Wiener Zeitung, June 12, 2020
German original: https://www.wienerzeitung.at/meinung/blogs/juedisch-leben/2063996-Digitaler-Schub-fuers-Gemeindeleben.html
Many of the offerings developed by the Jewish Community Vienna (IKG) during the Corona crisis are set to remain after the pandemic.
The offline community life of Vienna’s Jewish Community is gaining momentum again slowly and carefully. Synagogues are open, but social distancing and mask-wearing are still in place. Kosher restaurant are no longer limited to delivery service, but can serve meals in the restaurant. The youth organizations have developed programs that strongly focus on outdoor activities. Schools meanwhile are open to senior classes, like everywhere else teaching happens in two groups so that children alternate between school days and homework days.
However, the big celebrations still have to wait, community leadership is still biding when it comes to cultural events. A look at Israel, where many schools are closed again due to numerous Covid-19 infections shows: caution is in order. This cautious approach shows what is psossible little by little without endangering anyone.
Passover took place during the shutdown in March and April. Especially during holidays people’s need for attachment to the Community is substantial. On one hand, the IGK organized a delivery service with the Jewish Union of University Students (JÖH) so that older members in particular were provided not only with groceries and medicines, but also with Matzkot and kosher Passover dishes.
A little bit of a spiritual home
But holidays are more than an occasion to cook it up big time. Therefore, it was decided to record prayers by Chief Cantor Shmuel Barzilai on one hand, and to make them available online on the other. Interest was great and reached far beyond the Viennese Community members. While City Temple is now open again, the decision was made to continue the prayer broadcast. People who otherwise had no opportunity for prayer have been moving closer to the Community again this way, says President of the IKG Oskar Deutsch. One could also say: a little bit of a spiritual home is delivered to the house.
A portion of Yiddish-ness is currently also designed by the musician and composer Roman Grinberg with his online class “Yiddish for beginners – from Mazl to Shlemazl.” The audience favorite, which led to full halls in February within the framework of the Festival of Jewish Culture, could not perform live, just like all the other artists in Austria. He now has created this entertaining language class together with the IKG (accessible via YouTube, as well as on www.ikg-wien.at), which conveys primarily one thing through wit and anectodes: nostalgia and this specific awareness of life that lets one feel how everyday situations happened before even more often than today. Who knows, maybe my great-grandmother, also said "Nu, vos hert zikh?" (meaning what’s going on?) as a greeting when she met an acquaintance by chance on Taborstrasse. And this acquaintance would have answered: "Gor nisht! Vos zol sich hern?"
Grinberg is a guarantor of clicks and likes online as well. But also other offerings the IKG Vienna has developed over the past weeks were received so well that it is considering keeping them also in post-Corona times. The annual memorial service at the Mauthausen concentration camp could only be held in a substantially reduced format, specifically regarding visitors. So it was decided to broadcast the service live – and it reached a lot more people than in regular years. Therefore, this online – track is scheduled to be continued in the future.
Art Day on Thursdays
Jewish visual artists shall continue to have a online exhibition space. Within the fraework of an Art Day on Thursdays, for examaple, works by Sahsa Vernik aka Revkin were on display yesterday. He studied painting at the University of Applied Arts. His works range from narrative media like classic 2D animation and storyboards to large-format oil paintings.
The Conona era has caused a digital push within the Jewish Community Vienna, like it did with many other institutions. Before, events like panel discussions were broadcast online again and again. But now formats for vastly different areas - from prayer to information and entertainment – were developed. But also internal communication had another layer added with the introduction of video conferencing. Maybe some meetings can be held in a more time-effective manner in the future.
Still, the joy to see art in a real exhibition or to hear Roman Grinberg sing and play the piano live will be great once it becomes a reality again. I particularly long for carefree encounters, when friends met on the street by chance, or by appointment in a Schanigarten can be greeted without keeping a distance. But who doesn’t. Until it is a reality again, I bid farewell with the goodbye greeting taught o me by Roman in his Yiddish class: “Zay gezunt.” One could also say: a farewell greeting made for pandemic times.