Jewish content abounds online in the age of corona. These 6 offerings rock.
Audi Gozlan does kabalah yoga in Venice Beach, Calif. Image by Courtesy of Audi Gozlan
After almost 2 solid weeks stuck at home, relying only on Netflix for online sustenance, I was in desperate need of some variety — and I’m not talking about binge-watching. My next chapter still had to be online, but it had to be equal parts active, intellectual and contemplative. And it had to be Jewish, now that I couldn’t get to work or the JCC, or hang out with friends.
So I asked around and cultivated a Jewish guide devoted to surviving the coronavirus that’s all about staying well-rounded and nourishing all aspects of the self. If you’ve gotten stuck in a rut, and want to connect to the greater Jewish world, check out our picks to help you stretch your mind, body and soul.
1) Try Kabbalah yoga by the ocean
Teacher Audi Gozlan’s YouTube series, “Sacred Shapes” — with poses based on the Hebrew aleph bet — was filmed on a gorgeous SoCal beach.
2) Bake challah with a celebrity chef
Jenn Louis’s page at the online cooking school, Panna is filled with conversational how-to’s for all your Jewish favorites from her mother’s challah recipe to brisket. Joining Panna costs $5.99 a month, but you can register for a seven-day free trial.
3) Listen (and dance) to a Klezmer concert
To beat that post-carb lull, tune into Michael Winograd & the Honorable Mentshn’s performance from the 2019 Jewish Culture Festival in Poland, and dance like nobody’s watching.
4) Make time for an online recovery meeting
The 92nd Street Y’s T’shuvah group — a weekly support group for folks dealing with substance use disorders that integrates Jewish tradition with the 12 steps — has moved online.
5) Learn to read the Ladino alphabet
Have Jewish family from Spain? Watch this crash course in Soletreo, the script used in Ladino, from the University of Washington’s Center for Jewish Studies.
6) Keep it light with a “A Rabbi walks into a bar…”
If all that learning has you needing a mental reset, checkout the Jewish comedy Reddit that brings you the laughable coronavirus moments you didn’t know existed.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
