Living On

“We danced round and round in circles as if the world had done no wrong. From evening until morning, filling up the shul with song.”

Those lyrics from Abie Rotenberg’s “Man from Vilna” have been playing in my mind for the past several months. Ever since our vibrant, beautiful shul closed, sifrei Torah locked away in a dark and silent aron kodesh, I have fantasized about the day we could return. We would dance, no doubt. The nightmare called coronavirus would disappear and we would once again dance, linked arm in arm, as if the world had done no wrong.

On April 5, 2020, day 19 of our shul closing, I shared this image with the members, in the daily email I have been sending out to them discussing the new reality we are living through. The goal of these emails was to serve as a means of connection and hopefully some well-needed chizuk. On day 19, I described this dream. We would have Simchas Torah–like festivities, I wrote, with music, dancing, and so much joy. Indeed, we would dance round and round in circles, from evening until morning, once again filling up our beautiful shul with song. It was a dream, I knew, but one that I sincerely hoped would come true.

June 9, 2020. We finally are ready. Having moved through Phase 1 of outdoor minyanim in backyards, we are planning for the return to our shul the next day. Multiple consultations with medical experts and fellow rabbanim gave us an image of what it would look like. Small groups, clad in masks, spread far apart from each other. I remembered that email of April 5, and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. There would be no dancing. There would be no physical contact at all. There would be no grandiose festivities, celebrating the magical end of coronavirus. Because the ordeal is far from over.