How Resilience Prepared Jews for Coronavirus & Other Orthodox Jews in the News

Conspiracy Theory That Jews Created Virus Spreads on Social Media, ADL Says
As coronavirus pandemic has impacted across the world, white nationalists have found a familiar bogeyman to blame online. But some of them also see an opportunity.

“Meet a Jew” Pop-up Combats Two Epidemics: Coronavirus and Anti-Semitism
In recent weeks, as fear of coronavirus shuts down schools and empties subways, it’s nearly impossible to convince anyone to talk to a stranger. But Allison Josephs was still trying. Standing with a corps of rubber-gloved volunteers outside a open-walled tent emblazoned with the slogan “Meet a Jew, Make a Friend,” she enticed the most germ-conscious passerby with kosher, individually wrapped rugelach and cups of coffee never touched by human hands.

To Stop Coronavirus New Jersey Rabbis Decide to Shut Down Their Jewish Community
The Rabbinical Council of Bergen County — rabbis representing 28 local Orthodox synagogues — all agreed to one stunning decree after another: All synagogues would shut down. No prayer gatherings would take place. No Shabbat meals should be shared. Burials would be kept to small groups of family members, and no one should gather to comfort mourners.

The Coronavirus Preys on Jews’ Biggest Strength
If Jewish history has a theme, it is resilience — the ability to renew and revive community during our darkest hours. Now, as ever, the people poised to show us the way forward are those who have been most connected all along.

Actress Julia Roberts Shares Poem on Shabbat Observance, Coronavirus Quarantining
Amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis, US actress Julia Roberts posted on Instagram on Sunday a poem about quarantining and social distancing that begins by discussing Shabbat. “What if you thought of it as the Jews consider the Sabbath — the most sacred of times?” the poem by Lynn Unger asked. “Cease from travel. Cease from buying and selling. Give up, just for now, on trying to make the world different that it is. Sing. Pray. Touch only those to whom you commit your life. Center down.”

After Coronavirus Canceled Their Daughter’s Bat Mitzvah Party, a Family Turned the Food Into Meal Deliveries for People in Quarantine
Young members of the Jewish community often organize charitable projects to mark their transitions into adulthood. Jordana Shmidman’s bat mitzvah turned out to be an opportunity in itself. After two people tested positive for coronavirus at SAR Academy, a private Jewish day school in the Bronx, the school closed and sent its students into quarantine including Shmidman, whose coming-of-age bat mitzvah celebration was supposed to take place on Monday night.

Plague of Locusts Set to Descend Upon Middle East in Time for Passover
A plague of locusts the likes of which have been unseen for over 30 years is about to hit Africa and the Middle East. Adding to the perfect biblical storm, the current coronavirus pandemic is affecting travel of international experts and in-country gatherings for training to combat the locust threat.

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