This morning, various brief notes that will make the High Holidays better for you and your fellow Kehilat Shalom congregants:
Selichot: Next Saturday night we will join with several other Conservative congregations for a Selichot service and program at Shaare Tefila in Olney. We will begin with Havdalah at 8:30, followed by a high ranking speaker from the Embassy of Israel and Q & A, with the service at 9:30. For security reasons, we are not allowed to advertise the name of the speaker from the Embassy. Please note that there will be no separate Kehilat Shalom Zoom Havdalah that evening, but the joint service and program will be Shaare Tefila’s Zoom (not the Kehilat Shalom Zoom) linked above.
Procedures for aliyot and other honors: If you have been honored with an aliyah (which specifically means reciting the blessings before and after the Torah reading), you have the option of saying the blessings from your seat or coming up to the Reader’s Desk. If you choose to come up to the Reader’s Desk, please take a rapid COVID test (and receive a negative reading) that morning. If you have been honored with an Ark opening or an English reading, you are not required to take a COVID test. This year all honors must be done in person.
More COVID safety information: As always, we request that if you have tested positive for COVID or are recovering but still showing symptoms, that you do not come to services in person.
The newest COVID boosters are widely available at area pharmacies and for most people are free with their medical insurance. Unless your doctor has specifically told you not to receive one, please do so for your own sake and that of those who come into contact with you.
The Federal Government is once again providing free rapid tests by mail. Go to covidtests.gov to order.
Calling all Kohanim and Levi’im: If you are a Kohen or a Levi and you have not previously participated in the ceremony of Birkat Kohanim (the Priestly Blessing during Musaf) you are invited and encouraged to do so. If you don’t know what to do during this ceremony, please contact me and I will instruct you. In our egalitarian congregation, this ritual may be performed by both men and women. You are considered a Kohen if your father was a Kohen and your mother was Jewish (by birth or conversion) at the time of your birth. You are considered a Levi if your father was a Levi and your mother was Jewish (by birth or conversion) at the time of your birth. If you are uncertain of your status as a Kohen or Levi, please contact me and we can discuss it.
Calling all Shofar blowers: if you know how to sound the Shofar well enough to do it during a service and are willing to do so this Rosh Hashanah, please contact me (preferably by email) to volunteer.
Tickets and security: Please get your ticket requests into the office if you have not already done so. While the security personnel will have a list of members and of non-member ticket holders, the necessity of checking and finding your name on the list will delay others who are waiting to enter. It is highly recommended that you bring your physical ticket.
As we approach the one year anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre, I would also encourage you to attend our community’s “Evening of Remembrance, Resilience, and Hope for a Better Future.” It will be held at 7 pm on Monday, Oct. 7 at The Anthem, 901 Wharf St., SW, in the District. Attendance is free but pre-registration is absolutely required for security reasons.
Go to https://www.shalomdc.org/event/october-7th-gathering/ for more information and to register.
As a reminder, I am having drop-in hours on Thursday afternoons from 2 to 4 at the shul. For my drop-in hours, you do not need to make an appointment -- that would negate the whole point of drop-in hours -- but I’d urge you to check and make sure I am there regardless as sometimes there are unavoidable pastoral or other emergencies which might take me away from the building.
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. I am happy to meet you at the synagogue by appointment; if you want to speak with me it’s best to make an appointment rather than assuming I will be there when you stop by.
Additionally, if you know of a Kehilat Shalom congregant or another member of our Jewish community who could use a phone call, please let me know.
L’shalom,
Rabbi Charles L. Arian
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