T
his past Friday, 5-year-old Nathan
Wagner woke up, got out of bed
— and watched school. Along with
classmates at Temple Beth El, he was able
to clap, bounce and sing along with the
school’
s Early Childhood Center director,
Susie Weiner, and guitar-playing Rabbi
Mark Miller in a live-stream viewing of the
morning’
s Shabbat program, all from his
West Bloomfield home.
“Our congregation, like others, is work-
ing on ways to bring our families together
through this new virtual world we live in,
”
said Nathan’
s mom, Lindsey Fox-Wagner,
who is Beth El’
s communications director.
In this time of social distancing, local
synagogues and Jewish schools, agencies,
groups and individuals are finding innova-
tive and inclusive ways to continue religious
studies and observance — from a distance,
while staying together.
From b’
nai mitzvah tutoring and
adult-learning webinars to children’
s art
and science classes broadcast from teachers’
homes, our Jewish community has joined
an unprecedented dimension.
Torah lessons from Bais Chabad’
s Rabbi
Shneur Silberberg have become his “social-
ly distancing, but soulfully connecting
Facebook Live” course. Partners in Torah’
s
women’
s division program has become a
series of teleconferencing classes.
Temple Kol Ami and Tamarack Camps
have each planned virtual Havdalah ser-
vices, with Tamarack set to launch future
virtual programs.
Younger students are “in school” in their
kitchens and dens, many alongside parents
who are working remotely from home.
Many, like those at Farber Hebrew Day
School-Yeshivat Akiva in Southfield, are
connecting through Zoom videoconfer-
encing, for class studies as well as morning
minyan services.
Our community is continually creating
and updated ways to connect while learn-
ing, praying and socializing. Virtual pro-
gram and communal event information can
be accessed through the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit (jewishdetroit.org/
covid19resources).
With JLearn classes on Zoom, virtual
Jews in the D
30 | MARCH 26 • 2020
Our Jewish community may be distanced,
but we’
re never apart.
Doing
Virtually
Anything
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
programming from JFamily, at-home work-
outs for every age and ability, live nightly
story-time from the Pitt Child Development
Center and more, the JCC continues to
build community (jccdet.org/covid19 and
jfamily.jccdet.org/covid19-resources).
The BBYO teen movement (azabbg.bbyo.
org/on-demand/home) has gone virtual,
with live programming and resources for
teens, and the Bnei Akiva, Detroit’
s religious
Zionist youth movement (bneiakiva.org),
is working on plans for future virtual pro-
gramming.
KOSHER OPTIONS
In the absence of sit-down restaurant
options, local kosher eateries and some area
synagogues are providing carry-out service.
One Stop Kosher Food Market in Southfield
has implemented “senior shopping” hours
for those 65 and older or with compromised
immune systems. At Harvard Row Kosher
Meat and Poultry in West Bloomfield, cus-
tomers can have raw and prepared food
orders, along with kosher grocery items,
brought to their car or delivered. Owner
“Chef Larry” and his daughter Stacey Katz
make full meal dishes and soups daily.
“
A couple of weeks ago, I said we have a
lot of older customers who hire someone to
drive them here; we should do deliveries,
”
Stacey said. “Definitely, I was not thinking
this is why people would need it!”
Some kosher bakeries and restaurants
also have implemented delivery and curb-
side service. Spitzer’
s Hebrew Book and Gift
Store in Southfield is offering home delivery
on purchases of $50 or more, including
matzah, wine, grape juice and items for chil-
dren’
s activities.
Synagogues, caterers and restaurants are
taking Passover orders for prepared dishes.
As the holiday approaches, synagogues are
making decisions on how to handle plans
for synagogue seders, with Beth El now
planning a virtual second night seder.
STAYING CONNECTED
Being at home doesn’
t have to mean being
isolated.
“We are all about to discover time and
opportunity in our homes we didn’
t antic-
ipate,
” wrote local leaders of the Orthodox
Rabbis of Greater Detroit in a statement.
Nathan Wagner, 5, reacts to
Temple Beth El’
s live-stream
preschool Shabbat program.
LINDSEY-FOX WAGNER
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