‘Spiritually innovating’: Hilton Head congregation livestreams funeral in wake of coronavirus
In the days before her death, Jaquelin Schmid, 78, planned her funeral.
Her daughter, Lise Dixon, and Rabbi Brad Bloom sat beside her taking notes.
Dixon said she’d always thought her mother would have a large traditional service.
One where all of the people who loved her mother could gather in one place.
Where they could be side by side, exchanging embraces, passing tissues, and sharing memories of Schmid’s beautiful singing voice and sharp sense of humor.
A funeral where they could not only grieve together mentally, but physically.
That simply was not possible Friday.
In a time when national, state, and local leaders are pleading for people to stay at home and maintain social distance, and the coronavirus is overturning almost every aspect of how we live, people are having to learn how to grieve in different ways.
Schmid, better known to her friends as Jaquey, died Wednesday after being diagnosed with leukemia just eight weeks ago.
Bloom, rabbi for Congregation Beth Yam on Hilton Head Island, knew if they held Schmid’s funeral service at the synagogue, it “would have been packed with 200 to 300 people.”
Dixon agreed, laughing as she remembered that when Schmid was in the hospital, the staff moved her to a larger room because of the number of people visiting.
“We can’t have a gathering that big right now,” Bloom said. “We shouldn’t.”
So, on Friday morning, Bloom, Dixon, and a handful of others held the service in an otherwise empty synagogue.
They weren’t alone, though.
Dozens of Schmid’s friends and members of the congregation watched the service in real time online from the safety of their homes.
During the service, Bloom and Dixon addressed those watching the livestream from as far away as Minnesota and California.
They talked to the viewers as if they were in the room. In a way, they were.
Bloom also directed watching mourners to stand at those times they would have if they were in the synagogue. He wanted to include and draw them in whatever way he could.
“I hope they felt like they’re right there as much as possible,” he said. “We are maintaining social distancing while not losing social engagement.”
Social engagement, he said, is especially important while the threat of coronavirus has limited face-to-face interactions. Religious leaders are having to be innovative on how they combat the possibility their congregations may be feeling isolated without regularly scheduled services.
“The congregation is still a congregation even in the midst of horror (over the coronavirus),” he said. “Life must go on. We have our rituals and we’re not going to let a virus ruin them.”
Congregation Beth Yam has been streaming services online and on its Facebook page for a year. Bloom said as a way to connect to people who can’t physically able to attend.
“We thought that streaming would be a way of bringing the world closer when the world is very scattered,” he said.
In addition to Schmid’s funeral, the congregation is livestreaming all other services while the synagogue is closed to large gatherings, including typical weekly services and even a Bar mitzvah next weekend for twin boys.
“We can’t afford to be isolated in a complete sense and if we can use technology, we can still get that teaching across,” Bloom said. “It’s morally and spiritually innovating.”
This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 2:36 PM.
