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| INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. SINCE 1897. Give a tax-deductible donation In today's briefing: Delta puts High Holidays in limbo, Louisiana's Jews emerge from Hurricane Ida, Israeli makes Paralympic history, building Seinfeld's apartment out of Lego and more. OUR LEAD STORY 😷 Synagogues scramble as Delta throws a wrench into High Holiday planning
As summer began, many synagogues across the nation planned to fling open their doors for the High Holidays. With highly-vaccinated congregations, and COVID-19 cases on the wane, the shofar would be blown indoors, in person. Backyard minyans? So very 2020.
Then Delta hit, and a significant swath of clergy, synagogue directors and their medical committees decided that the highly contagious COVID-19 variant and the breakthrough infections it is causing required a last-minute course correction.
A variety of options: Some synagogues have canceled all in-person prayer, reprising last year’s virtual services. Others are improvising with limited attendance in multiple sessions, tents in the parking lot and barring unvaccinated children from their buildings.
Change of plans: “Everything is up in the air,” said Rabbi Joe Hample of Morgantown, W.Va. “It is what it is, but it’s not the High Holidays you dream of.” He has scrapped his original sermon: “I’m torn between panic and apathy.” One congregant suggested he replay the video from last year.
Another wrinkle: At least one congregation has canceled in-person services for an entirely different reason: rising antisemitism. “We didn’t want people to think about being vulnerable,” said Rabbi Alanna Sklover of Or Hadash in Pennsylvania.
More coverage: Scrap the sermon? In the pandemic, rabbis decide less is more Amid debates over vaccines and masks, day schools buckle down for third year of COVID One rabbi’s essay about how her congregation is making hard choices together
ALSO IN THE FORWARD 🕯 PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES Ed Asner on Judaism, journalism and his final wishes: The legendary actor, son of Orthodox Jewish immigrants and star of ‘Mary Tyler Moore’ and ‘Lou Grant,’ died Sunday at 91. He appeared in nearly 300 films and TV programs, and earned seven Emmys, five Golden Globes and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. “My self-examination could have been more rigorous,” Asner told our Simi Horowitz in a 2012 interview. “I could have been braver, better, more rehearsed for life.” Asked if there was anything he wanted to add, Asner said, without missing a beat: “Bury my ashes in Mount Scopus.” Read the story >
More coverage: Ed Asner’s very righteous (and very Jewish) journey
WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY👇 A LOCAL FIRE CHIEF ON HIS WAY TO HELP CUT THROUGH FALLEN TREES. (MARK FELIX/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES) 🌧 The Jewish community of Louisiana braced for Hurricane Ida on Sunday, the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. “It’s déjà vu,” said Rabbi Yossi Nemes of the Chabad Center of Metairie, where they wrapped Torah scrolls in heavy plastic bags to prepare for the storm. (Chabad, Southern Jewish Life)
🇮🇱 Israel's defense minister, Benny Gantz, met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today, the first high-level talks between the two sides in years. But the office of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who just returned from his first Washington trip and meeting with President Joe Biden, said the meeting does not herald peace negotiations. (AP)
💉 COVID updates: Israel is encouraging vaccine booster shot for everyone 12 and over. Two million Israelis have already received a third dose – more than 21% of the population. (Times of Israel) … The Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh will require proof of vaccination to enter the building for anyone age 12 or older. “Our commitment to community frames everything we do,” its board explained. (Post-Gazette)
⚖️ A California parole board recommended the release of Sirhan Sirhan, the Jerusalem-born assassin who killed Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. Sirhan, a Palestinian Christian whose family is from Jordan, has acknowledged he was angry at Kennedy for his support of Israel. If released, Sirhan could be deported to Jordan. (JTA)
🚔 A rabbinical court has found that two brothers who lead a Jerusalem yeshiva sexually assaulted their teenaged students for years. The court has no criminal jurisdiction, but encouraged victims to contact the police and forbid parents from sending kids to the school. (Jerusalem Post)
🏈 Want to know if the quarterback on your favorite college football team is Jewish? Or if a particular minor league pitcher with the last name Glusman is a member of the tribe? Meet the two retired guys who spend hours each day combing the internet and making phone calls to find out. (Detroit Jewish News)
Shiva call > Beatrice P. Einstein, who helped save a New Brunswick, N.J., synagogue by getting it on the National Register of Historic Places, died at 99. Einstein was president of the Springfield, N.J., League of Women Voters and co-chair of its Drug Abuse Commission. She also taught English to Holocaust survivors and recorded audiobooks for the blind. (Shalom Memorial Chapel)
FROM OUR CULTURE SECTION 📺 Our PJ Grisar built the ‘Seinfeld’ apartment from Lego — it nearly broke him: In a brave feat of plastic engineering, Grisar tackled a facsimile of the famous set from “Seinfeld” all while watching clips of the show. “I eschewed social engagements, comfort and a small bit of my sanity all for a 1,326-piece toy that, according to one Lego review website, should take most people three leisurely hours to complete,” he wrote. It took him seven long days. but upon finishing his task, PJ admired the set’s craftsmanship and even learned a bit about himself. Read the story and watch the time-lapse video >
YOUR TURN: SHARE YOUR 9/11 STORY ✍️ Twenty years ago, the 9/11 attacks changed the world. As we look back on the anniversary of a tragedy that has shaped all of our lives, we want to hear your stories. What did you experience on 9/11? How are you thinking about that experience now, 20 years on? Please fill out this form, or send us an email.
ON THE CALENDAR 🗓 On this day in history: Fanny Kaplan, a Russian Jew, shot and seriously injured Vladimir Lenin on Aug. 30, 1918. When she was captured, Kaplan refused to name any of her accomplices; she was executed at age 28. She “exemplified the many young Jewish women in revolutionary Russia who sacrificed themselves for a political cause in which they fervently believed,” writes Professor Nina Tumarkin.
It’s National Toasted Marshmallow Day, which got us thinking about the secret Jewish history of Peeps.
PHOTO OF THE DAY 📸 GETTY IMAGES Mark Malyar had quite the productive weekend. In his first Paralympic Games, the 21-year-old Israeli swimmer won a gold medal and set a new world record on Friday in the men’s 200-meter individual medley. Two days later, he won gold in the men’s 400-meter freestyle race. And this morning, Malyar took bronze in the men’s 100-meter backstroke. He and his twin brother, who is also swimming in Tokyo, were born with cerebral palsy.
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