starting point. It’s starting over.
Sometimes we start over in fundamental ways even if much that surrounds us remains the same. Sometimes the journey we have to ...
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.
Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
