GET IN
LINE DEAD OF WINTER
Virtual museum highlights diagonality
in art and design.

FEBRUARY 11, 2021 / 29 SHEVAT 5781
PAGE 21
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM — WHAT IT MEANS TO BE JEWISH IN PHILADELPHIA —
$1.00 LOCAL
Israeli Cuisine the
Focus of Virtual
Market Tour
Country’s food a
mix of worldwide
delicacies. Page 6
BOOKS February Book
Harvest Healthy
See capsule
reviews of several
good choices.

Page 24
Volume 133
Number 44
Published Weekly Since 1887
SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
THE WALLS OF Germantown Jewish
Centre bear the remnants of last year’s
Purim celebration.

“We still have signs in our building
that say, ‘Extra hand washing station
behind the bar’ because we were trying
to encourage people to take the steps we
thought at that time were going to help
to contain the pandemic,” Rabbi Adam
Zeff said.

For many synagogues, Purim was the
last Jewish holiday celebrated in person.

On March 9, 2020, news of the pandemic
was making people uneasy, but widespread
shutdowns and research about the dangers
of gatherings had yet to fully take hold.

Many political leaders and health experts
were still recommending hand washing
as the main preventative measure against
COVID-19’s spread. Some shuls canceled
events, while others held them cautiously:
no shared food, no handshakes.

One Jewish calendar year later, leaders
and congregants fi nd themselves planning
virtual and socially distanced celebrations
Federation Housing residents wait in line at their COVID-19 vaccine clinic.

Photos by Eric Naftulin
Jewish Philadelphia
Reports Rocky COVID-19
Vaccine Rollout
SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
WHEN MICHAEL SAEWITZ, 67, tried to
sign up for an appointment at the Atlantic
City Convention Center COVID-19 vacci-
nation site, the registration system informed
him he was number 11,800 in line.

He hasn’t heard back from any local
vaccination sites, so he called a number to
register for another site in New Jersey, which
put him on hold before hanging up on him.

“Th at’s sort of typical of the whole
process,” he said.

Saewitz, who lives in Philadelphia and
See Purim, Page 15
See Vaccine, Page 14
INTRODUCING RS U
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Name: Floors USA*
• Page 4
76 Hazzan’s career
stretched 90 years.

ng 19
Cantor Isaac Wall
Dies at 103
c e
OBITUARY Purim Marks
a Year of
Altered Ritual Life
FL OF NOTE
n C u s t o m e rs Si
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5 YEARS
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