Synagogues requiring masks, vaccines
Attendees at this year’s Jewish High Holiday services in Columbus will by and large be masked and vaccinated.
That’s because the local Jewish community is being extra cautious, even in a year when some thought services would get back to “normal,” especially due to the COVID-19 vaccine becoming available in the spring.
“Last year, people went into the High Holidays knowing it was going to be different,” said Rabbi Hillel Skolnik, senior rabbi at Congregation Tifereth Israel on the East Side. “I think people were going into High Holidays (this year) looking for something resembling normalcy. That’s not what’s going to happen.”
With the delta variant sweeping through the country, Jewish leaders are pulling back on some plans for the holidays, which begin Monday evening with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
Instead of “normal,” in-person services, some synagogues are hosting indoor services with a reduced capacity and masks and vaccines mandated; others are doing the same, but outdoors only. Most synagogues, if not all, are offering some form of livestreamed or online-recorded services for people who will be observing at home.
The High Holidays end with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, a day of fasting and prayer. It begins at sundown on Sept. 15 and ends after sundown the next day.
At Tifereth Israel, a Conservative
synagogue, there will be some outdoor services and limited-capacity indoor services with masks and vaccines required, Skolnik said.
Given that only 100 people will be in attendance in-person in the sanctuary that can accommodate 1,300, the synagogue sent an email to members asking some to voluntarily stay home. Unvaccinated children also will not be allowed, he said.
Everything will be livestreamed, Skolnik said.
“We’re taking this as seriously as any other synagogue in the Columbus area, and I’m proud of that,” Skolnik said. “Every time I try to make a prediction, I end up – and I think the rest of the world ends up – looking kind of silly because you’re trying to predict something that has a life of its own.”
There are definitely questions the synagogue faces this year that it did not last year, Skolnik said. But people have been understanding, especially since the synagogue’s policy is one that comes from “a place of compassion and care,” the rabbi said.
“(Decisions) are not made flippantly. They’re made understanding we care about people’s spiritual lives, but you have to be alive to have a spiritual life,” he said.
On Monday, Congregation Beth Tikvah, a Reform synagogue in Worthington, sent an email to its members stating that it would make all of its planned indoor services online only.
“As Winter turned to Spring earlier this year, we had great hopes that many of us would join together in our sanctuary as we celebrated Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur,” wrote synagogue officials, including Rabbi Rick Kellner.
The leaders cited the delta variant as a reason it has canceled its indoor, inperson High Holiday services, and noted that the other two area Reform congregations – Temple Israel and Temple Beth Shalom – are doing the same.
“This last-minute change saddens all of us as we were looking forward to being together in the sanctuary with others,” the Beth Tikvah leaders wrote in the email. “We recognize that many will be disappointed with this decision. Even amid the sadness and disappointment, we are looking forward to numerous meaningful moments that will inspire us, lift us up and give us hope.”
Beth Tikvah is still hosting outdoor family services. One, for Rosh Hashanah, will take place at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium on Tuesday, and another, for Yom Kippur, will take place at Scioto Park in Dublin on Sept. 16, though attendees must RSVP online.
Congregation Agudas Achim, a Conservative synagogue on East Broad Street, is only allowing half its capacity, about 350 people, and everyone must wear a mask and attest that they are vaccinated, said Julie Saar, president of the synagogue’s board.
Children will be welcome at an outdoor service, and the synagogue purchased a tent for other outdoor activities.
This year, for maybe two weeks during the summer, Saar thought things might be back to normal for the High Holidays when it came to the pandemic. Then, the news of the delta variant came.
For Saar, it feels like bad deja vu of last year, when everything was being canceled or moved online as the pandemic spread.
“We felt like in the summertime, we’ll get a break from COVID,” she said. “But the facts come at you pretty quickly these days. There really wasn’t much time to really get comfortable.”
Last year, only 25 people were permitted to come to the High Holiday services, Saar said. This year, the synagogue is also preparing bags of essentials for people who can’t come in person.
Overall, Saar said the synagogue has adapted to COVID changes.
“I wouldn’t wish it on us, but we’re still here and doing things,” she said. dking@dispatch.com @Danaeking