March 3 marked the one-year anniversary of the Young Israel of New Rochelle’s quarantine by the Westchester County Health Commissioner. The YINR community gathered via Zoom to mark the occasion and receive a message of chizuk from Rabbi Fink.
Current YINR President Andrew Wurzburger highlighted Westchester County Executive George Latimer’s press release, “At the direction of Westchester County health commissioner,
Dr. Sherlita Amler, I had to inform Young Israel of New Rochelle to halt all services immediately and for the foreseeable future, due to potential COVID-19 exposure connected to the man who tested positive today. Additionally, congregants of the synagogue who attended either services on February 22, or a funeral or bat mitzvah at the temple on February 23, must self-quarantine until at the very earliest March 8. Those who do not self-quarantine will be mandated to by the County Department of Health to do so.”
Wurzburger continued, “Our community was very apprehensive entering a new reality with an unclear future, and in the ensuing months, we suffered irreplaceable losses and countered unpredictable challenges. We could no longer count on seeing as many neighbors, friends and fellow congregants whom we have been accustomed to being with on a daily or weekly basis.” Wurzburger added, “We also witnessed the incredible resilience, cohesiveness and kindness of our community and developed ways to ensure the continuity of our inner family, despite our physical dislocation. We plan to highlight this journey at our virtual annual dinner in seven weeks on April 25, but we didn’t want this anniversary date to pass without doing what we have always done best: gathering together in unity and for words of Torah.”
On March 3, 2020, Rabbi Axelrod was attending AIPAC’s Policy Conference. He was approached by an SAR senior about a school email. Axelrod immediately called then-YINR President Michael Raskas for an update, after which he felt he needed to leave Washington and head back. “I was just hopeful that no one would hear me say New Rochelle because I thought they would think I was Yonah and throw me off the train. Returning home,” Axelrod recalled, “I turned to my children. I said I am not sure what’s happening, but I do know you are going to remember this moment for the rest of your life.” Axelrod then led a community Tehillim recitation.
Rabbi Fink addressed the community, “In this week’s parsha, God commands to take a census of the Jewish people. Moshe is told to count the people indirectly; to collect a half shekel from each eligible person, and then to count the coins.” Rashi says it’s an ayin hara. The census draws attention to those who died, and those still alive. Why are the people that can be counted alive, while so many others have died? To avert this, we count coins rather than heads. Fink mentioned taking a census can also be for military and economic reasons. It’s dangerous to count the Jewish people because we are a tiny nation; one fifth of a percent of the world population, too small to be significant. Then count their contributions to the world.”
“I remember clearly,” stated Fink. “The Department of Health called the shul and told us the bad news. We were informed we were all in quarantine, and we put up a sign, ‘No mincha today, no services, until further notice.’ Not knowing what the future would bring, our community were people who gave, who contributed. And I don’t mean money, I’m talking about people who gave much more valuable resources: time, talent, compassion. We were the epicenter of the pandemic. There was a containment zone for one mile around our shul. Our people got sick, many people on the critical list, at many different hospitals. Some of our people still bear the aftermath and wounds of their battles with COVID. There were people who constantly called and people constantly shopping for others. We had people hospitalized, many in critical condition and their families could not attend to their needs. Yet, we have doctors in our community who looked in on these patients.”
Fink continued, “There is still fear in our community. There was tremendous fear last March 3; tremendous anxiety and uncertainty what the year would bring.” Fink described YINR’s Zoom classes with social workers and psychologists to deal with people’s anxieties. We even had comedians with their own shows. We needed to give diversions; otherwise, you can go crazy.”
Fink concluded, “We came together, we gave and we revived. The main thing is we did it together. Each person contributed. Each person gave. That is our strength. Going forward, we’re going to double our efforts to become stronger. May we go from strength to strength. That is the strength and measure of the Jewish people from time immemorial.”
By Judy Berger
