Dear Friends,
Our lives today look different than they did just a few months ago. We write to share news about High Holy Days with you. Since the beginning of the pandemic, our congregation’s leadership has worked tirelessly to ensure that our temple family would be cared for and looked after. We have moved quickly and nimbly to:
- transition Shabbat and holiday services online
- deepen the pastoral care for our members
- created deep and meaningful classes and programs led by our members and our clergy
- brought you experts in medicine and psychology to educate our congregation about navigating through this time of the Coronavirus
- reached out to all of families with children increasing our activities for them
Throughout this time, guided by our Jewish values, we have engaged regularly with government and healthcare experts to inform our decisions to serve our highest priority: the health and safety of our sacred community. We convened a ReOpening Task Force to examine the complexities in reopening our building and meeting for the Holy Days. Our Task Force included: Dr. Neil Romanoff, Dr. Lilia Lukowsky, Neal Zaslavsky, Peter Mackler, Marca Gay, and Rabbi Eger and Rabbi Chaiken.
In light of the public health forecasts for the near future, the volatility by the state in opening and closing and to minimize the financial impact of the uncertainties on our congregation, and your input from our survey, our Executive Committee on the recommendation of our Kol Ami ReOpening Task Force has made the exceptionally difficult determination that we will be unable to safely welcome worshipers in person for the High Holy Days this year at either Harmony Gold or our Temple Building. Nevertheless, we are heartbroken to share this news with you.
However, Rabbi Eger and Rabbi Chaiken along with Cantor Linsky and our musical director Alin Melik-Adamayan are already at work to reimagine our High Holy Day experience. Just like we brought you our annual Gala in a new and exciting way, our High Holy Days will be an online prayer and community experience that will no doubt enrich us and help us usher in a New Year of health, sweetness and hope.
We know how difficult it is to conceive of the High Holy Days in this new way, but our clergy and staff and lay leaders are committed to producing meaningful liturgical, musical, and intellectual content – some new, and some reassuringly familiar – that will comfort and inspire you. Many of you have had roles in reading from Torah or other prayers during the holy days. We are looking at how to preserve creative involvement of our members and how we will be able to interact with one another.
The public health crisis of COVID-19 has taken so much from us already, and we share in your sadness that we will be unable to experience the High Holy Days as we have in years past. Nonetheless, we know that the season of repentance and renewal will still do its holy work: returning us to wholeness and hope, to our loved ones and to God. We know that together we are stronger: #KolAmiStrongerTogether
In the weeks ahead, our staff, lay, and clergy teams will all be hard at work to create these High Holy Day observances, which will be unlike any we have experienced in the past. It’s an opportunity for creativity, innovation and an opportunity to provide comfort and connection. We are committed to sharing more information with you in August about what to expect from our service and program offerings, and we thank you in advance for your patience and understanding as these plans come together.
In the meantime, please know that we remain committed and available to you, and we will be happy to receive any of your input, questions, or concerns about the High Holy Days at the temple this year. You can write us directly at reception@kol-ami.org to share your thoughts.
With our most heartfelt prayers of hope and unity,
