28 | JUNE 4 • 2020 

Spirit

S

ome Jews never go to syna-
gogue; some go on festivals 
or every Shabbat. Some 
Jews say their prayers in the syn-
agogue every single day. At least, 
they did until a few months ago. 
The COVID-19 pandemic 
closed synagogue doors across 
the world. By late May, constant 
shul-goers have gone without 
seeing the inside of a synagogue 
for more than two months, as 
long a period without public 
prayer as they had ever endured. 
They still pray. Only now 
they pray, or “daven,
” without 
a minyan — the quorum of 10 
Jewish people needed to pray as 
a community. 
Shul-goers in liberal streams 
of Judaism attend Zoom ser-
vices, which have won devotees. 
“I have virtually participated 
in and/or listened to many ser-
vices in the past eight weeks of 
being confined,
” said Suzanne 
Levin of Pleasant Ridge, recently 
widowed. “Some with temples/
synagogues I previously attend-
ed, and some with places new 
to me. I actually attended three 
seders in three time zones on 
the first night of Pesach. One 
weekend I said kaddish for my 
husband three times in about 
16 hours. I have found it com-
forting.
”
Another pleased worshipper, 
Lena Vayneberg of Hazel Park, 
also approves of the new virtual 
format. 
“I really, really enjoyed Zoom 
and Facebook (Facebook more 
than Zoom) synagogue events. 
I hope they continue after quar-
antine is lifted,
” she said. 
Some shul-goers of the more 
Conservative streams of Judaism 
have gone “cold turkey,
” replac-
ing public with private prayer. 
That has been the case for 
Rebecca Tron of Walled Lake. 
“My Conservative congre-
gation (B’
nai Israel of West 

Bloomfield) holds Zoom ser-
vices on weekdays but not on 
Shabbat, so that’
s when I daven 
alone,
” Tron said. “I miss the 
prayers that require a minyan, 
and I miss the communal expe-
rience, especially the sound of 
singing together.
” 
But, Tron added, “It’
s some-
times nice to take my own time 
on the prayers … and to think 
up my own d’
var Torah.
” 

PRAYER ENHANCED
Shmuly Yanklovitz, an 
Orthodox rabbi and dean of 
Valley Beit Midrash in Phoenix, 
Arizona, acknowledges the loss, 
but looks for gains as well. He 
recently asked his rabbinic col-
leagues: “In what ways was your 
davening enhanced (if at all) 
over these past months?” 
The question circulated 
among shul-going Jews in Metro 
Detroit and around the world.
Parents of young children 
struggle to find quiet space 
for prayer. Nathaniel and 
Shaina Shevin Warshay, former 
Detroiters who now live in 
Jerusalem, tried a few systems 
before they found one that 

worked. 
“Nathaniel has been getting 
up early to daven before the kids 
get up. For the first few weeks he 
was trying to daven while kids 
slowly got up and wanted break-
fast, and it was not working so 
well,
” Shaina said. 
But young children compli-
cate synagogue attendance as 
well. Jeffrey Dorfman of Cape 
Town, South Africa, reports that 

“with young children at home 
… we had fallen into showing 
up late for shul.
” 
Now, saying his prayers at 
home, Dorfman has “reac-
quainted himself with old 
friends”— prayers from early 
in the service he usually missed 
when he came to shul late.
Those with quiet homes, 
though, might miss other 
aspects of the communal prayer. 
“I miss the community of 
‘
being in shul’
 and listening 
to others while davening,
” 
said Micki Grossman of West 
Bloomfield. 
Barry Dolinger, rabbi of 
Congregation Beth Sholom 
in Providence, Rhode Island, 

reports that when he prays 
alone, he misses the connection 
with his local congregation.
“But,
” he said, “I feel much 
more connected to imagined 
ancestors, whose prayer experi-
ence I presume to have mirrored 
… in relationship to the actual 
celestial day. And I wish the 
streetlights would just go off so I 
could actually see the night sky 
unabridged.
”
Praying with a communi-
ty imposes time constraints. 
Prayers start at a certain time 
and proceed at a certain pace. 
Without a congregation, some 
people have decided to coor-
dinate with nature, saying the 
morning service at sunrise, the 
afternoon as the day wanes and 
the evening service at night.
Others enjoy freedom from 
the alarm clock and pray when-
ever they happen to awaken. 
One suburban Detroiter sets 
his alarm clock to right before 
the last time for the morning 
Shema. 
For Rabbi Stephen Belsky of 
Oak Park, Shabbat and week-
day services also feel different. 
He finds it “easier to relax, 
concentrate and say everything 
on Shabbos without worrying 
about getting out of sync with 
the shul.
” However, he finds it 
“much more difficult to concen-
trate during the week.
”
Robert Buxbaum of Oak 
Park prefers prayers at home 
but misses the synagogue. “My 
main prayers are better at home, 
I find,
” he said, “but there are 
some aspects of the shul service 
that I miss a lot: the learning, the 
camaraderie, the Torah reading.
” 
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has 
loosened Michigan’
s stay-at-
home restrictions to allow for 
gatherings of 10 — enough for 
a minyan. However, most shuls 
remain cautious and have yet 
to reopen their buildings. 

LOUIS FINKELMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Prayer During
Lockdown

Stay-at-home order changes
the way people daven.

