Why the first in-person gathering for many US Jews may not be so celebratory
Debates over the crisis in Israel may not be the most desirable way to start in-person gatherings. But it will be a hard topic to avoid. An Israeli soldier takes cover as an Iron Dome air defense system launches to intercept a rocket from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
May 14, 2021
(RNS) It was supposed to be the first COVID-free holiday American Jews could celebrate in person a joyous return to synagogue and a celebration of at least some semblance of normalcy.
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Rabbi Stephen C. Lerner
My father’s death from Covid happened quickly and was extraordinarily painful as he was forced out of the hospital at first when he was deemed not sick enough to stay – the NYU hospital was overrun with so many Covid cases that it could not keep up.
This week, the United States recorded its 500,000th death from COVID-19.
It’s a staggering number, one many of us have struggled to wrap our heads around. For thoughts on how to process the milestone we turned to rabbis across the country for their wisdom, both on how we should mourn those lost to the pandemic and on how we should move forward.
Image by Anya Ulinich
They wrote about the value of turning to community, the importance of ritual in guiding us along the path of grief ahead and the coexistence of extraordinary miracles and extraordinary loss and more.
Rabbi Stephen Lerner, CC ‘60, remembered for Jewish leadership, commitment to journalism
Rabbi Stephen Lerner, CC ‘60, remembered for Jewish leadership, commitment to journalism Courtesy Of / Town and Village Synagogue By Sofia Kwon | February 9, 2021, 1:12 AM
Rabbi Stephen Lerner, CC ’60, heralded as “the leading maker of new Jews in the New York area if not the country,” died on Jan. 27 of COVID-19. He was 80 years old.
Born in 1940, Lerner grew up in a majority Jewish neighborhood in the Bronx before coming to Columbia. At Columbia, he joined Spectator and eventually became the editorial page editor in 1959, an experience he said would shape him as a young man. Throughout his life, he continued his involvement in Spectator by joining its board of trustees in 2019, where he expressed his commitment to supporting investigative and data journalism.