HUC Head Bracing for a Year Without Precedent
College and Covid: Jewish Students Adapting
Reading in a Time of Coronavirus
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Ties Between Pols, Charedim Tested in Coronavirus Crisis Some observers see a fraying relationship in wake of criticism by de Blasio and Cuomo. Steve Lipman Staff Writer
T A packed house at Central Synagogue on the East Side. The sanctuary will likely not look like this for the High Holidays. CENTR ALSYNAGOGU E.ORG
Synagogues Plan for a New Year Like No Other
Covid-19 is forcing hard choices for the High Holy Days, from Zoom services to limited seating. The Coronavirus Crisis
Stewart Ain Staff Writer
O
n the holiest days of the Jewish calendar, in this year of the plague, there’s likely to be a gaping spiritual hole in the worship experience, one that no Zoom screen will be able to fill. Synagogues across the country have begun forming committees to
develop options for September’s High Holy Day services that are in compliance with state and local directives and the suggestions of medical advisory panels. Some are considering reopening with limited attendance. Others are already assuming that people will worship at home and, depending on the
Editorial Arts Guide Sabbath
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hey are a reliable — no, ultrareliable — voting bloc, and therefore a coveted political prize for governors, mayors and City Council members. And Mayor Bill de Blasio, since his days as Mayor de Blasio meeting in December with Jewish a councilman represent- community leaders in Williamsburg in the wake of ing Orthodox precincts the attack in Jersey City at a kosher market. in Brooklyn, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have tended the rela- straining the carefully cultivated ties tionship with charedi Jews in Borough that have taken years to establish. Park and Williamsburg with great care. “The relationship is frayed, it’s In the transactional nature of poli- been tested,” said Ester Fuchs, profestics, both sides of the equation — pow- sor of International and Public Affairs erful politicians and powerful charedi and Political Science and director of rabbis representing tens of thousands the Urban and Social Policy Program of votes — have benefitted. at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. But, she was quick to add, the situation is not a The Mayor and full-on “rift,” and is unlikely to porthe Orthodox: tend a long-term deterioration in ties Get Me Rewrite. Page 17 between the mayor’s and governor’s offices and the chasidic community. Weaponizing the “Friends disagree with each other” Coronavirus without ending a friendship, said Kalto Vilify Charedim. man Yeger, who represents Borough Page 18 Park and part of nearby Flatbush in But in the wake of the coronavirus the City Council. “Friends have to be outbreak, which has taken a huge toll honest with each other.” on the charedi neighborhoods of BorIn the last month, both the mayor ough Park and Williamsburg, that rela- and the governor took the chasidic tionship is being severely tested. Harsh community to task for flouting social condemnations by both Cuomo and de distancing recommendations. FollowBlasio of the small minority of charedi ing a crowded funeral of a chasidic Jews who are flouting social distanc- rabbi in Williamsburg a month ago, ing rules have driven a wedge, though continued on page 12 perhaps a narrow one, between friends,