The Jewish world in the age of coronavirus – A special Israel Hayom project
Part XII: Jewish communities face a pandemic, and change with it
The COVID-19 pandemic has been tough on people, but it has also put to test the concept of a global village that we have come to rely on so extensively.
This has also been felt by Jewish communities, who consider physical contact part and parcel of their activities. Even strong communities – such as the Jews in France and the US – were adversely impacted. Italian Jewry has suffered an almost fatal setback.
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As a result, many Jewish communities have had to adapt and started reimagining their relationships. This means putting more emphasis on finding out how they could support themselves, as well as rethinking Israel's place in their day-to-day conduct.
Ilan Geal-Dor, the CEO of The Gesher Leadership Institute, which seeks to promote connections and unity between different sectors of the Jewish people in Israel and the Diaspora, told Israel that this crisis has led to a "growing realization that there are several spheres in the Jewish worldview."
According to Geal-Dor, there is no longer a single entity called "US Jewry" but rather a composite of communities. "Chicago is not the same as Cleaveland and every community builds its human capital through its own character; the pandemic has made this trend even more pronounced and introduced new dimensions," he said.
Rabbi Daniel Epstein, who leads a congregation at the Cockfosters and N. Southgate United Synagogue in North London, says that his experience in Israel has helped him adapt along with his community. "I brought my Israeliness to this congregation. According to my worldview, those who do not see Jewish life beyond their minyan suffer more, and therefore I have been helping the community even outside my capacity within the synagogue. We have to live Judaism every day, not just on Shabbat."
He says that during the first lockdown period in the spring and the summer, he remained calm, despite worrying that the community would struggle. "I streamed Facebook Live content every day, but with more than 300 of the congregants being pensioners it wasn't clear if they could actively take part in Zoom sessions. In practice, I had come to realize that the daily activities had much greater attendance than at normal times." He added that "without an actual structure, there is no community, but I discovered that we were much more conneceted than we thought we were. We managed to recruit dozens of volunteers to distribute food and raise funds to help the community in these times." According to Epstein, "The fact that Israel has been present in their lives has given us the strength to be Jews in the Diaspora."
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