H EADLINES
Rugby Continued from Page 1
Natalie Klotz
play in national competitions
even further. Last year’s rugby
season was canceled, and this
season looked uncertain before
Israel’s vaccination rollout
started to send the country
on the path toward normality.

Th e team was able to practice
together, but weren’t sure what
they were preparing for.

Their training paid off
when they learned they would
16 MAY 13, 2021
Photo by Bartzi Photography
play against the UAE. On
March 19, the men’s teams
met at Dubai’s Rugby Park
in the city’s Sports City for
the first-ever friendly match
between Israeli and Emirati
national teams in any sport,
The Jerusalem Post reported.

Spectators were not allowed in
the arena due to COVID-19.

In the fi rst game, Israel
defeated UAE 33-0. Th e teams
Israel women’s rugby national team
mixed players for a second
game. Aft er the competition,
the Israeli team stayed in
Dubai to celebrate and held
an outdoor Shabbat ceremony
with the Emirati team.

For the women’s match,
the Emirati team will travel
to Israel.

“It defi nitely feels historic. It
was really cool to watch the boys
go. We’ve kind of been waiting
for that moment for ourselves,”
Klotz said. “Having the Emirati
team come now that these
borders are open and especially
in COVID and this being our
fi rst international match in
almost two years, it feels like it’s
kind of monumental in many
ways for us.”
Reut Ben David, a national
team manager, thinks sports
can play a key role in expediting
relationships between the
countries. “Sport is a good platform
and a very clean platform
to normalize relationships
between any two groups,”
she said. “It doesn’t have any
politics in it, it’s just people
coming who want to play and
want to have fun.”
Even before the pandemic
JEWISH EXPONENT
hit, national team coach Omer
Chalfi said rugby players faced
challenges due to Israelis’ disin-
terest in or even ignorance of
the sport. When he tells people
he coaches rugby, he is oft en
met with confusion. When
he tells people he coaches
women’s rugby, they are even
more surprised.

“We don’t have a professional
league, everything’s an amateur
level, which means it is much
more diffi cult for the girls.

Th ey’re not getting paid, they’re
all working full-time jobs on
their own time, they’re training,
they go to the gym, they’re there
on their own time,” he said. “It’s
much harder to be an amateur
athlete than a professional one
in that way because we expect
them to train almost as a
professional athlete, and they
have their own personal life and
their work.”
For Klotz, the sports culture
in Israel feels diff erent from
the sports culture in the U.S.

She said it’s diffi cult to recruit
young adults who go straight
from high school to the army,
and there are few universities
that off er sports scholarships.

But the beauty of rugby, she
Courtesy of Natalie Klotz
said, is that it is possible to
become a good player quickly.

You just have to put in the time.

“It’s one of the few [sports]
that you can go to the fi rst
practice without having heard
of it, and you can be a very
competitive player in one year,
as long as you are willing to
give it a go and not be scared,
and it has a lot of room for new
players,” she said.

Now that it looks like Israel
and other European countries
will be safe enough to allow
travel, the team plans to travel
to Serbia in June to play against
European teams in the European
Rugby Champions Cup.

Ben David said the women’s
team has received sponsor-
ship from the city of Netanya,
which will work to publicize
the upcoming UAE match, and
Athena, the national program
advancing women’s sports in
Israel. “It’s a very good opportu-
nity for us to make ourselves
public and to raise awareness
to rugby and women’s rugby
specifi cally,” she said. ●
spanzer@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0729
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



F TAY-SACHS
R F R E E E E
H EADLINES
Synagogue Continued from Page 1
widespread vaccine availability
for children and enough herd
immunity in the city, state and
even country to make the virus
a very low risk.

“One of the strengths of
the congregation is the diver-
sity, including age,” she said.

“We have this entire youth
community who is behind in
vaccinations, so we’re eager for
that to be off ered.”
Until these conditions are
met, the synagogue is exper-
imenting with incremental
and slow returns from virtual
worship to gathering outdoors
and in small groups.

Rabbi Eric Yanoff of Adath
Israel said his community has
been using outdoor events,
including a Passover barbecue
and upcoming
Shavuot celebration, to get people used
to the idea of gathering in
person again.

“People are going to come
around to it at diff erent times,
going back to the habit of
coming to shul,” he said.

He said the last few months
made a massive diff erence
in people’s confi dence levels
in terms of socializing, but
getting back to a pre-pandemic
normal of indoor worship will
be a long process.

Rabbi Abe Friedman of
Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel
said small in-person b’nei
mitzvah ceremonies and
in-person preschool program-
ming held over the past year
have given synagogue leader-
ship an opportunity to learn
more about what kind of indoor
programming is possible.

