Your browser does not support the video tag. What does community mean in the 21st century? Human beings are gregarious. Since the dawn of time, we have created groups, societies and communities. But if our need to congregate and be social is timeless, the form that our communities take is deeply influenced by historical circumstances. The concept of community is central to Judaism and to the ethos of the Jewish people. But community—our way of being together, our way of organizing our collective lives—has changed and evolved as the world has transformed. In the 21st century, in societies rocked by philosophical, technological, social and economic upheavals, in a world where many of the old patterns of behavior, affiliation and identity have changed, the traditional model of community is in crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic adds a layer of...

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