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From Senior Rabbi Peter Stein and Executive Director Michael Yudelson:
Dear TBK Family,
We hope that you all are doing well as spring begins and more and more steps forward are taken in restoring health and safety to the community.
We are writing today to share information about some of the steps we are taking in offering in person and hybrid activities.
When the pandemic began last March, we closed the building to all in person activities. This included the staff, with everyone working offsite and online for those first few months. When we were able to reopen the building, the staff and board developed an extensive and detailed list of protocols for anyone entering the building.
Thankfully, we are now at a point where conditions are improving. We are responding primarily to the significantly lower positive rate, but also cognizant of the increased number of vaccinated people. After consultation with our medical advisors and public health guidance, we are taking another important step forward.
Starting April 3, Saturday morning services will be offered in a hybrid format, similar to the way we conducted them last fall. Saturday morning Tanakh and Torah study will continue to meet fully online, as will other worship activities. In the coming weeks, we will also continue evaluating when we can expand our offerings for Friday night worship.
Read on for the specific details of how this will work.
1. Of the 13 Saturdays during this 3 month period, 9 of them include a bar or bat mitzvah.
2. On the bnai mitzvah dates, the in person attendance include the family members and invited guests of the family. This will be limited to 50 people (approximately 10% of the floor of the sanctuary)
3. On the non bnai mitzvah dates, the general congregation will have the opportunity to participate in person, still with a 50 person maximum.
4. On all dates, there will be an opportunity to participate online through a zoom broadcast.
5. On all dates, everyone coming into the building will be required to follow the strict protocol followed since reopening the building in July. These expectations include the following:
- Wearing a mask 100% of the time
- Maintaining social distancing
- Taking advantage of the sanitizing stations around the building
- Bathrooms limited to 1 person at a time (through the use of special signs on the doors)
- Submitting name and phone number to the contact tracing box
- Answering “no” to a set of questions: no fever, no other symptoms, no travel to places with higher rates of infection, no contact/exposure to an infected person.
- Vaccination is strongly encouraged for those who are eligible
6. The sanctuary is set up to minimize risk.
- The first 4 pews are blocked off, and every other pew after that is closed.
- Prayerbooks will be made available and will be sanitized after each week’s service.
- The rabbis, soloist, and bar/bat mitzvah student will be situated in separate parts of the bima, to allow their own social distancing.
To reiterate, this means that on April 3 (the 7th day of Passover service, which includes Yizkor), April 17, May 22, and June 5, the general congregation is invited to participate in person. If you have any medical need or simply want to err on the side of caution, please consider participating online. On the other Saturdays during this time period, there will be in person attendance from the bnai mitzvah families.
For all of these dates, the South Entrance off of the rear parking lot will be open for people to enter the building.
You may borrow a copy of the prayerbook by coming to the office, Mondays through Thursdays, between 9 and 3. You may also find a copy of the prayerbook at this link: https://www.ccarnet.org/publications/resources-repaginated/. Please note that the flipbook found there is available for free and there is also an option to purchase a kindle version of the book.
If you have any questions about these arrangements, please don’t hesitate to call or write either one of us. We will continue to be in touch with all of you as plans are determined for the next period after these upcoming weeks.
We look forward to seeing you soon!
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