-Hillel the Elder

Every time I’m on a plane, and I hear the crew instructions; “Please secure your own mask before assisting others”, I think of Hillel’s words.  Hillel reminds us that loving our neighbor as ourselves requires that we first love ourselves. Like many of us, I was taught not to be self-ish, even to be self-sacrificing. But think about that for a moment- if I’m self- sacrificing taken to the extreme, doesn’t that mean I sacrifice  my Self? If I am totally self-less, aren’t I left with no self? And if I’m self-ish,  Hillel seems to suggest it as a prerequisite for helping others, having a healthy self.

But he doesn’t leave it there. If we are selfish to the point of excluding others from our sphere of care, we become something other than fully human- “what am I”? So we need, once again, to find that Goldilocks zone- where we care for ourselves, but not at the expense or exclusion of others, and we care for others, but not at the total expense or exclusion of ourselves.

And when do we do this? Now. For Now is all we have. Notice how it’s always NOW, and  never THEN? Anything we don’t do in the Now simply does not get done. Fortunately, we have a large supply of Now, and there’s plenty to go around. Care of self, care of others. Right Now. And Now. And Now. Repeat as necessary.

How can you care for yourself and others right now?

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Hillel (variously called Hillel HaGadol, or Hillel HaZaken, Hillel HaBavli or HaBavli; born according to tradition in Babylon c. 110 BCE, died 10 CE in Jerusalem) was one of the most important sages in Jewish history. He is associated with the development of the Mishnah and the Talmud. Renowned as a spiritual leader and scholar, he was the founder of the House of Hillel school for Tannaïm (Sages of the Mishnah) and the founder of a dynasty of Sages who stood at the head of the Jews living in the Land of Israel until roughly the fifth century of the Common Era.