Whymyshulwill be closed for now
FOR BELMONT United Synagogue rabbi, Marc Levene, the decision to close the shul for the duration of the latest lockdown was a “very personal” one, specific to the needs of his North London community.
“Even though we are fully confident in how totally Covid-compliant we are, that doesn’t mitigate all risks. Based on the size of our building and the age demographic of our members, we felt that the safest thing would be not to open for services,” he explained.
He had felt “very uncomfortable” at the high turnout at its December 24 service, with most attendees over the age of 70, despite the surge in new cases and the more transmissible variant of the virus prevalent in the capital.
“My first thoughts were: ‘We have to protect our membership’.” He felt that in terms of communal prayer, “that’s not what God wants from us now. We didn’t close because of tiers; we closed because of numbers.”
Rabbi Levene had also taken on board the views of GPs and healthcare workers, finding that a lot of the language they were using was similar to that of last March, when the first lockdown was implemented and places of worship shut.
Aware of the need to maintain congregants’ emotional wellbeing, the shul is preparing a full roster of online programming for the next two months.
Belmont has around 900 members from 600 households. Rabbi Levene said there had not been any significant objection to the decision. Some members were upset but understood the reasoning.