O pinion
then more recently adopted by
the radical left.

One indication of Epstein’s
shallow understanding of the
Holocaust was his 2019 tweet
calling American detention
facilities for illegal migrants
“concentration camps.”
If you think I am exagger-
ating and that Epstein could
not possibly have meant
literally that those facilities
are similar to concentration
camps, note that he wrote they
“can LITERALLY [caps his], in
a historically accurate way, be
called concentration camps.”
No, they cannot, which
is why the U.S. Holocaust
Memorial Museum and other
scholarly Holocaust institu-
tions strongly denounced those
comparisons. As for Israel — when
Hamas won the 2006
Pa lest i nia n
leg islat ive
elections, Epstein was part
of a group of left-wing
rabbis who rushed to urge
President George W. Bush
to refrain from rejecting the
terrorist victors: “We urge
you to maintain a cautious
approach” toward Hamas, in
order to advance the goal of a
Palestinian state, they wrote.

I guess since Epstein is a
member of the J Street Rabbinic
and Cantorial Cabinet, that’s
pretty much what we should
expect. J Street, the contro-
versial Jewish pressure group
that was created to lobby for a
Palestinian state, consistently
supports Palestinian demands
against Israel. The leaders of
J Street always seem to blame
Israel for what goes wrong, no
matter how extreme or violent
the Palestinians act.

Is this the kind of person
whom Jewish parents want
influencing their college-age
children? It doesn’t seem like
a very attractive return on
their $51,925 in annual tuition
payments. l
Moshe Phillips is a commentator
on Jewish affairs whose writings
appear regularly in the American
and Israeli press.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Rabbis are Struggling to Protect Jews’ Physical and
Spiritual Health. They Deserve Support, Not Shame
BY RABBI SHIRA KOCH EPSTEIN
OVER THE PAST year, I have
led efforts to teach, guide and
coach rabbis and other clergy
of every Jewish denomination.

We have worked with over
500 individual members of the
clergy, serving hundreds of
thousands of people since the
COVID-19 pandemic began.

So let me say this to my
dear clergy colleagues: As we
celebrate another High Holiday
season under the shadow of the
pandemic, I know that there
is nothing you need more
than support in making (or
when prevented from making)
impossible decisions about
vaccinations, masks, social
distancing and the integrity of
worship. Which is why I am baffled
as to why some would add to
your burden with irrespon-
sible, pain-inducing criticism
that could only worsen the
challenge, trauma and moral
injury that you are experi-
encing at this moment, and
which I spend all of my profes-
sional time trying to lessen.

I agree that mitigating all
risk at the expense of our Jewish
way of life is untenable, and
there are certainly appropriate
ways to debate safety measures
during a public health crisis.

Yet second-guessing rabbis
like you, as you work overtime
to protect the physical safety
while meeting the spiritual
and communal needs of your
communities in ever-changing
ways, is not one of them.

Those of us actually paying
attention have seen your tremen-
dous creativity and labor to ensure
that our people have meaningful
spiritual and communal ways
to learn, to observe and to be
connected to Torah and each
other, even as COVID has
precluded or restricted large
in-person gatherings. I see you
toiling to create innovative
outdoor or remote opportunities
for our unvaccinated children
to engage in Jewish learning
and living, and to feel a sense
of belonging. I see you teaching
congregants to lead backyard
minyans; managing complicated
technology to lead interactive
remote services and study groups;
introducing walking meditations
and Torah treks and prayerful
hikes; and countless other new
ways of helping our people to
engage with each other and
practice our traditions while
reducing health risks.

I hear your trauma at
having buried the many older
members of your shul who have
died miserably alone this year.

I know that when you gather
again, the seats of so many
“regulars” will be tragically
empty. I understand your fear
that the immunocompromised
and younger, unvaccinated
members may be endangered
by the high risk that in-person
gatherings can pose this year.

I know that this informs your
decisions as the delta variant
wreaks havoc, especially, but
not only, when unvaccinated
people gather.

I listen to you agonize
as you balance the calls for
individual choice and/or trust
from some in your commu-
nity with your desire to have
proof of vaccine and/or testing
and mask mandates to protect
the vulnerable, especially
in locations where this is
culturally unacceptable (and
often the same places where
JEWISH EXPONENT
hospitals are now failing under
the burden of illness).

You tell me about working
with your
professional colleagues, lay leaders and
local experts as you carefully
enact decision trees informed
by Jewish values, COVID-era
rabbinic opinions and public
health experts. Many of your
communities model remark-
able shared leadership, as
clergy, boards and medical
advisors together
make decisions carefully. Others
of you suffer, having to carry
out, and even be blamed, for
decisions that you fear are
dangerous. With every change,
we see you creating backups
to backups, even as it means
having to do twice the work,
ignoring your exhaustion and
pastoring to flocks who require
your help as they, too, deal
with their justified angst.

And I know that you are
experiencing moral injury and
burnout from this reality, and
that you also fear for your own
and your family’s health while
also feeling a loss of spiritual
connection as a result of your
inability to pray in groups, to
sing with full voice or to facil-
itate the mitzvah observances,
simcha celebrations, prayer
obligations and mourning
rituals that give your own life
meaning. Life under COVID is full
of difficult calls, weighing
physical well-being against
mental health; our children’s
education against the threat
of an insidious virus; the
risks of gathering or singing
in our beloved sanctuaries
versus the atrophying of our
communities and our souls.

No one wants to needlessly
undermine centuries of tradi-
tion and our religious choices
and obligations.

But you, our clergy, know
that preserving life is the
paramount value of the Torah,
and that our tradition is rife
with examples of moderating
our observances to protect our
well-being. You have contrib-
uted to and read the myriad
rabbinic opinions offering
halachic and ethical ways to
adapt beloved customs for
this emergency situation. You
do not need to be cut off at
the knees while you run this
ultra-marathon, all the while
carrying the heavy weight of
existential Jewish decisions.

Your detractors may be loud,
but I hear the quiet cheers of
the many who want only to
offer you water as you continue
the race.

My dear colleagues, please
know: You are enough. You
are doing enough. You can
and you must make decisions
that are the best and safest you
can make, to preserve the lives
and the health of your beloved
members (and yourselves).

Ignore the naysayers, especially
those simply looking for click-
bait who care not for your
health or well-being. I pray that
those who see how hard you are
working will raise their voices
and bolster you with love. With
all of the hugs, love and hope
for your spiritual renewal. l
Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein is
executive director of the Center for
Rabbinic Innovation, a project of
the Office of Innovation.

STATEMENT FROM THE PUBLISHER
We are a diverse community. The views expressed in the signed opinion columns and let-
ters to the editor published in the Jewish Exponent are those of the authors. They do
not necessarily reflect the views of the officers and boards of the Jewish Publishing
Group, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia or the Jewish Exponent. Send
letters to letters@jewishexponent.com or fax to 215-569-3389. Letters should be a
maximum of 200 words and may be edited for clarity and brevity. Unsigned letters will not be
published. SEPTEMBER 9, 2021
21