It is hard for me to believe that we will not be able to join together in our magnificent sanctuary, that I won’t be able to see old and new friends, to greet you with a l’shanah tovah in person, to sing along with you to the Chazzan’s beautiful davening. I will never forget singing Ki anu amecha with you my first year here. We all sang as one with a power that was nearly overwhelming. This year will be different because as you know, following the advice of experts and putting the health of our community first, we will have our services online.  

This significant change is not an obstacle to our inner work this high holy day season but rather essential to it. Often we are filled with frustration and anger when things don’t go our way.  We blame chance, circumstance, or other people for standing in the way of our fulfillment or happiness.  Psalm 94, which we read every Wednesday morning, contains the line: 

Happy is the one who is chastised by Yah and whom You teach from your Torah, God.

We needn’t view our current situation as a chastisement to see the wisdom in trying to see everything that befalls us as an opportunity for growth and blessing. This verse is saying, “there is happiness even there.” If we allow it to be so even the challenges we face in coming together as a community to pray contain blessings for us. 

Use of Technology This Year

Our services this year will reflect changes I am allowing because of the exigent circumstances and the need to prioritize the health and safety of members.  

Under normal circumstances we would not engage technology on Shabbat and chagim. My experience with Zoom and a more immersive media diet over the last many months has only strengthened my belief that Shabbat is a desperately needed sanctuary from our overwhelming media environment.  Nonetheless, technology also affords us a way to connect to one another in a meaningful way during this difficult time.  

Following a Teshuvah called “Streaming Services on Shabbat and Yom Tov” by Rabbi Joshua Heller we have been streaming our services on Shabbat and will continue to do so for the High Holy Days.  This halachic ruling asserts:

“the Video feed should be accessed by viewers/participants in a way that does not involve their direct interaction with an electronic device…by leaving the stream on from before the holy day, by using the equivalent of a timer, or by arranging in advance for a non-Jewish person to activate the stream.”  

Some within our congregation are concerned with such halachic details, and others are less so.  But we must all take extra precautions to preserve the sanctity and power of Shabbat and Yom Tov in these circumstances.  Staring at a screen it is not difficult to suddenly find yourself reading the news, chatting with friends, watching a video, or shopping online.  None of this would be appropriate use of technology.  

I plead with you to do your part to prevent technology from distracting us or otherwise interrupting the holiness of these precious days.  Shaarie Torah will make available Mahzor Lev Shalem to all members so that you can read the prayers from a printed page which, besides being halachically appropriate, is also easier on the eyes. You can download an online version here or sign up here to borrow a hard copy book from Shaarie Torah, which must be returned by October 16. 

Changes in the Service 

Because we are not actually gathered together in a minyan (a prayer quorum of ten or more Jewish adults) there are parts of the service that we cannot do. As is the case with our Shabbat services we will not do the barchu, the repetition of the Amidah, the Torah service, or any divrei sh’b’kedushah.  We are able to recite Mourner’s kaddish.  You will find that some Conservative shuls are doing such things because their rabbis have concluded that an electronically constituted minyan is legitimate. 

I have reached a different halachic conclusion.  But there is also a broader philosophical belief guiding my thinking. Sometimes God’s world imposes difficulties on our lives and in some cases the richest response is to embrace these challenges rather than trying to go on as normal.   When we do, we can discover hidden beauty and opportunity that we would have otherwise missed. When my father died I experienced firsthand the immense challenge of observing the mourning rituals: I barely left my home, I wore the same shirt for a week, I denied myself daily comforts and pleasures. Though I was tempted to just carry on as normal, I found that the changes forced me to acknowledge that life was not the same, and insisting it be so would not be healthy.  

Far from mourning, we prepare now to connect with one another and with God during the most profound time of the year. I hope that the changes in the liturgy will lead us to relate to the mahzor in a new way.  Perhaps the truncated service, the quiet comfort of home, the breaking of old patterns, will afford us opportunities to pray and to connect in new ways.  For example, you might use the extra time to leaf through the mahzor and spend time meditating on prayers we usually rush through.  

I hope that next year, when we gather together again, God willing, and taste the delight of our traditional full services, we will be able to look back on this year and remember that some doors opened for us that we had never noticed. May all obstacles lead us on new paths, and all obstructions become new horizons as we prepare to gather together this year.  

Channah joins me in wishing you a good Elul and ketiva v’Chatimah Tovah – may we be inscribed and sealed for good,

Rabbi Rose