Related Blog Posts on COVID-19, Death and Mourning, Lifecycle Rituals, and Spirituality

Hope: The Silver Lining in a Very Dark Cloud

Rabbi Stephen Lewis Fuchs

My search for “silver linings” in no way minimizes the toll in suffering, pain, loss, and inconvenience the pandemic is exacting from our lives; I fervently pray it will end soon. Still, I believe that the secret to Jewish survival despite all the hardships and tragedy history has imposed on us is our ability to cling to the hope that things will get better.

What Does the Torah Teach Us about Social Distancing?

Rabbi Wendy Pein

We've learned to procure the basics and meet many of our needs in new ways; with digital technology, we have found substitutes that have enabled us to learn and socialize virtually. Yet the Torah reminds us that individualism and isolation are not the ideal state of being.

Shabbat as Alternate Time, Especially During the Pandemic

Michele Braun

Friday’s sunset could be no different than Thursday’s, a time marker notching off another day or another week, but Shabbat requires us to mark a more substantial difference,  Regularity is key to keep track of our lives between other Jewish times and when days blur into each other.

The Power of Shabbat, Even Over the Loudspeaker

Cantor Laura Stein, LMSW

Even as structure and routine begin to crumble, ritual observances don’t stop for the virus. As did many generations of Jews before us, we must adapt ritual to this unprecedented way of life, and Shabbat services, a mainstay for nursing home residents, necessitated creative adaptation.

And You Shall Love

Avital Abraham

This week, I tell a friend I’d love to chat but actually I have to run Yom Kippur services are starting soon and I’ve got to repent for my sins before the gates are closed. She laughs. “Well, you’re gay, so you’ve definitely got a lot of repenting to do.”

At a Good Hour: Awaiting a Grandchild in 2020

Margie Bogdanow

And at this moment, in the midst of the pandemic, we are witnessing a time of reckoning for the racial divide that has torn our society apart for so long. What does it mean to bring a baby into a world in desperate need of r’fuah sh’leimah, the full healing of body, heart, and soul?