Times of Israel – How Rabbis of Yore Fought Plague with Temple Rite, Social Distancing

Levi Cooper

In this week’s Times of Israel podcast, we speak with Dr. Rabbi Levi Cooper about rabbinic responses to previous pandemics. From kabbalistic “front-line workers” to surprisingly sophisticated social distancing measures, ancient Jewish communities documented the steps they took to cope with pandemics over the centuries — and incredibly, many of the questions they had aren’t so different from the ones we’re asking ourselves today.