JANUARY 27 • 2022 | 11
We lead increasingly
atomized lives, buying in
private rather than being in
public.
Private spaces are also
inherently unequal. Not
everyone has a computer,
a quiet room and a reliable
internet connection to access
online services. For all their
inclusiveness, online services
will likely marginalize
unhoused people; they will
be most comfortable for
those with large, spacious
houses and up-to-date
technology. A synagogue is
supposed to be a space in
which one matters just for
being a person — regardless
of their means, everyone eats
the same at kiddush.
Reports that the Colleyville
hostage-taker impersonated
an unhoused person looking
for a shelter are frightening,
but we should be proud that
our synagogues offer a calm
space for people without any
other. Houses of worship are
vulnerable by design, and
when that space is closed off,
whether through security or
by going online, something
is lost.
Obviously, these concerns
are secondary when lives
are at stake. (And as we
return to praying in-person,
communities must learn
to be more accessible
to disabled people.)
Nonetheless, the possibility
of an active shooter or the
dangers of a virus can also
easily become alibis for a
convenient erosion of public,
physical gathering. That does
seem to me something worth
worrying about.
A version of this piece originally ran
in J. The Jewish News of Northern
California and is reprinted with per-
mission via JTA. Raphael Magarik
is an assistant professor at the
University of Illinois Chicago. He
earned a Ph.D. in English from UC
Berkeley.
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