When Justin Shaw heard that Ohio last year experienced the highest number of antisemitic incidents in more than 40 years, he wasn t surprised.
The director of Jewish community relations at the area nonprofit JewishColumbus noted that incidents have been rising for the past few years, and with COVID-19, it s become easier for people to harass Jewish people online. There s been more propaganda, more rhetoric, said Shaw, whose organization is focused on philanthropy and supporting community programs. Zoom-bombings have been more of an issue, and to be honest, I think some of it is underreported.
There likely were more incidents, he said, than even appeared in the report released by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) last week, which says 43 were disclosed in 2020.
In a time punctuated by death, Rabbi Areyah Kaltmann wants people to learn how to appreciate life.
Kaltmann, executive director of the Lori Schottenstein Chabad Center in New Albany, is encouraging people to take a virtual course titled “Journey of the Soul.”
The course, offered by the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Rohr Jewish Learning Institute, will explore beliefs about death, the soul and the afterlife. The Chabad Center is offering the six-session course over Zoom for $80 starting Wednesday. Feb. 3. It will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, and those interested can register at www.chabadcolumbus.com.
“Death is both mysterious and inevitable,” Kaltmann, who is also one of the course instructors, said in a statement. “Understanding death as a continuation of life reveals the holiness of life while putting everything in a dramatically new context. The soul is on one long journey that is greater than each particular chapter.”