Mind, Body & Spirit

NEW YORK (JTA) — Four heavily Orthodox neighborhoods in Brooklyn have especially high rates of the novel coronavirus, according to data released by this city’s Department of Health. The record of positive COVID-19 tests in the five boroughs shows that Borough Park, Crown Heights, Williamsburg and Midwood all have… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — One in three residents, or 34 percent, of the mostly haredi Orthodox city of Bnei Brak in central Israel who have been tested for the coronavirus are positive. The high percentage of positive tests reported Tuesday by the Health Ministry compares to 6 percent in Tel… Read more »

WEST HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (JTA) — I’ve been preparing for the COVID-19 pandemic for the past year. No, I am not an alarmist, prophet or a hoarder. I am a 39-year-old mother of four young children — and I am a widow. My husband, Ari, passed away on March 6, 2019.… Read more »

(JTA) — Two residents of Montefiore, a Jewish nursing home in suburban Cleveland, tested positive for coronavirus. The facility in Beachwood, Ohio, made the announcement in a statement on Saturday, the Cleveland Jewish News reported. Both of the residents are now hospitalized. More than two weeks ago the facility… Read more »

(JTA) — Among the mysteries of the coronavirus is that some patients suffer and ultimately die from the disease while others experience the symptoms as akin to a mild cold. Rabbi Daniel Nevins is in the latter category. The dean of the rabbinical school at the Jewish Theological Seminary,… Read more »

BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — The first Jewish victim of the coronavirus in Argentina was cremated by local authorities despite protests from the local Jewish community. Ruben Bercovich, a 59-year-old businessman and father of three, died on Thursday in Resistencia, the capital of the northern Chaco province. Bercovich, owner of… Read more »

RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Daniel Azulay, one of Brazil’s most prominent children’s artists and educators, died March 27 at 72 in Rio de Janeiro. Azulay was being treated for leukemia when he contracted the coronavirus. Azulay was the creator of “Turma do Lambe-Lambe,” a group of children’s characters… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, a prominent leader in the haredi Orthodox community, called on his followers to pray alone without a prayer quorum. The ruling on Sunday came after a steep rise in the number of coronavirus cases in Bnei Brak, a mostly haredi city in Israel,… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The National Library of Israel has created an archive to document the impact of the coronavirus on Jewish communities around the world. The Jewish Community COVID-19 Archive will be made up of “ephemera items” — materials not generally intended for long-term preservation. Such items often help… Read more »

(JTA) — At least twice a day, Micol Naccache breaks down in tears over what the coronavirus is doing to her city of Milan and its Jewish community. A high school teacher and mother of two, Naccache describes herself as “an optimistic person.” But she is struggling to stay… Read more »

(JTA) — Before everything changed, Jalna Silverstein and Asael Papour were planning a wedding much like many other Jewish nuptials on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. They had a band and caterer lined up, a ceremony planned for the synagogue where Silverstein grew up and all the little… Read more »

We’re creating space to mourn Jews who are lost to the coronavirus at a time when Jewish mourning practices are nearly impossible to observe. If you’ve lost someone dear to you, we invite you to share their story with us using this form. Maurice Berger, 63, was a noted… Read more »

(JTA) — Arie Even, the first Israeli to die from the coronavirus, was buried in the dead of night with mourners standing six feet apart and funeral workers wearing Hazmat gear. Even, 88, a native of Hungary who survived the Holocaust, was a retired Israeli diplomat. He died Friday… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) —  A vicious rumor has been making the rounds: Hasidim are neglecting to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously because we are selfish. But as someone born and bred in the Satmar community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, who now lives in Jerusalem and writes for Yiddish publications, I can… Read more »

RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — A Brazilian cosmetics giant owned by the billionaire son of Holocaust survivors donated 1.7 tons of gel alcohol, which can be used as hand sanitizer, to help the city where it is headquartered fight the coronavirus. The donation to Curitiba’s municipal health department was… Read more »

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 »

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 »

(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 »

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 »

(JTA) — When it became clear that the COVID-19 pandemic would reach Israel, Elli Rosenberg was one of a small number of medical professionals at the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva to answer a call for volunteers to treat the sick. Rosenberg, a clinical immunologist who works as an… Read more »