Among the thousands of buildings destroyed in the Los Angeles wildfires were a mosque, a synagogue, a Catholic parish and a half-dozen Protestant churches.

Ahead of the High Holidays that begin this week, a network of Jewish security experts and religious leaders in the U.S. hosted several webinars to help prepare for the season.

The uproar over Whoopi Goldberg's remarks about the Holocaust has catalyzed somber reflections by many American Jews, and not just about the Holocaust’s legacy.

So many people got sick, so many died, and these faith leaders couldn’t hug the ailing and the grieving, or hold their hands. Amid the grief and anxiety, these faith leaders showed resilience and found reasons for hope as they re-imagined their mission. Its leaders say more than 60 members of the congregation of about 800 have died of COVID-19. For Esther Roman, a chaplain at New York’s Mount Sinai Morningside hospital, the pandemic has entailed ministering to one grieving family after another. Johnson said his church responded to the pandemic by working with local leaders to provide personal protective equipment and COVID-19 testing for the community.