Židovská komunita v roku pandémie (prípadová štúdia)

Peter Salner

Jazyk: slo

Typ článku: štúdia / study

Typ dokumentu: štúdia / study

Full text

This paper analyses how the Jewish community in Bratislava dealt with the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic that took place between 1 March 2020 and 30 May 2021. Because the public health measures in force at the time rendered traditional ethnological research methods inapplicable, the author’s main source of information was the online communication of the lead-ership and administration of the Bratislava Jewish Religious Community (JRC) with its members. On 9 March 2020, the government implemented the first battery of public health measures. Al-ready on that same day, the JRC released a newsletter encouraging its members to observe the authorities’ guidance. It also cancelled all of its scheduled activities. The leadership would go on to distribute masks and hygiene supplies to the oldest members of the community, facilitate the vac-cination of Holocaust survivors. Part of Slovak society compared restrictions on social contacts, a mask mandate, and a limitation on free movement to the suffering of the Jews in the Wartime Slovak State, highlighting this supposed parallel by wearing yellow stars. The effective limits on social contacts brought communal life within the community to a standstill, which had a particular effect on the older generations. The pandemic also inevitably led to a ban on communal worship and necessitated adjustments in the observance of traditional Jewish holi-days, particularly Pesach. In many families, the communal Seder supper was held online via Zoom or Skype. The community also had to improvise during Hannukah, with an Orthodox or liberal rab-bi assisting in the lighting of candles in the homes of members who requested it.

Publikované: 20. 12. 2021