The pandemic’s impact on religion is wide-ranging and unique, according to Lexington’s spiritual leaders. For some, online services and prayer have offered a welcome respite to a seemingly endless cavalcade of bad news. For others, weekly case counts and death tolls tested their faith in a merciful God. In Lexington, Jewish leaders have led their congregations through these choppy waters, all while balancing the logistical challenges of safely reopening their synagogues.
When Rabbi Howard Jaffe of Temple Isaiah speaks with congregants, a familiar anxiety and an underlying pain make themselves apparent, he said. This has only been exacerbated by new variations of COVID and rising case counts across the state.
“People are really stressed and in pain,” Jaffe said. “There’s a lot of disorientation, especially after the late spring and early summer when it looked like we had turned the corner. The awareness that those hopes have been dashed is deeply upsetting… There’s a great deal more despair than I can recall seeing since 9/11.”
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But a good spiritual leader must acknowledge this despair while helping community members overcome it, he said. Jaffe’s main tools are his sermons, delivered weekly both in-person and through remote video technology.
Jaffe has focused on reminding people to embrace their reality, on accepting their brokenness and using it to create something new. This idea was especially prominent during the recent Jewish High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, he said. Nothing comes into creation without something else being broken, he reiterated to Temple Isaiah members.
While this wisdom has undoubtedly been a balm for some, dispensing it has not been easy. Religious leaders find themselves in a unique position: wanting to help their congregants while simultaneously feeling the heavy burden of that responsibility.
“It’s gratifying and it’s challenging. I cannot say it’s easy. To the extent that people are looking to me as a spiritual, emotional support… I’m certainly feeling the weight of it. But I’m grateful for the opportunity,” Jaffe said.
The pain felt throughout Temple Isaiah has also been present at The Beit Chaim Meir Chabad Center of Lexington. The Chabad movement of Judaism originated in Eastern Europe. It centers on finding and bringing close Jews of all walks of life with the values of love and understanding, according to Associate Director Rabbi Yisroel New.
Congregants, struggling to reckon with the idea that God would allow something as terrible as this pandemic to happen, have approached New for guidance, he said. Many classes at the Chabad Center of Lexington, regardless of their initial topic, inevitably end up focused back on this question, he added.
“It’s definitely challenged a lot of peoples’ faiths,” New said. “How can a rabbi, layman, or anyone, turn around and say ‘I’m sorry your struggle isn’t real, it’s not as bad as you think.’ We can’t, really. That’s the whole concept of faith. Ultimately faith is a choice that we make.”
New said this is a unique opportunity to help out friends and neighbors, to bring an added dose of kindness to the word.
Indoor worship worries
On top of these heavy spiritual and philosophical discussions, rabbis must keep their congregants safe from the virus. Decisions on how to gather for in-person worship and study continue to be at the front of these religious leaders’ minds.
Temple Isaiah has been hosting hybrid services since early July, Jaffe said. Some congregate inside wearing masks, while others tune into a live stream from home. The cameras Temple Isaiah uses do not just broadcast a static image, he added, but rotate and widen their angles to make remote worshippers feel like they are a bit closer to being in person.
Lexington’s mask mandate allows for clergy who have taken a negative COVID test that day to not wear their masks while leading services, Jaffe said. This is also contingent on being 25 feet from the community.
The numbers of those who show up in person have been small, Jaffe said, but the High Holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur presented a different challenge earlier this . Temple Isaiah leadership polled the congregation to find out how people felt about a large crowd gathering inside. The majority of community members did not favor this, he said, so the synagogue hosted outdoor services for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah that drew large crowds.
“We had many more people than we expected, both had hundreds of people. The feedback was enthusiastically positive. We may have come on to a new custom,” Jaffe said.
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At the Chabad Center, congregants also gather inside for weekly smaller services. When larger crowds are expected, an outdoor area is used instead, New said. During the week, the center uses similar tools as Temple Isaiah to broadcast study and worship sessions online. But, since Chabad is an Orthodox Jewish movement, the center cannot livestream Shabbat services on Friday nights and Saturday mornings, New added. Jewish law prohibits any sort of work during Shabbat, which traditionally includes operating technology like the live streaming cameras.
“Our community, thank god, hasn’t been horribly hit directly with COVID deaths,” New said. “That’s been pivotal in our decisions. We still have to be vigilant and careful, but… there’s not that fear. We’re very clear that, if you’re not feeling well, just stay home.”
