Monday night, April 20th, was the beginning of Yom Hashoah, the Jewish holiday for Holocaust Remembrance. Every other year on this day, my synagogue’s held a service to honor the Holocaust survivors in our community, their families, and to commemorate the event overall. However, this year the usual event wasn’t possible so observing this day had to be virtual. When I signed on to the Zoom call organized by the Riverdale Y and the local rabbis on Monday evening, I wasn’t sure what to expect. There were over 200 people online (even NY State Senator Biaggi was there) including both Riverdale residents and others from around the country with connections to our community. While this made the experience less intimate and I didn’t have as personal a connection with those sharing their stories and leading the prayers, this change also allowed me to hear from more people and become connected with a larger group. But what does being physically together as a community to commemorate an important event like this bring that virtual meetings can’t? How did the fact that I could easily check out or leave the space and return by turning off my video, like I can’t do when physically in a room with everyone, impact my own experience with the event? 

My project’s essential question, “How can communities stay engaged during a global pandemic?,” relates to this experience because it was important that my community still recognize Yom Hashoah together. In Judaism, many of the rituals are required to be done in a group, and during this time of social isolation, I’ve been observing the ways these practices have been reformed to still be observed, even if in a different way. How will community events be changed once we get out of quarantine? When is it appropriate or necessary to bring more people into our spaces and events, such as on the Zoom call I attended, and when is it important to remain in our intimate groups?