He said the synagogue plans
to begin to bring people together
more over the summer to test
procedures and plan for the fall.

Services held in the sanctuary
will be kept small. People will
be required to RSVP, and no
kiddush will be served.

Friedman said the synagogue
highly encourages vaccines,
but would not require people
to provide proof of vaccination
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM BZBI holds an outdoor service at Fitler Square.

A preschool class meets in the sanctuary at BZBI. Courtesy of David Haas
People are going to come around to it at
different times, going back to the habit of
coming to shul.”
RABBI ERIC YANOFF
since indoor gatherings will
involve masking and distancing,
measures that have proven
effi cacy against the virus. He
also said that requiring the
vaccine would be unfair for
people who could not yet access
it due to medical conditions,
income issues or inability to take
time off from work.

Rabbanit Dasi Fruchter of
the South Philadelphia Shtiebel
said her shul plans to continue
to congregate outside with
masks, which has been the
practice since the pandemic
began. As more and more
people are vaccinated, they
will adjust their guidelines for
services and celebrations.

She pointed out that moving
gatherings indoors would
come with many more restric-
tions than outdoor gatherings
and could feel jarring to
congregants. Now that fully
vaccinated people can forgo
a mask outdoors if they are
able to keep social distance,
outdoor gatherings feel much
more relaxed.

“A big question we’re
holding now is, well, is it worth
it to move inside if we have
the opportunity outside for less
restriction?” she said.

But the truly big question
on synagogue leadership’s
minds is the procedure for the
High Holidays.

“I frankly expect that a
quarter-to-a-third of our
congregation is probably going
to prefer to stay online, either
JEWISH EXPONENT
because of concerns about
corona, or because the experi-
ence for them online is actually
better,” Friedman said. “We have
a very old building. Accessibility
is a problem. Th ere are people
who have all kinds of hearing
impairments, and being able to
control the level of sound with
themselves, is a major improve-
ment of experience.”
Maderer said Rodeph
Shalom is evaluating scenarios
for how to conduct services
in the sanctuary for the High
Holidays. Th e congregation
hopes to hold services indoors,
but Maderer acknowledged
they may operate at limited
capacity. Yanoff also does not antici-
pate Adath Israel will be back
to pre-pandemic normal in
terms of capacity or relaxing
safety restrictions by fall.

“We don’t think it’s likely,
based on a survey that we did in
our community. People are not
likely to feel comfortable being
in a room with 1,500 other
people for full-length services,”
he said. “We are planning
on doing multiple breakout
services with smaller capacities
that allow for distancing.”
Adath Israel, Rodeph
Shalom and BZBI plan to
continue offering virtual
services for the foreseeable
future for those who do not
feel comfortable returning to
in-person services, as well as
for members with disabilities,
child care issues and other
accessibility concerns.

“We’ve actually used this
time while we have not been in
the building this year to rewire
and to increase and improve
our infrastructure so that we
can continue to reach people
who are not in the building,”
Maderer said.

The South Philadelphia
Shtiebel does not stream services
but will continue to off er online
classes. Although Fruchter described
her shul’s approach to safety as
slightly more cautious than the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, she believes Jewish
& & TAY-SACHS
CANAVAN CANAVAN
SCREENING SCREENING
CALL (215) 887-0877
FOR DETAILS
e-mail: ntsad@aol.com;
visit: www.tay-sachs.org
■ Screening for other
Jewish Genetic Diseases
also available.

This message is sponsored by a friend of
Nat’l Tay-Sachs & Allied Diseases
Association of Delaware Valley
leaders and shuls have a respon-
sibility to help people overcome
their anxieties and get used to
the idea of moving back toward
normal social interactions. Th at
could mean giving people the
opportunity to join services from
longer distances away or simply
providing a sympathetic ear.

“Th ere’s another role that
we play in helping people feel
safe, together, and providing
that reassurance,” she said.

“It looks like compassionate
listening. Th e fear is so real.” ●
spanzer@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0729
LEGAL DIRECTORY
ELDER LAW
AND ESTATE PLANNING
Wills Trusts
Powers of Attorney
Living Wills
Probate Estates
Protect assets from
nursing home
LARRY SCOTT AUERBACH, ESQ.

CERTIFIED ELDER LAW ATTORNEY
CPA-PFS, J.D., LL.M.,MBA
1000 Easton Road
Abington, PA 19001
For consultation call
215-517-5566 or
1-877-987-8788 Toll Free
Website: www.Lsauerbach.com
MAY 13, 2021
17