A colleague wrote in our alumni list-serve that he was looking forward to when we would “reZoom our normal services.” A day later another colleague wrote the following:
I disagree…services were dying before Covid…older adults, people present for life cycle needs and members of special groups being honored that evening. Zoom services are well-attended and filled with the good energy we have lost in the sanctuary. Ok, shuttering the sanctuary is not a solution but neither is going back to a failing model. Synagogues have less members and less engagement. We stumbled onto a place with excitement. It is not The Future but certainly a part.
I certainly cannot argue his point for we see the untold opportunities we’ve discovered. To Beth El’s Zoom services I’ve invited former congregants and those unaffiliated; rabbis and cantors able to tune-in; friends from childhood who live all over the place. And for those who “attended” our virtual seder, you might recall that there was a family seder-ing with us from Italy!
Our holydays will have many options which will be made known to you shortly. And once I know what those opportunities are, I and our steering committee can figure out what we shall do for which service. Just because we, let’s say, Zoom for erev Rosh Hashanah, doesn’t mean we won’t both Zoom and live stream for Rosh Hashanah morning; pre-record for Kol Nidrei; invite our kids and their families for an outdoor Rosh Hashanah service and an indoor Yom Kippur experience; have “x” number of congregants in the sanctuary for another while those at home are watching via livestream. Dedicated members of Beth El, experts in technological advances, are doing more than we can imagine…and testing it all out as well (the best laid plans can fail if the equipment doesn’t work!). See, what we didn’t do yesterday doesn’t prevent us from doing tomorrow.
The curse of the virus – and it is a curse - is offering us a blessing as well! And this blessing might be the seed of revitalization for synagogues beyond the High Holydays.
As my colleague wrote, “It is not the future but certainly a part.” That we must remember. The Jewish people have always yearned for others to be part of our life experiences, religious and personal. We don’t sit alone at a seder; we need witnesses – lots of witnesses – at our weddings; we need a minyan, ten, and more is better. So, we aren’t yearning for these newbies to take over, just to supplement.
(Speaking of nothing, Jennifer was into animal rights; she just wasn’t all that bright. As she had dinner with her family, she said, “I think people should be stopped from shooting the rapids. I think they have as much the right to live as we have.”)