“We know that the pandemic has affected different groups differently. When people who are able to work from home get the vaccine before essential workers who face exposure to the illness as part of their jobs, they are obstructing the Torah’s commandment to love your fellow as yourself. Wasserman and Tornberg added that, in most cases, line-cutting contradicts the Jewish value of justice.

In this specific situation, it would be acceptable to get a vaccine before being declared eligible. They should go to helping people,” he said. “In those cases, when vaccines are going to be wasted, they shouldn’t be wasted. However, things get more complicated when vaccines are set to expire and distributors can’t find eligible takers due to the time crunch. Rabbi Seth Haaz, senior rabbi at Har Zion Temple in Penn Valley, also said Talmudic texts about equality, like Sanhedrin 4:5 and Berakhot 17a, make it clear that getting a vaccine before someone who is more at-risk does not align with Jewish ethics, particularly in the face of limited supply. “Jumping the line is a way of saying, ‘My life is worth more than the other person,’” she said. Rabbi Mira Wasserman, director of the Center for Jewish Ethics at Reconstructing Judaism and assistant professor of rabbinic literature at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, said line-jumping contradicts the core Jewish value of the equality of all human life. “All of Judaism I see as trying to refine human nature, so we don’t act like animals, that it’s not the survival of the fittest, it’s not the survival of the strongest, it’s the emergence of a sense of righteousness, a sense of equity and fairness, because we are all created in the image of God,” he said. He added that Jewish texts advocate to protect the vulnerable, such as the widow, the orphan and the stranger, which emphasizes the importance of ensuring marginalized groups have access to the vaccine first. “In other words, you show deference to those who need respect who normally don’t get it.” ‘Leviticus 19 says, ‘You shall rise before the aged and honor the old because I am the Lord your God,’” Marx said. Rabbi Gregory Marx, senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Or in Maple Glen, said Leviticus 19 makes it clear that line-jumping before all seniors are able to get vaccinated contradicts the Jewish obligation to help the elderly. “Society shut down because of the people that were getting it, getting hospitalized and so many didn’t make it.” “Society did not shut down because young, healthy people were getting sick, getting a few symptoms and getting better,” Brennan said. Line cutters are also holding back society as a whole if they get their shot too early, he said.

“Essentially, it’s incorrect and unethical because you’re taking away from someone else something that has a much better chance of helping them than helping you,” he said. Since the sick and elderly face greater risk of fatality from COVID-19 than the young and healthy, it is not ethical for the latter to cut in front of the former to obtain a vaccine. In situations where not everyone faces equal risk, however, it’s a different story. Rabbi Moshe Brennan at Chabad of Penn Wynne said Jewish law requires a person to protect their own life when all dangers are equal, such as being stranded in the desert with limited water. “What we’re talking about is whether people are going to survive this pandemic, and Judaism does not dither when it comes to that,” said Rabbi Shoshanah Tornberg at Old York Road Temple-Beth Am. We do not share data with third party vendors. Get Jewish Exponent's Newsletter by email and never miss our top stories

Covid vaccine jumping line