H eadlines
One Year of the Pandemic: How We’ve Changed
Rare is the story that pandemic, and no aspect of “Preparing for Purim, Marking
includes interviews conducted Jewish communal life has gone a Year of Altered Ritual Life,”
in person or photographs taken untouched.

JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
staff writer Sophie Panzer
by a reporter. Recipes are often
As of March 7, 2021, nearly looked back to the first Jewish
THE FIRST MENTION of selected with our inability to a fifth of the U.S. popula- holiday to fall during the
COVID-19 in the Jewish gather with large groups in tion has received at least one pandemic.

Exponent came on March 3, mind. Most trend stories are dose of a vaccine, according
“On March 9, 2020, news
COVID-trend stories. Every to the Times. For some, the of the pandemic was making
2020. The
story combined
reporting from JTA with
contributions from former
staff writer Eric Schucht. In the
fifth paragraph in a story about
It’s going to be a much lonelier time for many people.”
the Israeli elections, Schucht
wrote that the final counting RABBI AARON GABER, IN 2020
had not yet accounted for “the
so-called ‘double envelope’
ballots, which include soldiers,
hospitalized patients, prisoners
and, this year, citizens quaran- obituary’s subject was memori- end is finally in sight. Still, people uneasy, but widespread
tined over possible exposure to alized from afar. Our coverage the pandemic persists in shutdowns and research about
of a tumultuous presidential taking our lives and our time. the dangers of gatherings had
the coronavirus.”
Since that story, the election and what was possibly As the one-year anniversary yet to fully take hold,” Panzer
Exponent has published more the largest protest movement of Pennsylvania’s work-from- wrote.

than 400 articles that mention in the history of the country, home order approaches,
Information about the
the word “coronavirus”: op-eds, according to The New York we took inventory of what’s safety of such an event was
local news, divrei Torah and Times, were handled from happened.

still muddled then, so some
more. But even this undersells home.

congregations and Jewish
the impact of the pandemic on
The world was funda- Ritual Life
groups chose to proceed with
our work.

mentally reshaped by the
In a Feb. 11, 2021, article caution, while others canceled
L OCA L
Benjamin Behrend (top left) and Logan Schulman host a fictional shiva in
“Welcome to the Shiva House” in September 2020.

Courtesy of Benjamin Behrend
4 MARCH 11, 2021
events altogether. This year,
most synagogues hosted their
Purim events outside, or via
Zoom; only a smattering
hosted indoor gatherings.

In 2020, Passover presented
the next challenge, and
questions about digital literacy
became pressing as many
families realized that their
older relatives could not safely
join them in person.

“It’s going to be a much
lonelier time for many
people,” Rabbi Aaron Gaber
of Congregation Brothers of
Israel in Newtown said at the
time. As for Shabbat, rabbis
reported much higher-than-
usual attendance as their
congregants learned to use
Zoom. On college campuses,
Hillels and Chabad Houses
tried to unite their students
through various versions of
“Shabbat to-go boxes” and
outdoor meals.

See Changed, Page 16
Dvora Entin, a specialist in maternal mental health based in Bala Cynywd, speaks to clients from her home in
spring 2020.
Courtesy of Dvora Entin
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