In Jerusalem's Old City, The Devout Adjust To Worship In The Coronavirus Era
In the Old City, the beating heart of a place sacred to millions, the pandemic has challenged devout Muslims, Christians and Jews to rethink how to pray safely. New customs now accompany old rituals.
"The air over Jerusalem is saturated with prayers and dreams like the air over industrial cities," wrote Yehuda Amichai, one of the city's beloved poets, in 1980. "It's hard to breathe."
Now it's hard to pray.
In the historic walled Old City, the beating heart of a place sacred to millions around the world, a second wave of the coronavirus has challenged devout communities to rethink how to pray safely. This spring, Jerusalem's revered religious sites closed partially or fully as prayer gatherings were blamed for some infections. Now Israel permits houses of prayer to operate under restrictions.
