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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