 JUNE 25 • 2020 | 5

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for openers
Schmoozing about Zooming
I

’
ve got to say, while some of 
these new COVID realities 
aren’
t so much fun, I’
m actual-
ly really enjoying Zoom! I know, 
I know, there’
s no replacement 
for face-to- face interactions, but 
sometimes that’
s 
exactly the point.
In the “old” days, 
whenever I’
d get 
postcards announc-
ing classes or meet-
ings, I’
d think, “Oh, 
wow, this looks 
interesting.
” But 
then, you know, 8 p.m. would roll 
around and I’
m tired, don’
t want 
to put my shoes back on, don’
t 
want to drive at night. 
And, most of all, I don’
t want 
to come home to find my kids 
still up and raring to go, while 
my husband is snoring loudly 
from a kid’
s bed. Nothing is more 
annoying than coming home from 
a parenting class, all uplifted and 
motivated to be this amazingly 
patient mother from now on, only 
to find that you have to start some 
kind of crazy bedtime routine all 
over again with hyper, overtired 
kids at 11 p.m. 
But now 
we can attend classes 

and meetings from the comfort 
of our living rooms, porches or 
beds while wearing pajamas or, if 
you’
re particularly hot, absolutely 
nothing at all. It’
s a whole new ball 
game. I’
ve been “getting out” more 
than ever and absolutely loving it. 
I’
ve heard people say a benefit 
to Zoom is that you only have to 
clean the tiny bit of your house 
that will be seen on the screen. 
Didn’
t get around to it? Don’
t 
bother turning on your camera 
and you’
re golden. 
Now there’
s no more thinking, 
“Oh, that dessert table looks good, 
but I don’
t want to be the first to 
cut the cake.
” Nope, now I can 
turn off the camera, sprawl on 
the couch and get to work on that 

pint of ice cream I’
ve been waiting 
for all day. It’
s fantastic.
Of course, there are downsides 
to Zoom, too. Someone’
s going 
to take a “group picture,
” which 
would be really cute if you had 
been warned and wasn’
t snapped 
yawning like a hippo at that very 
moment. 
And almost every Zoom 
meeting has the whole “You’
re 
muted” kerfuffle in the beginning, 
which I know some find annoy-
ing. Personally, I’
m always more 
concerned about the opposite. 
I’
d rather be muted so no one 
can hear me shushing my kids to 
sleep or yelling at my husband to 
stop snoring. Kind of like when 
moms and dads make the mis-

taken assumption they’
re entitled 
to a little privacy and are in the 
bathroom minding their business 
when their kids come along flash-
ing their device while complain-
ing, “It’
s not working.
” ‘
Course 
its working, kid, and thanks very 
much, now your teachers and 
classmates just got an eyeful of 
something they’
ll unfortunately 
not forget in a hurry.
’
 
But so long as no one snapped a 
group picture at that moment, you 
should be OK. 
I suppose there are upsides and 
downsides to pretty much any-
thing. I don’
t always mind wearing 
a mask either. Finally, I can mouth 
the words to songs being piped 
through grocery stores without 
making people move away from 
me in a hurry. And if they do, 
I can always tell myself it’
s the 
COVID-recommended 6 feet and 
not because I’
m making them 
nervous.
The downside? My glasses get 
fogged up every time I breathe. 
I guess that’
s like pretty much 
with everything in life. There’
ll 
always be good and bad Zooming 
about, we just need to try to make 
the best of it. 

Rochel 
Burstyn 

A

ll our cover stories are 
special, but this week’
s is 
extra-special. Keri Guten 
Cohen, who worked for two 
decades as the JN’
s beloved story 
development editor, has spent 
months research-
ing the amazing 
story of the Beta 
Israel of North 
Shewa, a.k.a. the 
“Hidden Jews” of 
Ethiopia, and the 
group that one 
Jewish Detroiter formed to help 
them after a single three-hour 

visit. It’
s a remarkable narrative, 
one rich in cultural history 
as well as deeper significance 
about what it means to be a Jew.
Suzi Colman of Commerce 
Township, Rabbi Joshua Bennett 
of Temple Israel and two others 
have formed the group Friends 
of Beta Israel of North Shewa. 
Over time, these 200 or so Jews 
and their group, the Lovers of 
Zion Association, may be able 
to live more freely and openly as 
Jews — and, with the planned 
addition of a Jewish cemetery in 
Addis Ababa, to die as Jews, too. 

And their ranks may yet grow as 
more “hidden Jews” come out of 
hiding. 
We Jews have always been a 
“lost tribe,
” a diasporic people. 
But the Beta Israel of North 
Shewa became “hidden” not 
because they fled their homes, 
but because they stayed — most 
living as Christians while hiding 
their Jewish roots, yet still fac-
ing prejudice from the majority 
Coptic Christian community. 
Meanwhile, the Ethiopian Jews 
who made aliyah to Israel in 
Operations Moses and Solomon 

face discrimination and police 
violence today in the land they 
were told was their own (see 
story, page 30). And here in the 
U.S., we are once again being 
compelled to listen to and learn 
from our own brothers and sis-
ters from the African diaspora.
I hope Keri’
s story, and the 
work these groups have done, can 
help us shed some light on the 
ties that bind all of us who have 
faced hardship around the world, 
for being Jewish or any other rea-
son. In the future, may we have 
no more reason to hide. 

Editor’
s note

Hidden No More

Andrew Lapin

