This unprecedented pandemic is challenging every aspect of our lives, upending daily routines as well as Jewish rituals. And now: members of our community are dying of this disease. We must find new ways to memorialize them.

Government officials are updating us daily about how many people have the virus, how many are hospitalized, how many have passed. But they are not numbers; they are individuals -- mothers and fathers, friends and colleagues, rabbis and teachers and neighbors. We want to celebrate their lives.

Please fill out the brief questionnaire below with some basic facts about the individual, upload a photograph of them, and share a brief story, as you might at a shiva (and please feel free to share this form with others). We will publish responses as they come in on forward.com and share on social media.  

May their memories be for a blessing.

Jodi Rudoren
Editor-in-Chief