Coronavirus

Erica Brown considers the little-discussed prohibition on planting during the Nine Days and what it teaches about the nature of mourning and joy.

When Synagogues Reopen, May the Congregation Permit a Bar Mitzvah Boy to Make Up His Torah Reading? Moshe Kurtz weighs in.

In commemoration of Rav Amital's tenth Yahrzeit, Joe Wolfson, JLIC Rabbi at NYU, shares how the legacy of Rav Amital inspired his community's humanitarian efforts during the Covid19 pandemic.

Julie and Uri Goldstein offer a timely Haggadah for reflection this year.

May one opt to participate in a potentially dangerous vaccine trial? This theoretical halakhic question has suddenly become all-too-urgent. Sharon Galper Grossman and Shamai Grossman explore.

COVID-19 will unquestionably have long-term impacts on synagogue life well beyond the duration of the pandemic. But what will change, and how can shul leadership best anticipate those shifts so as to position our synagogues for success in the future? Judah Kerbel, rabbi of the Queens Jewish Center and Ramaz peers through the looking glass.

After six months suspended between quarantine, isolation, and uncertainty, it’s natural to want to run away from home, especially as Yom Kippur looms and we realize it’s time for a change. But, as Matthew Nitzanim explains, this understandable reaction would miss the point of Teshuvah: everything we need to work on is right here, wherever it is we find ourselves.

Stuart Halpern explains how, when faced with uncertainty, danger, and personal and communal hardships, Americans have turned to the story of the Exodus for inspiration.

Akiva Shapiro depicts the experience of outdoor prayers during the pandemic.

As the Covid-19 pandemic looks like it might be subsiding, Ezra Schwartz, a Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University, incisively examines competing trends toward decentralization of synagogue life and centralization of halakhic decision-making that are reshaping the Modern Orthodox world.