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  05/21/2020

  Havdalah Asia Poster

  Beginning on May 16, 2020, Jewish communities in Tokyo, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Bangkok teamed up to hold weekly Havdalah services over Zoom, allowing us all, even isolated in our homes all across East Asia, to join together. Havdalah is a short service held every Saturday evening, marking the end of the Sabbath. A special candle is lit, and spices passed around and smelled, to remind us of the light and beauty of the Sabbath as we re-enter the regular week. Though we cannot experience the candle or the spices in the same way at a distance, and though reciting or singing prayers together over Zoom is difficult (given the lag time and so forth), it has been wonderful to have this opportunity for a sense of community and spirituality during this difficult time. I cannot speak for anyone else, but for me personally, I am a rather secular person and generally just find myself too busy to take the time to go to synagogue on any regular basis at all. But during a time like this, one finds that one appreciates that human connection, and connection to community, identity, heritage, spirituality, comforting traditions, more than usual. And as with academic conferences, simply speaking with friends & family, and many other things we are now doing over Zoom - not only in religious life but in general - we are building connections we might not have built otherwise. I don't know if the various Jewish communities of Tokyo, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Bangkok have ever done these sorts of online communal events before; it's a wonderful feeling to "meet" people from all across the region. I hope it might continue.