How COVID changed Jewish life

• Date: 17 January 2021
• Published date: 17 January 2021
• Author: MICAH HALPERN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The sobering reality is that COVID has caused tremendous damage to Jewish community institutions. Synagogues may never regain their central roles in our lives. The vitality of Jewish cultural and religious centers has dramatically waned and will probably never return.

Jews enjoyed going to temples and to synagogues more for the camaraderie and the social scene than for the spiritual spin it added to their lives. They enjoyed seeing and being seen. Social interaction was the number-one reason people attended synagogues, according to an informal ad hoc survey I conducted among regular synagogue attendees. Next in reasons for attending came prayer and, with a wink and a smile, to hear their rabbi's sermons.

People, not just Jewish people, enjoy socializing with like-minded people. It's what happened at water coolers before most workplaces became remote workplaces. It's what happened after work when restaurants and bars were open and social distancing never entered our minds, let alone ruled our lives. It's what happened after prayers at a kiddush, at bar and mitzvahs, and at annual fundraising galas and dinners.

Jews like hanging out with other Jews, and there was no better place to do that than in their places of worship. In my unprofessional poll, I was told again and again how these "members of the tribe," as we often call ourselves, enjoyed sharing their lives – from the everyday, mundane details to the emotional, impactful events – with people with whom they shared something else of importance.

Jews yearn for and thrive on community. It is our sense of community that lends support and connection to something bigger than ourselves. Community gives us a sense of safety and purpose, or it did, once upon a time.

COVID changed everything. We can pretend, we can do our best to replicate the real experience, but Zooming is not congregating. Shortened versions of our prayer services, limiting our time together as a group, is the antithesis of congregating. Drive-by simchas, festivities, especially do not allow for congregating.

WE ARE NO longer congregating. And that's a good thing. It's the smart way to behave during the pandemic. It's the safest way to lead our lives and remain alive. But synagogues and temples are, by definition, congregations. That is how the Hebrew term for the word synagogue actually translates. Beit Knesset means "place where one congregates," and "synagogue" is the Greek translation...