AP PHOTOS: Across faiths, pandemic alters worship, rites
Associated Press
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As his 3-year-old son Tzvi looks on, Rabbi Mordechai Chalk leads a service for his congregation via a teleconference app from his home in London on Friday, June 19, 2020, just before sunset. Taking services online-only has been particularly challenging for the Orthodox Jewish community, members of which are proscribed from using electronics on Shabbat, their day of rest. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)Worshippers at the Cambridge Central Mosque in Cambridge, England, attend the first Friday communal prayers since lockdown on Friday, July 10, 2020. Mats are now spaced apart during communal prayers, and worshippers are asked to bring their own. Attendees' names and phone numbers were collected for possible contact tracing purposes. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)The Rev. Jonathan Gordon, second right, and Assistant Vicar Miranda Sheldon, second left, greet Anglican worshippers who attended their first communal prayer service after pandemic restrictions were eased, at St. Mary's Church in Northchurch, England, on Sunday, July 5, 2020. On March 24, the Church of England closed all its buildings. "It posed an immediate and immense challenge," Gordon says. "It meant that we had to completely rethink how we did everything." (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)Saisha Ashraf, right, briefs volunteers on the protocols for allowing worshippers into the Cambridge Central Mosque for communal prayer in Cambridge, England, on Wednesday, July 8, 2020. Imam Ali Tos has found solace in a slow reopening and the mosque's essential role in the lives of the faithful. "The mosque is not only a place of worship for Muslims," he said, "it is the center of our lives." (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)Rabbi David Mason leads the first Sunday communal prayer service which was streamed to his congregation from the Muswell Hill Synagogue parking lot in London on Sunday, July 5, 2020. The prayer took place outdoors with social distancing to comply with government health guidelines. Mason said he took joy from knowing tech-savvy volunteers were spending hours on the phone patiently helping older community members get online for services. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)Hindu worshippers offer prayers at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, also known as the Neasden Temple, in London on Friday, July 3, 2020. The temple of carved stone constructed according to ancient Vedic architectural texts usually welcomes thousands of visitors a day but now gets just a trickle of devotees who book appointments online first to keep the crowds down. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)A sign reading "Keep Calm and Pray" sits at the side entrance of the Anglican St. Mary's Church in Northchurch, England, opened up for in-person prayer on Friday, May 22, 2020. When the Church of England closed all its buildings, the Rev. Jonathan Gordon began recording and broadcasting weekly services on a smartphone with the help of his wife, Rachel Gordon. "It posed an immediate and immense challenge," the Rev. Gordon said. "It meant that we had to completely rethink how we did everything." (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)After each prayer session, workers in full-body protective suits sanitize any surface that may have been touched at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, also known as the Neasden Temple, in London on Friday, July 3, 2020. The magnificent temple of carved stone constructed according to ancient Vedic architectural texts usually welcomes thousands of visitors a day but now gets just a trickle of devotees who book appointments online first to keep the crowds down. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)Volunteers and staff at the Cambridge Central Mosque in Cambridge, England, welcome worshippers to the first Friday communal prayers since lockdown, on Friday, July 10, 2020. Imam Ali Tos has found solace in a slow reopening and the mosque's essential role in the lives of the faithful. "The mosque is not only a place of worship for Muslims," the imam says. "It is the center of our lives." (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)The Rev. Jonathan Gordon, left, and Assistant Vicar Miranda Sheldon, right, greet Anglican worshippers who attended their first communal prayer service after pandemic restrictions were eased, at St. Mary's Church, Northchurch in Berkhamsted, England, on Sunday, July 5, 2020. On March 24, the Church of England closed all its buildings. "It posed an immediate and immense challenge," Gordon says. "It meant that we had to completely rethink how we did everything." (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)Aagna Patel, 16, Pushpa Patel, 68, Hemali Patel 42, dressed in their best saris, watch Guru Pujya Swayamprakashdas speak to them through their television screen in the comfort of their living room in their suburban home in Hemel Hempstead, England, on Sunday, June 14, 2020. "That is what we would have worn to the temple," said Hemali, "so it felt only right to dress for the occasion." (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)Rabbi David Mason leads the first Sunday communal prayer service which was streamed to his congregation from the Muswell Hill Synagogue parking lot in London on Sunday, July 5, 2020. The prayer took place outdoors with social distancing to comply with government health guidelines. Mason said he took joy from knowing tech-savvy volunteers were spending hours on the phone patiently helping older community members get online for services. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)Members of the public look at giant puppets that are part of an annual pilgrimage that was canceled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, at an exhibit in the nave of St. Albans Cathedral in St. Albans, England, on Thursday, July 2, 2020. The cathedral, one of the largest in England, opened its doors for in-person worship as the government eased coronavirus restrictions. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)Hindu worshippers offer prayers at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, also known as the Neasden Temple, in London on Friday, July 3, 2020. The temple of carved stone constructed according to ancient Vedic architectural texts usually welcomes thousands of visitors a day but now gets just a trickle of devotees who book appointments online first to keep the crowds down. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)Monks Ajahn Kongrit, right, Tan Jalito, left, and Tan Narindo, center, discuss the logistics of live online streaming the Moon Day puja and precept ceremony to their community from Amvrati Buddhist Temple, which is currently closed to the public due to the coronavirus pandemic in Great Gaddesden, England, on Sunday, June 28, 2020. Spokesman Ajahn Dhammanando said the reopening of the temple as the United Kingdom emerges from coronavirus lockdowns will happen with the utmost caution. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)
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As his 3-year-old son Tzvi looks on, Rabbi Mordechai Chalk leads a service for his congregation via a teleconference app from his home in London on Friday, June 19, 2020, just before sunset. Taking services online-only has been particularly challenging for the Orthodox Jewish community, members of which are proscribed from using electronics on Shabbat, their day of rest. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)