In 2020, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Mosaic published a series of essays about how Jews, and Orthodox Jews in particular, responded to the possibility of holding the Passover seder over Zoom. Nearly four years later, the pandemic is in the past, but every Jewish denomination has adapted to using videoconferencing in synagogue events—even if they reject it for prayers, or on Sabbaths and holidays. Elliot Cosgrove, the rabbi of a large Manhattan synagogue, explains the benefits, and the perils, that come with such new technologies:
Fast-paced and far-reaching in its transformations as the digital age may be, it has also revealed itself to be a moment of great opportunity. It’s important to see, however, that this opportunity is by no means simply about going online along with the rest of our culture—because the digital era has unexpectedly brought the countercultural value proposition of synagogue life into full relief. As so much goes online, our present moment reminds us of all that can occur only in person—and that must continue to do so. Online prayer will never match the power of in-person worship.
Pastoral care is made sacred not only by physical proximity, but because of relationship capital accumulated over a lifetime of joys and sorrows—something extraordinarily difficult to build across screens. Be it a cantor’s concert, a tikkun olam project, or a kibbitz at kiddush, there are riches of communal life that are enjoyed most fully in person. Counterintuitive as it may seem, our shift to digital has strengthened our in-person offerings, but only insofar as we have, in the main, answered these questions successfully.
Read more on Sapir: https://sapirjournal.org/technology/2023/12/on-the-synagogue/