A real-life situation confronted me this morning, when I was taking a pre-lockdown walk through the streets of Jerusalem. Coming towards me was a popular and respected rabbi of my acquaintance, together with his rebbetzin. We acknowledged each other as we crossed with seasonally appropriate words and then continued walking in our respective directions.
Something troubled me about this apparently innocent encounter, but it took me a good few moments to work out what it was. The rabbi was not wearing a mask, despite all the stern injunctions and encouragements to do so, and in disregard of epidemiological and healthcare advice.
To my knowledge there was no reason why the rabbi should not be wearing a mask -- but there was every reason why he should. As a respected and influential member of the local community, he could certainly be described as a role model. But here he was demonstrating a literally barefaced defiance of the current norm.
After recovering from the initial surprise, my thoughts turned to Avot 1:6 and being don lekaf zechut. The best I could manage was rather feeble: that perhaps the rabbi and his wife were so deeply engrossed in discussion on an important Torah matter that the rabbi quite forgot to put his mask on. This in turn caused me to wonder whether I should have chased back to see if I could find him and gently mention to him that he appeared to have forgotten something -- or maybe administer a tactful rebuke. But by then the opportunity had passed for everything except wondering what I should have done.
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