Shahar Hecht

The enormity of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, even after effective vaccines have become available. Along with its devastating health and economic impacts, the pandemic has resulted in near-universal disruption of our personal and social lives. Efforts to curb the spread of the virus through social distancing appear to have been effective from an epidemiological perspective (Vokó & Pitter, 2020). Nevertheless, they severed or weakened social connections, leading to, among other things, widespread loneliness and associated mental health difficulties (Hamza et al., 2020; Lee et al., 2020; Liu et al., 2020; Pfefferbaum & North, 2020). Recent data confirm that the American Jewish community has not been spared the social and mental health consequences of the pandemic (Aronson et al., 2022). In addition to the disruption of the rhythms, rituals, and milestones of religious and cultural Jewish life, the suspension of travel and educational programs to Israel has interrupted a host of initiatives that foster ties between Jews in different parts of the world.