Dear Friends:
We are devastated by yesterday’s terrorist act outside the airport in Kabul which killed 13 American service members and many innocent civilians. We pray for the victims and their families, and for the safety of our service members, fellow Americans, and our allies in Afghanistan.
Based on the sufficient number of registrations we have received for in-person participation tomorrow morning, our Shabbat morning services will be hybrid. We’ll be using the new large screen TV donated by Rob Bichefsky and a slightly different setup of cameras and microphones which we hope will improve the sound over Zoom. If you have not registered to attend in-person tomorrow morning but would like to do so, please register at https://forms.gle/gmdqUtjv6VGjgYFR6.
As I mentioned on Wednesday, we are trying to ascertain roughly how many people to expect in person for each High Holiday service. Since we want to make it possible for people to sit in a socially-distanced manner, even with many fewer attendees than normal we will need to open the sliding wall and set up seats in the Sisterhood Hall. Will we in addition need to open the wall between Sisterhood Hall and the social hall and set up additional chairs in the social hall? How many machzorim will be needed for each service (since unless you bring your own personal copy we want to take them out of circulation after each use)? What audiovisual setup will be needed so that everyone physically present can see and hear those who are participating remotely?
If you have requested a paper ticket, this ticket will admit you to any and all High Holiday services in our building. You should receive it in the mail soon if you have not already received it.
If you have requested a paper ticket and have not yet filled out our Google Form, please fill it out as soon as possible:
If you have not requested a paper ticket you do not need to fill out the form. If you have already filled this out (the link was first sent out on Wednesday), please do not do so a second time.
I want to make it clear that we are doing this for our own planning purposes only. If you have a paper ticket you will be able to attend all in-person services whether or not you have filled out the form and regardless of your answers, and conversely, you will be able to participate via Zoom if that is your preference for any particular service.
As always, if I can do anything for you or you need to talk, please contact me at rabbi@kehilatshalom.org or 301-977-0768 rather than through the synagogue office. Although I am working primarily from home, I am happy to meet you at the synagogue by appointment.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Charles L. Arian