Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its affect on Jewish communities around the world.
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Community You already know how to celebrate Shavuot at home: Make a Seder
For most communities, the coronavirus has cancelled Shavuot. That’s because the standard Shavuot celebration revolves around public, shared space events like all-night Jewish learning at a synagogue or JCC. But there is a way to bring this experience home and, in doing so, make it far better. The all-night Shavuot program is a flawed product….
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Community ‘The goal is simply to see, hear and feel our lives in a new way’
I spent last Shavuot at a “walking, sitting, writing” retreat in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Seven thousand feet above sea level, I planted my feet in the red-brown earth at the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. I held a pen between my fingers. I wrote on a page. When I signed up for…
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Life ‘Many, many black-and-whites:’ these are the most popular Jewish eats during the pandemic
Customers at New York’s Russ and Daughters can no longer browse the counter, peek into the bakery, or drop in for an impromptu coffee and rugelach. New Yorkers in dire need of a schmear have to place orders by phone and wait outside until a masked and gloved employee hands their food over. But while…
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News Kosher to treyf, and back again: all in a day for Fairway’s bakery
It was a baked goods bombshell. On Tuesday morning, kosher-keeping Manhattanites woke up to learn that bakery items at Fairway, a beloved and beleaguered supermarket chain under new ownership after filing for bankruptcy, were no longer kosher — effective immediately. “Oy…. the Rugelach there were the best. So sad,” posted one customer on Facebook. And…
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Fast Forward California allowing up to 100 people in synagogues — just in time for Shavuot holiday
Guidelines issued by the state of California on Monday will allow up to 100 people to attend services at synagogues and other houses of worship. Synagogue attendance will be capped at 100 people or 25% capacity, whichever is smaller. All attendees not in an immediate family unit will have to maintain distancing of six feet,…
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Community ‘Jewish day schools must be the most appealing option by leaps and bounds’
If there is anything I have learned working as a teacher in New York City during COVID-19, it is how vital Jewish education is. The school I teach in, the Rabbi Arthur Schneier Park East Day School in Manhattan, performed phenomenally throughout this crisis, but we were not the only ones. Following Jewish day schools’…
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Fast Forward A new fund is providing aid to Jews of color struggling due to coronavirus
(JTA) — A new relief fund is providing financial aid to Jews of color who are struggling economically due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Jews of Color Field Building Initiative announced the launch of an emergency relief fund on Tuesday. The San Francisco-based group will be providing aid of between $250 and $2,5000 on a…
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Opinion The government is feeding a Hasidic persecution complex
Imagine you are a Hasidic teenage boy, a yeshiva student. You usually have school all year round, six days a week; your purpose in life is to study Torah, especially before your arranged marriage at the age of 18 or 19 while you are not yet distracted by family and work. From the time you…
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