Craig Scheff News Today

(JTA) — This year we celebrated Passover early, on a Sunday a few days before St. Patrick’s Day. My adult children will disperse before the official holiday, but with the darkest days of the pandemic behind us, we have much to celebrate.

Synagogues are not rushing to reopen, even as vaccines are making gatherings safer March 16, 2021 5:58 pm Congregation Shearith Israel of Dallas will resume in-person services on the last day of Passover, with other services added over the following weeks. (Courtesy of Shearith Israel) Advertisement (JTA) — Rabbi Craig Scheff knows he could safely hold indoor, in-person services at the upstate New York synagogue he leads. In fact, the synagogue first experimented wi...

(JTA) — In any other year, the mask-decorating party planned for later this month at Congregation Beth El Ner Tamid in Broomall, Pennsylvania, would make perfect sense: Costumes are part of the ritual for festive Jewish holiday of Purim, which begins Feb. 25. This year, though, the masks being decorated aren’t meant for a carnival — they’ll be appropriate to use as personal protective equipment as long as the coronavirus pandemic lasts. The gathering, and the subsequent synagoguewide ce...

(JTA) — This year we celebrated Passover early, on a Sunday a few days before St. Patrick’s Day. My adult children will disperse before the official holiday, but with the darkest days of the pandemic behind us, we have much to celebrate.

5 shares Students at the Leffell School in Westchester County, which emerged as an early epicenter for the coronavirus last spring in New York state, celebrated Purim from home in 2020. (Courtesy of Yael Buechler/ via JTA) JTA — In any other year, the mask-decorating party planned for later this month at Congregation Beth El Ner Tamid in Broomall, Pennsylvania, would make perfect sense: Costumes are part of the ritual for festive Jewish holiday of Purim, which begins February 25. This y...

COVID-Fatigued Communities Prepare for a Distanced Purim (JTA) — In any other year, the mask-decorating party planned for later this month at Congregation Beth El Ner Tamid in Broomall, Pennsylvania, would make perfect sense: Costumes are part of the ritual for festive Jewish holiday of Purim, which begins Feb. 25. This year, though, the masks being decorated aren’t meant for a carnival — they’ll be appropriate to use as personal protective equipment as long as the coronavirus pandemic ...

Jews celebrate a pandemic Purim, some for the first time and some for the second February 1, 2021 12:57 pm Students at the Leffell School in Westchester County celebrated Purim from home in 2020. Westchester County emerged as an early epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak last spring in New York State. (Courtesy of Yael Buechler) Advertisement (JTA) — In any other year, the mask-decorating party planned for later this month at Congregation Beth El Ner Tamid in Broom...