The coronavirus pandemic is changing our world. In addition to the devastating loss and the economic recession that has already started to hit, there is the impact on our institutions, which will be huge. Which will prevail? What aspects of…
How the pandemic will change Jewish life
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Opinion Boomers becoming Zoomers is a feminist triumph!
Previous Article Next Article About a month after my husband and I — denizens of the pandemic’s most vulnerable age cohort — quarantined ourselves, I realized to my surprise that I was becoming a black belt in Zoom. Not only had I participated in two online seders and successfully navigated a flotilla of virtual meetings…
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Opinion The universe is telling us to dial it down
Previous Article Next Article This pandemic has influenced my life as a Jew as well as a citizen of the world. We’ve talked much about the “calling” or rather “screaming” to heal the earth. God’s Bereshit, the pure creation, has been tampered with. Jews and non-Jews know this by now. I will never look at…
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Opinion Renegotiating the tension between the hyper-local and the collective
Previous Article Next Article I am an urban planner by training, and I’ve long been curious about our community’s sense of place. In the wake of the pandemic, I’m wondering if we will see a shift in how we move between our public and private spaces, and how we think about Jewish places. Will it…
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Opinion We will – we must – gather again. One day.
Previous Article Next Article On November 18, 1656, Jacob Zahalon, a rabbi and a doctor, stood in an apartment in an Italian ghetto, shouting out a window to deliver his Hannukah sermon. Below him stood a number of Jews, unable to enter the synagogue. Why? The bubonic plague was afflicting the community, and no one…
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Opinion Fewer barriers, more intimacy
Previous Article Next Article It was during the first weekend of the lockdown that I attended my first online bat mitzvah. I happened to be at my computer during Shacharit services when Facebook notified me that my congregation was going live. As I watched, notifications popped up as my friends and contacts tuned in. As…
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Opinion Some koved for covid
Previous Article Next Article Like a favorite bra or gentlemen’s truss, Yiddishland during the pandemic continues to offer this Yiddish-head the greatest uplift, providing some virtual koved during covid. Given shelter at home rules, you’d think a Yiddish svive (reading group) might be the first casualty. We usually gear up with a nice selection of…
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Opinion Russian Jews have been preparing for this crisis our whole lives
Previous Article Next Article It’s hard to resist employing the kind of cynical Jewish humor that Russian-speaking Jews know so well when speaking with Americans. If you’re asked a question you don’t want to answer, well, be a clever Jew and respond back with your own question. I successfully resisted the urge when my editor…
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