We are a social people. We eat together, pray together, celebrate together, and mourn together. Our whole social system is set up around socially gathering.  

Social distancing is really the antithesis of our entire way of life and has been very difficult for many of us.

But, let’s not overlook the opportunities that our current lifestyles have presented.

Each of my children has four siblings, two parents, four grandparents, 14 aunts and uncles, 20 first cousins, and three once-removed first cousins, who live around the globe. We hardly ever all got together, until the pandemic started. Now we host weekly zoom conferences.

Committee meetings now take an hour with no additional time needed for travel or cleanup. Synagogues have classes at previously inconvenient times. Now, very few times are inconvenient.  

We also have opportunities to put together amazing programs by partnering with others. Earlier this week, you received an email about three such upcoming events. Monday night we will commemorate Yom Ha’Shoah with our entire local community and our local Holocaust survivors. The following Monday, we will commemorate Yom Ha’Zikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day) with Jewish communities around the world, and next Wednesday for Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day), we will celebrate like never before, with Zionists everywhere and a host of international celebrities. Please see details on all three programs below.  

What I find particularly interesting is that we’ve had the technology to do things like this for years, but we haven’t. Will we go back to the way things were, or will we continue with some new thinking?

 

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