COVID-19 Pandemic: Threats and Challenges from a Jewish Perspective.

ABSTRACT

This paper explores and discusses some threats and challenges faced by the Jewish community as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The article begins with the perspective of Judaism on the tension between individuality and as part of the collective, as one of the direct results of the pandemic outbreak was life in isolation due to closures and fear from infection, a measure that had many implications on our daily life and health. The main part of the article deals with the challenges that the Jewish community faced during the pandemic. The challenges faced by the Jewish Community divided into two categories, general challenges and spiritual challenges. In the general part, the author explores the impact of the pandemic on the Jewish Community, on its structure and the spread of antisemitism. In the other part, regarding spiritual challenges, the author first brings the perspective of Judaism on mental illness and on the mentally ill, then he brings two guiding examples of spiritual challenges faced by the Jewish spiritual leadership during the pandemic.