COVID--19 COVID
COVID Can’t Stop the Celebration Jordyn Aronowitz and Blake Simon celebrate their engagement mask to mask.
By Robyn Spizman Gerson
Despite COVID-19, the world is getting creative as celebrations and simchas carry on. From weddings to birthdays, anniversaries to baby namings and more, parties with a purpose are redefining the celebratory landscape. Lavish events and huge gatherings are cautiously on hold, but the joy of a happy occasion filled with loving intentions continues. Families and friends are gathering in innovative ways. Here are some heartfelt standouts worthy of sharing. A party once striving to be fun, festive and fabulous now is measured by its memorable, magical and meaningful moments.
L'Chaim Gains Deeper Meaning ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES
STYLE MAGAZINE • 12
Let me start with a personal and powerful cause for celebration in my own family. Jeff Gerson, the oldest son of my husband Ed, grew up in Atlanta, attended The Epstein School and now lives and works in New York City. He contracted the virus and had a fight-for-his-life ordeal. In mid-March, Jeff checked into NYU Langone Hospital with a fever and cough and was admitted and diagnosed with COVID-19. He spent weeks in the intensive care unit on a ventilator with sedation, eventually requiring lifesaving measures. It was a touchand-go critical situation. Thanks to dozens of hardworking doctors, nurses and consultations skillfully monitored by Jeff’s brother Dr. Lee Gerson, on the front line as a surgeon at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago, the family received daily updates from Lee via WhatsApp. Jeff’s ordeal ended with a miraculous recovery in rehab. He is now at home and to everyone’s amaze-
ment, is doing fantastic. On May 23, Jeff proudly read the Torah portion streaming online during a Saturday Shabbat service for his Park Avenue Synagogue in Manhattan. It was Jeff’s 45th birthday, and to celebrate the lifesaving efforts of his medical team and mark the occasion, Jeff invited friends and family to view as he received an aliyah, read Torah and recited Birkat Hagomel, the traditional prayer offered after recovering from illness. Jeff noted in his email inviting us to join the livestream that The Rabbinical Assembly had recently blessed the use of technology to facilitate worship during the crisis based on a widely discussed scholarly policy statement written by Rabbi Joshua Heller, senior rabbi at Congregation B’nai Torah in Sandy Springs. The livestream allowed friends and family from as far away as Australia to participate in a simcha they otherwise might not have had the chance to attend
in person. Along with our friends and family, there were more than 750 other screens tuned in, reflecting a larger crowd than that which attends in-person services, all seeking connection and spiritual fulfillment during the crisis. Our hearts swelled with pride listening to Jeff recite the prayers as the rabbi blessed him and he celebrated his gratitude for life.
Lemonade From Lemons Shabbat Dinner Erica Halpern’s dream wedding to Dr. Ryan Chaliff was to be the Memorial Day weekend of May 24. They had booked the first-ever event to be held at Savanna Hall, the gorgeous new venue at Zoo Atlanta, surrounded by glass windows overlooking the spectacular giraffes
