The Voice | June-July 2020

Beth El Congregation balanced the desire to reopen and worship together against the health consequences of moving too fast. VIRTUAL PRAYER Experiences Embraces BETH EL By: Brandon Chiat, Digital Media Manager HASHEM IN THE LIVING ROOM:

For the first time in his rabbinate, Steve Schwartz delivered his Shabbat sermon into a camera lens. Far from the bimah of the magnificent Berman- Rubin Sanctuary or the intimate Gorn Chapel, Rabbi Schwartz greeted the congregation from the confines of his home office. “Judaism encourages us to tap into eternal traditions that persist despite the goings-on of the wider world,” said Rabbi Steve Schwartz. “It is still Shabbat on Friday night and Saturday, no matter what’s going on, and no matter whether it is observed or not.” While religious services are the core function of a synagogue, Beth El’s clergy realized that prayer experiences would take on greater importance during the COVID-19 crisis. The clergy, along with Beth El’s professional leadership, worked decisively and tirelessly to adapt the congregation’s sacred gatherings to a virtual space. From daily minyanim and Shabbat services on Facebook Live to Pesach , Shavuot , and other holiday celebrations on Zoom, Beth El creatively found ways to broadcast Jewish traditions. Celebrating Passover: This Night - and Holiday - Was Different From All Others For many Jews, the Passover holiday - a festival celebrating the identity, origin, and unity of the Jewish people - brought the realities of social distancing into stark focus. Typically a time of family gatherings, this year’s Passover Seder tables - including Beth El’s - were devoid of the corporal human presence that makes the

holiday so beloved.

“The hardest thing for me as a rabbi was knowing that there would be some people that were alone during Pesach ,” said Rabbi Dana Saroken. “But the ancient rabbis predicted and understood that at points throughout the course of Jewish history, outside forces may prevent Jews from observing the holiday in full accordance with tradition. So they taught us that a person who is alone is still obligated to recite the key parts of the Seder and of the Jewish people’s story.” Indeed, that ancient wisdom guided the Beth El community, as new social distancing norms meant a holiday intentionally designed to bring the Jewish community together would be observed apart. Though it was planned as an in-person event for over 200-guests, Cantor Thom King and his family hosted Beth El’s Community Seder remotely from their dining room. Instead of participating in what would have been the largest Seder gathering in the congregation’s history - and the first such event in over two decades - Beth El’s congregants welcomed Passover through Zoom and Facebook Live. “We Jews have always adapted to the challenges of our specific reality,” said Cantor Thom King. “The current reality of the COVID-19 pandemic demanded that we change our approach to prayer and connecting to God.” In reflecting on the Passover experience during this pandemic, Rabbi Saroken shared that many congregants experienced a range of emotions going into the holiday. “For many people there was some anxiety, and concern that lifelong traditions wouldn’t be upheld,” she

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The Voice of Beth El Congregation