By her junior year of high school, Bella Saunders already knew that she wanted to take time off before college and apply her “skills, passions and Judaism” to a non-academic setting. But when the coronavirus pandemic disrupted her senior year at Atholton High School in Columbia, Md., the 17-year-old Saunders became even more certain of her decision to participate in Tivnu: Building Justice, a social justice-themed Jewish gap year program in Portland, Ore.
In Alain Cohen’s new normal, loyal customers still walk into Got Kosher? to pick up their Shabbat take-out meals, buy his famous pretzel challahs and engage in masked conversation.
“It’s really helpful for me and our members to know that the rabbis and sages of our tradition have been wrestling with these issues.”