April 30, 2021 5:03 pm Students at Scheck Hillel Community School in south Florida celebrated Lag B Omer while commemorating the tragedy in Meron, Israel. (Greg Feldman)
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(JTA) After months of distanced learning, Sharon Levin was excited for her school to celebrate Lag b’Omer together on Friday with a day of outdoor activities.
The spring holiday, which is popular among students at Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy near Philadelphia, was to include a picnic, a bonfire and a mini-color war, or tournament where students in blue and students in white faced off against each other in a variety of games. Levin, the head of school, had enjoyed having all her kids back on the school’s campus for Israeli Independence Day a couple weeks ago, and was looking forward to another holiday.
Part Four of OUR PANDEMIC YEAR, a week-long series examining how the Covid pandemic has changed our local Jewish world.
“I think we’re all wondering what’s going to happen.” That was Contra Costa Jewish Day School parent Liat Egel speaking to J. a year ago. It was March 2020 and her two kids, like all children in the Bay Area, were suddenly faced with shuttered schools and an abrupt switch to online learning.
It was a time of uncertainty as teachers and parents tried to cope with a world nobody had planned for. But contacted by J. one year later, Egel was much cheerier, happy that both of her kids were back in the classroom: CCJDS in Lafayette was one of the many Jewish schools granted a waiver for reopening last fall.
Honors
Temple Isaiah in Lafayette honored
Cantor Leigh Korn at its Jan. 31 virtual gala, “Make Your Own Kind of Music,” which was rescheduled from last year. The event celebrated Korn’s 15 years at the temple with pop, Broadway and Jewish classics performed by 12 rabbis and cantors from across the country. “Cantor Korn joined the clergy team at Temple Isaiah in 2005 and just completed his 15th year serving our community with his talent, good humor and dedication,” synagogue president Alan Gennis said at the event. “It is a privilege to partner with Cantor Korn on the senior leadership team of Temple Isaiah, and I speak on behalf of our community that we all look forward to his being part of the Temple Isaiah family for years to come.” The “attendance” was 375 screens tuned in for the 89-minute concert, which can be seen in full here.