“All of our classes now take place on Zoom. All of our tefillot [‘prayer,’ three times a day] and Havdalah [after Shabbat on Saturday night] take place on Facebook Live. In addition, I have added three new daily classes [six times a week] on Facebook Live [15 minutes each so that more people would join and it works],” he explained.

Beyond the online courses, he said rabbis throughout the country have also been reaching out to families with young children and the elderly, especially those who may not be able to participate in online services.

“We are starting a daily bedtime story for children told by a different rabbi every night. Our rabbis are also calling members just to check up on them to see how they are doing. Our social-work department is in contact with our elderly almost every day to see how they are and how can we help. We are also sending food to their homes,” he said.

Prior to the pandemic, Poland had continued to make international headlines in regard to certain stances on historical references to World War II and the Holocaust. In 2018, the Polish government backed down from its controversial Holocaust Law that sought criminal penalties for any person or entity accusing the Polish nation of complicity in the Holocaust. The law was widely condemned by the U.S. Jewish community and Israel, and led to ruffled feathers. Geopolitics between Poland, Russia and Israel prompted Polish President Andrzej Duda to skip Yad Vashem’s Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem that marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz this past January after he was not invited to speak.

At the same time, there were also growing concerns over the rise of far-right anti-Semitism in the country.

Schudrich says that despite the pandemic, “we have seen no increase in anti-Semitism in Poland. There were a few instances of anti-Chinese hatred.”

Schudrich said he is focused on the full reopening of the economy and helping those in the Jewish community who have been impacted by the economic fallout from the pandemic.

“No one knows what the long-term effects will be. We are certainly concerned that some of the Jews have lost their jobs, and we need to find ways to help them. There is a concern on how will people react when we can return to ‘normal’ living … how quickly people will be comfortable returning to shul for prayers and for classes,” he said.

“On the other hand, we are now in contact with hundreds of people who were not connected previously. How do we build on this virtual relationship to it into a real-world context? We are now working on programs to engage people after the pandemic.”

‘Many elderly without food and medicine’

Poland’s neighbor to the east, Ukraine, has also largely been spared the ravages of the virus thus far. The country has seen 45,887 cases with 1,185 deaths so far.

Rabbi Yaakov Bleich, chief rabbi of Kiev and Ukraine, told JNS that his government’s decision to shut the country down early, when there were only a handful of cases, has largely led to success in keeping infections and deaths low (although the country has seen a renewed spike recently).

“This allowed Ukraine to achieve what many Western countries tried—and that is to flatten the curve. Even though [coronavirus] has been spreading, since the country is basically still on lockdown, it is spreading very slowly and in a relatively controlled way,” he said.

Bleich, who also serves as vice president of the European Jewish Congress, added that many communities in Ukraine have begun assistance programs to help people of all ages, especially the elderly.

“Many families who were working and supporting themselves nicely are now without work. This has caused a tremendous strain,” he explained. “Many elderly are finding themselves without money to buy food and medicine. This is being addressed by local communities. There is an initiative to try and bring together communities to address this problem, along with other issues that may come up after the lockdown.”