Joyful Reawakening

I was sure our first Shabbat in quarantine was going to be different—and not in a good way

- JONAH RANK

I OPENED MY EYES THAT SUNDAY, the first day of quarantine, and thought, The world as we know it has closed. No more car commutes, rushing to drop the kids off at school or with babysitters before work. No more lively people populating the scenes of my professional life. (They’d been reduced to pixelated images on Zoom.) So much nothingness, thanks to Covid-19. Was this how God had felt in the first verses of Genesis? In the beginning, when God was creating the earth and the heavens, the earth was unformed and void.

Sunday isn’t a rest day for Jews. My spouse—a rabbi like me—and I needed to take care of our children and other commitments. Our children, a preschooler and a one-year-old, demanded our attention. Meanwhile, I needed to guide the classes at the synagogue where I’m the education director, and my spouse’s congregation required her service.