Checking on seniors is one way to help during isolation

We hear a lot today about how hard it is to be quarantined at home. For college students who had just finished Spring Break, or seniors who will graduate without a ceremony, this can be especially hard. In a world where COVID-19 is not just spreading through human communities, but also infecting our stock markets and weakening our economy, it can feel like so much of the world around us is out of our control.

In bewilderment, like deer staring into the headlights of a fast-approaching foreign thing that we don’t understand, we are paralyzed. Many of us have turned inward with books, puzzles and journaling. For others, it is a time to just be numb with Netflix, video games and other diversions designed to bring us to a different reality that we can control or at the least, a reality that can entertain us and pass the time till the times pass us by.

This week, I got the opportunity to try something different. My wife is the Executive Director of Kinneret Council on Aging. Twice a month, she drives to Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida to load up a van with meat, dairy, and fresh fruit and vegetables for the low-income residents of Kinneret Apartments who without this food donation would really be struggling.

It is very physical work and humbling at the same time. I found myself surprised by how good it felt to take a break from victimhood. To step away from isolation and towards the empowering choice of fighting back in a way that I can.

In the hopes that I am not alone, Central Florida Hillel has come up with a program called “Hillel Helps” in order to create opportunities to free our students from the feeling of helplessness and to empower them to take action.

What defined the “Greatest Generation” wasn’t the Great Depression, but the way they came together and fought, sacrificed and died for the cause of freedom in World War II. What defined their children’s generation was not the Vietnam War, but those who sacrificed for their country as well as those who opposed the war and fought to bring it to an end.

In both cases, these twenty-somethings were faced with a world that they did not choose but, nonetheless had to respond to in one way or the other.

For the “Quarantine Generation,” is their moment. Many will choose to sit this one out. They will choose with their actions (not their words) to simply stay at home, watch their screens or just be “bored.” Others will use this time in history to stand up and redefine not only themselves but be a part of the redefinition of a whole generation. crisis is their moment in history.

We are gathering Russian- and Spanish-speaking students who will volunteer to call these isolated and lonely seniors at Kinneret to check in on them with a friendly call once a week. To make cards and letters to send to them to keep their spirits up. This is just one way of taking action. There are many others.

It’s true that there is much that we can’t do right now from our points of isolation, but it is also true that there is much more that we can do than we are aware.

In normal times, Hillel is the “home away from home” for thousands of students here in Orlando and around the country. It is a place to come for free food, free travel opportunities to international conferences, Israel trips and much more.

We are not living in normal times…. We at Hillel are challenging our students with one question. “What stories do you want to tell your children one day when they ask what you did during COVID-19”?

In the Jewish tradition, we remember that G-d called out to Moses from the burning bush and Moses answered with the famous exclamation, “Heneni” (I am here). This was not about answering G-d’s question as to Moses whereabouts.

Clearly G-d knew where Moses was. Rather, it was about Moses saying I am here, and I am ready to act.

COVID-19 is the burning bush of this generation. What will your response be?