Online or in-person? SAFETY IS THE FIRST PRIORITY FOR THE HIGH HOLIDAYS BY STACEY DRESNER
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abbi Valerie Cohen of Temple Emanuel Sinai in Worcester began thinking about High Holiday services at her synagogue right after Passover, spurred on by concern about Covid-19. “We started thinking about it early, earlier than I’ve ever thought about the High Holidays before,” Rabbi Cohen said. In early June, the TES board made the decision that High Holiday services this year would be virtual. “The decision was made because nobody knew what was going to happen and we could either spend a tremendous amount of energy pivoting if we needed to, or we could spend a tremendous amount of energy doing a really good job planning something that we knew we would be able to do no matter what.” “We have been exploring what we can do in person safely…We haven’t done anything in person yet, although we’re working on it and I’m hoping that by the end of the month we will have an in-person gathering,” she said. “If that goes well, then we might be able to do an in-person gathering between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur that has a High Holiday element to it. We are planning for what I would call a drive-in shofar blowing experience – a drive-in in our parking lot. I think the value of hearing the shofar is one of the most important things that people want and need on the high holidays… RABBI VALERIE COHEN And I think we are going to do it on the afternoon of the second day of Rosh Hashana.” “We are working hard to plan services with the acknowledgment that we are in a different venue,” said Rabbi Cohen. “We are not going to plop what we have done in the past into an online service.” Like Temple Emanuel Sinai, most, if not all Reform and Conservative congregations will be holding Zoom and live-streamed Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services this year. Congregation Beth Israel in Worcester, which is Conservative, will be holding shortened 2- to 3-hour live-streamed Rosh Hashana services and abridged live-streamed Kol Nidrei, Yom Kippur, and Neilah services. On the evening of July 29, Erev Tisha B’Av, Rabbi Aviva Fellman of Congregation 6
Beth Israel led the congregation’s first Orthodox synagogues, like Congregation in-person service at the synagogue since B’nai Torah in Longmeadow, will not be the Covid outbreak. Sixteen members holding online or electronically transmitted attended while the service was Zoomed to 30 services on the High Holidays for reasons of households. (See page 7 “On Tisha B’av, The halacha. But B’nai Torah will be offering a Rabbi Cried Happy Tears.”) couple of different in-person service options “I refuse to make our community choose for its members. between being part of our community by B’nai Torah has sent out a survey to all of coming in person and their safety by staying its members sharing the options and asking home and so it is of paramount importance members what services they would like to that we offer, especially as we have started attend. opening for limited in-person gatherings, Depending on how many register for the streaming or zoom (service dependent) as services, outdoor and tented services might well,” said Rabbi Fellman. be possible. “I work tirelessly to break Due to state guidelines on down barriers to inclusion and indoor events – 10 people per foster acceptance of all in religious thousand square feet -- B’nai spaces and this is no different. We Torah must limit the number of do not need to carry the High Holy members at each indoor service Days alone and this is a way to help at its Eunice Drive synagogue engage and be “home” during the to 80 in both the sanctuary holidays.” and attached social hall. Those Congregation Beth Israel will attending must wear masks allow members to register for Ark and maintain 6-feet of social visits during the month of Elul, distance. so that they can offer personal Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe RABBI AVIVA FELLMAN said they are making some prayers, a custom of the temple’s Neilah service. concessions this year with They are also asking members who have regard to concerns about Covid. shofars to gather safely around town for live “Not only are we following all the state shofar blowing in the second day of Rosh guidelines and so on… we have made it clear Hashana. to our membership that if their doctors say
MASSACHUSETTS JEWISH LEDGER
| AUGUST 14, 2020
there is a degree of danger they shouldn’t come and they should pray at home. We are doing a lot of things to facilitate. One is, based on how people respond to our survey, if I have enough people in an area we can do shofar services in parks or open areas. If I get enough people from a neighborhood say, I can walk over. For people who are truly homebound we’ll show up and they can open their window and hear it from a safe distance.” Making that even safer, the shofar is blown only on the second day this year, because you don’t blow the shofar on Shabbat, upon which the first day of Rosh Hashana falls. In addition, because the Kol Nidre prayer is actually recited before Yom Kippur starts, B’nai Jacob will be able to Zoom the prayer. This includes services at its Eunice Drive building and its Sumner Avenue RABBI SHLOMO YAFFE location in Forest Park, but space there is extremely limited. There will be a traditional full service although shortened from the usual length as per Rabbinic guidelines regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. “The reason the service is so long on Yom Kippur is because there is liturgical poetry which is very beautiful in whatever language you say it, but because the time of exposure is a big issue, the service is going to be much shorter. Rabbi Yaffe also likes to hold “user-friendly” services “for those who aren’t necessarily familiar with Hebrew …an abridged version, much more explained and much more accessible.” But holding such services on the busy High Holidays hasn’t always been easy. “Now since the morning service, the primary service is so much shorter, in the afternoon we will be having the user-friendly service,” Rabbi Yaffee said. “Whether we have an outdoor service or a tent is dependent upon what people say in our comprehensive survey. That is up in the air right now.”
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