Before the coronavirus pandemic, community on Shabbat centered around synagogue. Some people have relationships that exist only within the walls of their synagogue. Friends, for decades, sitting near or next to each other — because of Shabbat at synagogue.

The pandemic took that physical community away from us. But because of technology — once a distractor and now a savior — we are able to immerse in community despite our physical isolation.

Yes, there are traditional Jewish legal challenges about using a computer on the Sabbath. Many rabbis have written about this over the past several decades in support and against logging on. But the absence of community takes a person down a path of despair. It can lead to life-threatening depression. Building and engaging in community saves lives — and violating the Sabbath has always been acceptable in the name of saving a life, even if the danger was not imminent.

The pandemic has cut many of us off from our communities, and so we’ve forged new paths to connect. This is a good thing. And it extends beyond the Sabbath. Families will be joining together virtually for Seder on Passover — iPads and laptops, intentionally and strategically placed around the table. We will each be able to very obviously answer the question of how different this night is from all other nights (and years). The memorial service on the last day of Passover will be broadcast from each community into nursing homes and private residences alike. The smell of Pop-Pop’s matzo brei may not waft through the screen, but the smiles and laughter of the great-grandchildren as they connect over FaceTime may indeed be as soothing.

We will eventually keep this virus at bay and return to our “normal” daily life. But that normal really is no longer. We will be changed and the world will be changed.

We as a synagogue will have reached people we’ve never reached before. The collective world is finally realizing that this is the type of outreach and engagement we should have been doing all along. Meeting people where they are, bringing light into their dark corners — that is how you change and build a world.

Rabbi Avi S. Olitzky is a senior rabbi of Beth El Synagogue in St. Louis Park, Minn.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.