Bânai mitzvah ceremonies have transformed during the COVID-19 pandemic from crowded affairs to limited gatherings of friends and family. Over the past year people have become used to watching a Haftorah reading via Zoom instead of inside a sanctuary.
At first glance, that may seem like a big downgrade, but Greater Phoenixâs rabbis donât view it that way. A few of them shared some of the past yearâs ceremonies that will stick in their memories forever.
Downtown Phoenix Chabad Rabbi Dover Dechter will always remember a bar mitzvah that he witnessed right at the beginning of COVID.
Dana Evan Kaplan is Rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom of the West Valley in Sun City, Arizona. He was ordained as a rabbi by Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem. He holds a Ph.D. in American Jewish history from Tel Aviv University. He has led congregations in the United States, Jamaica, South Africa, Australia, and Israel, and has taught in several colleges and universities. Kaplan has written numerous articles and academic papers on a diverse range of topics relating to Judaism, and participates in various programs, think tanks, and conferences to understand the history and theology of Judaism and to discuss ways to reinterpret it as a vibrant religion for the twenty-first century. He has written three books, The New Reform Judaism (Jewish Publication Society), Contemporary American Judaism: Transformation and Renewal (Columbia University Press), and American Reform Judaism: An Introduction (Rutgers University Press) and edited four volumes: A Life of Mea