H eadlines
Vaccine Approval for Kids
Relaxes Religious Schools
L OCA L
They served our
country with honor.

Now, we are
privileged to serve
them. SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
IN AUGUST, when religious
schools were just starting their
first year of in-person learning
since 2019, Germantown
Jewish Centre Youth and
Families Director Abigail
Weinberg described the year’s
plan as a “moving target.”
As of November, Weinberg’s
predictions have largely proven
true. With the Food and Drug
Administration’s approval
of the
Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children
ages 5-11, GJC’s religious
school program, as well as
other religious and after-
school programs, are planning
to adapt yet again, hoping to
eventually ease restrictions put
in place earlier this year.

The FDA’s vaccine approval,
announced Oct. 29 and
recommended by the Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention on Nov. 3, could
have a substantial impact
on vaccinated students, area
religious schools report.

At Makom Community, a
childhood enrichment center
with locations in both Center
City and South Philadelphia,
56 children are eligible for the
jab; at Temple Beth Zion-Beth
Israel’s Neziner Hebrew
School, 50 children are eligible.

Many have already received
their first dose, religious school
administrators said.

“A lot of our parents are
really excited, and we already
see many of our families
having their kids vaccinated,”
BZBI Director of Youth and
Family Education Rabbi Max
Nissen said.

GJC and
Makom Community have had similar
responses from parents. Some
Makom families volunteered
to participate in the Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia’s
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Inside, Makom students are diligent about wearing masks, Founding
Director Beverly Socher-Lerner said.
Courtesy of Makom Community
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215-706-8376 C ommonwealth
SENIOR LIVING at WILLOW GROVE
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Personal Care & Memory Care
1120 York Road, Willow Grove, PA 19090
www.Commonwealthsl.com Makom Community, along with other religious and after-schools,
keeps many activities outside.

clinical trials for the vaccine;
one child at Makom is already
fully vaccinated.

“This is the moment where,
for the first time, our kids are
going to have some immunity,
and we can worry about them
less; we can worry about them
impacting their community
less,” said Rachel Marcus, a
GJC member. “And we really
can start transitioning out of
this pandemic mode that we
have been in for so, so long.”
Marcus and her wife have
two children: Maggie, 7, who
has already received her first
dose; and Elliott, who turns 5
next month. They are counting
down the days until Elliott’s
birthday, when she, too, can
receive her first dose.

Schools are still slow to
make any massive changes to
restrictions. BZBI and GJC
have COVID safety commit-
tees or health professionals
they consult to decide on
synagogue-wide precautions.

Both want to give parents
ample time to vaccinate their
children, a process that can
take a couple of months, given
the gap between the two doses.

“Being fully vaccinated
is probably not going to be
required before the first of the
year,” Weinberg said. “We have
two weeks off over the winter,
and we’re not going to expect
See Vaccine, Page 11
JEWISH EXPONENT
NOVEMBER 18, 2021
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