An Important Note about Minyan

As you may have seen in today’s Shabbat email sent out just a few hours ago, we were trying to do everything we could to give options for “Zoom-ing” into a live minyan. As of a few minutes ago, the last one I knew has decided to cancel (which is a decision I, of course, support). Now that there is no physical minyan that can be attended virtually, we are literally in unprecedented times.
 

Under these circumstances, we will begin hosting a Zoom minyan every morning at 8:00am. To be clear, the minyan will be led by one of our clergy, and it is not the same as saying kaddish with a physical minyan. When this crisis passes, we will return to the requirement of a minyan with ten people physically in attendance together to make a minyan. However, in the meantime, because this is so important to so many of our people in mourning, we invite you to join us weekday and Sunday mornings at 8:00am. We will recite Mourner’s Kaddish at the end of the service, and not do other “devar shebekedushah”—things that require a minyan like Barchu and the kedusha. On Torah reading days we will read the Torah either from a scroll or the chumash with the blessing for Torah study.
 
In addition, we will add a recitation of mourner’s kaddish at the end of our daily community gatherings at 7:00pm after the Shema.
 
These are indeed unprecedented times and we continue to look for creative ways to bring us together and maintain the spiritual and sacred side of all of our lives. Please continue to send your suggestions and be patient with us as all of these ideas and methods are complicated and time-consuming to execute.
 
Need a siddur to follow the morning service? A pick-up box will be available outside the sanctuary entrance of the synagogue, under the awning, Sunday morning from 8:00-10:00am. Come and grab one. If you can’t make that time, let Rabbi Arnowitz or Rabbi Segelman know and we will arrange for one to be left out at a time that works for you. We ask you not to congregate and practice social distancing.
 
Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom and I hope we’ll see you at our minyan tonight at 5:30pm, which we will end with a Mourner’s Kaddish before we conclude at 6:30pm.
 
RJA

Join us for the morning minyan at 8:00am, starting this Sunday: https://zoom.us/j/725228994