Zooming Services

Dear Ahavath Achim Friends,

 

We are now well into our second week of responding to the Coronavirus pandemic and dealing with the changes it has brought to our lives and how we interact with each other – social distancing, moving from physical to virtual community, etc. It has been difficult… and fascinating. We are learning from our experiences and making changes along the way. We would like to describe one of those changes in this letter.

 

Up to this point, we have welcomed everybody to join us for prayer services, each and every day, through live streaming. This has been a one-way portal where you can see us, but we can't see you and, conversely, you can hear us, but we can't hear you. As of Friday morning, March 27, we will move all our services from live stream to Zoom. The links to the Zoom services will be available in the following places: the COVID Communication Hub, website calendar (you must click on the individual event to access the link), our Monday and Thursday eblasts, and the live streaming page on the website. Please explore these links to familiarize yourself with the changes and various places where Zoom links are found.

 

With the current arrangement of one-way live streaming, we have not been able to recite parts of our prayer service which require a minyan, most important of these, is the Mourner's Kaddish. Earlier this week the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS), the Jewish ritual and legal deciding body for the Conservative Movement, provided rabbis with an alternative that would allow for recitation of the Mourners Kaddish under circumstances deemed as she'at hade'chak, time of emergency. Here is the relevant portion from that "CJLS Guidance for Remote Minyanim in a time of COVID-19:"

 

 

By switching to Zoom technology we will be able to know in real time how many people are joining us and whether we have a sufficient number to say the Mourners Kaddish. Please note that this change (including remote service participants among those who collectively constitute a minyan) is temporary and will end when we are able to return to our building. This emergency position of the JCLS, along with many other Jewish religious rulings of this moment, is rooted in a rabbinic concept known as she'at hade'chak, time of emergency.

 

The issues around use of computer equipment and the internet on Shabbat is another issue which we don't have meaningful guidance. In this circumstance, we feel that the mental and spiritual damage caused by isolation and social distancing encourages us to be a bit looser with our halakhic (Jewish legal) observance for the time being. We encourage you to follow your conscious and maintain as much of your religious observance as possible while allowing a bit of forgiveness to yourself and others as we all adjust to this very complicated time. The idea of a slippery slope is a real one so we would urge all of us that choose to compromise previous religious obligations and log-on to your computer to do whatever is possible to refrain from viewing emails, limit pop-up news and advertisements and to refrain as much as possible from what might be considered, Be'tul Torah (Nullification of Torah; engagement in frivolous activities.)

 

Please be in touch with us after Shabbat with your thoughts, comments and ideas. Please know that as your Rabbi, I am uncomfortable with all of this, but our souls are tied together in a single journey towards redemption. This moment in history is forcing us to find ways to walk together that are beyond ordinary. We will survive and thrive though and following this episode and I look forward to many more meaningful spiritual experiences together.

 

With admiration and kindness,

 

Rabbi Laurence Rosenthal