News

Why Jewish communities are keeping mikvahs open amid the coronavirus outbreak — for now

Women's mikvahs in Israel, like this one in the settlement of Alon Shvut, are still open. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)
March 22, 2020 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — When the rabbis of New Jersey’s suburban Bergen County took the bold step of shutting down almost all facets of communal Jewish life last week, they left the doors of one institution open: the women’s mikvah, or ritual bath. That pattern has been repeated in… Read more »

I’m a pediatrician who sees kids with coronavirus every day. It’s changed my whole way of life.

Health care providers wear protective equipment, like gloves, but some still get the coronavirus. (Getty Images)
March 22, 2020 / Dr. Alysa Frenkel-Schick, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — I am a pediatrician who for 15 years has practiced in a medical office in the heart of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We serve the local Hasidic community and see a variety of other patients from Brooklyn, the Lower East Side and Queens. When the coronavirus emerged… Read more »

3 happy Jewish coronavirus stories to finish the week
March 22, 2020 / Ben Harris, JTA

(JTA) — After a week in which the headlines seemed to grow more grim by the day, it’s worth remembering that even as cities go dark across the globe, the world continues to turn. Babies are born, people are getting married, and thankfully the sun still rises every morning.… Read more »

Handmaker temporarily limits outside visitors
March 20, 2020 /

As a precaution against the spread of COVID-19, aka the coronavirus, Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging has canceled all outside programs and events at least through the end of March. Handmaker is also limiting visitation, as per recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and the Center for… Read more »

Or Chadash, Temple Emanu-El explore merger

A joint Congregation Or Chadash-Temple Emanu-El ‘100 Menorah Celebration’ Shabbat on Dec. 27 filled the sanctuary at Temple Emanu-El. (Simon Rosenblatt - Facebook)
March 20, 2020 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

In an era when non-Orthodox synagogues throughout the country have seen membership decline, two Reform synagogues in Tucson, Temple Emanu-El and Congregation Or Chadash, are considering joining forces. Temple Emanu-El, established in 1910, is the oldest synagogue in Arizona, while Or Chadash is celebrating its 25th year. After more… Read more »

Neo-Nazis target editor of Jewish publication
March 20, 2020 / Ellen O’Brien, Phoenix Jewish News

An Arizona man associated with a neo-Nazi group was among four arrested on Feb. 26 and charged with conspiracy to threaten and intimidate Mala Blomquist, the editor of Arizona Jewish Life, and an unnamed member of the Arizona Association of Black Journalists. All four charged are affiliated with Atomwaffen… Read more »

JFSA, others cancel events, focus on giving, digital resources in face of coronavirus

A view from the lobby of the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy, home of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona (Martha Lochert)
March 20, 2020 /

UPDATE: The Jewish Federation and Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona have created a web page at www.jewishtucson.org/pandemic containing community resources, volunteer opportunities, and a link to donate to the newly created Jewish Community Pandemic Relief Fund, which provides emergency financial assistance and meets critical needs for individuals, families, and… Read more »

JHM vandalism symptom of rising anti-Semitism
March 20, 2020 / Bryan Davis, Jewish History Museum/Holocaust History Center
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

These are troubling times. Anti-Semitic threats and messages are escalating all around us. Three weeks ago, the words “Hail Hitler” (sic) were found scrawled on an exhibit inside our Holocaust History Center. March 5, a man brazenly unfurled a Nazi flag as Senator Bernie Sanders took the stage at… Read more »

Congregation Or Chadash Sisterhood shines a light on volunteer Sandock
March 20, 2020 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor
Beverly Sandock

Community volunteer Beverly Sandock will be recognized in April by  the Congregation Or Chadash Sisterhood with its second annual Eshet Or (Woman of Light) award. In addition to 20 years of volunteer service at the synagogue, Sandock contributes to the community through daily professional and personal outreach. “Bev’s name… Read more »

Midbar chickens come home to roost at Congregation Bet Shalom

Youngsters rehome chicks they raised to the Midbar Farm chicken coop at Congregation Bet Shalom on March 5. (Debe Campbell/AJP)
March 20, 2020 /

Eighteen pullets — and perhaps the odd rooster — came home to roost in their new coop at the Congregation Bet Shalom Midbar (desert) Farm on March 5. The baby chicks were with four families until they were large enough to occupy the coop, which volunteers built from donated… Read more »

Active GV volunteer has passion for aiding migrants

At her Green Valley home, Shura Wallin shows drawings created by migrant children sheltering in Nogales, Sonora. (Debe Campbell/AJP)
March 20, 2020 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor

A grey, three-footed Mexican rescue cat named Tiny bats innocently at the frayed end of a dirty white rope. At the other end of the rope is a noose. The rope is one of many artifacts Shura Wallin has recovered from the Sonoran Desert between Green Valley and the… Read more »

He wanted to encapsulate Beijing’s Jewish community in a Passover Haggadah. The coronavirus complicated that.

Artist Leon Fenster says this page of his Beijing-themed Haggadah aims to capture the traditional Haggadah’s "curiously non-chronological form of storytelling." (Courtesy of Fenster)
March 19, 2020 / Alan Grabinsky, JTA

(JTA) — Unlike Shanghai or Hong Kong, which received Jews fleeing from World War II, Beijing does not have a robust Jewish history. In the words of Joshua Kurtzig, former president of the Reform congregation there, the massive Chinese capital is a “very transient city,” especially for Jews — meaning… Read more »

Saying Kaddish from balconies and fasting: How Hasidic Jews are responding to the coronavirus

Chabad children in Argentina study in the movement's online school in 2007. During the new coronavirus outbreak, the school has offered guidance to other Jewish schools transitioning to remote learning. (Courtesy of the Nigri International Shluchim Online School)
March 19, 2020 / Ben Sales, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — One of Avi Webb’s favorite times of the week is Sunday morning, when he takes his children to morning prayers at his synagogue and stays for a lesson on Hasidic thought. His kids play at an arts and crafts table while he studies. Webb is… Read more »

Jews in the United Kingdom prepare for distancing as Britain adapts to coronavirus

Philip Carmel, seen outside a Jewish cemetery in Russia during a work trip in 2018, says "the only difference between the United Kingdom and Italy is that we’re three weeks behind them.” (Cnaan Liphshiz)
March 19, 2020 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

(JTA) — As the coronavirus forced the shutdown of many synagogues in the United States and beyond last Shabbat, many British Jews celebrated the day of rest as usual. At the time, their government was taking a far less restrictive approach even as the leaders of other countries shut… Read more »

‘We’re not scared’: Some haredi Orthodox Jews in Israel are ignoring coronavirus social distancing rules

Some of the students at a haredi boys school in Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet, just west of Jerusalem, where classes are still being held, March 18, 2020. (Sam Sokol)
March 19, 2020 / Sam Sokol, JTA

BEIT SHEMESH, Israel (JTA) — “Do you want trouble?” the Hasidic man asked, leaning toward me intimidatingly. “Are you threatening me?” I asked, turning to look at the lean man in a flat black hat and long caftan. “No. But if you stay here, everyone will come and there… Read more »