Dear Sha’ar Zahav Community,
The High Holy Days are behind us, but rather than being a slow time…we have exciting news! We know this is a long letter, but urge you to read through it in its entirety since there are lots of details and this is pertinent information for everyone.
Our Shabbat evening service at the synagogue since the beginning of COVID will take place on the following dates. Please note our schedule (of course, subject to change)
- November 26 Zoom only
- December 3 (Chanukah Shabbat!) in person and Zoom
- December 10 Zoom only
- December 17 in person and Zoom
- December 24 Zoom only
Registration for Friday Shabbat service is open to members only until 11am the Thursday before Shabbat. Then, non-members may sign up for the remaining spots. You can register here.
Saturday services are In-Person and on Zoom at 10:00 am. You may register for the next In-Person Saturday Morning Shabbat service here.
Let us tell you about the preparations we’ve been taking to make this possible and what we need from you.
- Our sanctuary is limited at this time to sixty people. RSVPs are required by 11am the day of the service and we’ll keep a waitlist. This will aid both our health concerns and lower our security risks, while making greeting/check-in much easier for our volunteers. This means, at least for a while, no walk-ins whatsoever and unregistered people will sadly be turned away. So please plan ahead! Please arrive early to ease the process of check-in and be patient.
- Proof of vaccination is required for gatherings in the building. If you haven’t already sent in vaccination verification, please click here to find out more information about our vaccination policy. Although we are requiring vaccinations, as a community we pledge to not shame anyone who isn’t vaccinated, for any reason. We are committed to not speaking lashon hara (negative speech) about anyone in our community.
- If you haven’t yet signed our Brit/Sacred Covenant, click here to do so prior to attending.
- Chairs will be spaced out, with couples or pods being together. And we won’t be swaying arm in arm just yet.
- There will be no eating/oneg. We’ll hope to get there soon.
- We require properly fitting masks at all times indoors.
- For all in-person events, we observe our fragrance-free policy.
- Zooming: Yes, we are still offering our services online. You can register as always through this link.
Members: We need a robust cadre of volunteers to make this happen!
- Welcome table to check RSVPs, vaccination compliance, security, and greeting
- Tech support to manage zooming equipment from the sanctuary
- Since we value an at-home experience that is as inclusive as possible, we are seeking volunteers to manage our security and other tech needs every week like we have had over the pandemic. We’ll train you!
- If we have enough people offering to help, you shouldn’t be called on too often to volunteer.
- Please us know what kind of role you’re excited to take on! office@shaarzahav.org
Other SZ activities:
In addition to Shabbat evening services, our Shabbat morning minyan will resume in-person services on November 13. Committees and groups are also permitted to meet in person in the coming months, so we encourage leaders to start talking with groups about how they wish to proceed. We are upgrading the technology in our building to make a hybrid/multi-access experience possible.
If you’re curious about the values that undergird our decision making processes, please refer to the documents on our website:
Many thanks,
Rabbi Mychal Copeland
Marc A. Lipschutz, President
Susie Idzik, Director of Administration
The post Hybrid Services: In-person and Zoom appeared first on Sha'ar Zahav.