Published: 8 September 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
MANY SECULAR ISRAELIS FLEE the country during the High Holidays. Unlike many Diaspora Jews who show up for services every year, Israelis historically use this time to take off and explore new horizons.
My family has a tradition of going away over Rosh Hashana with my parents. We make sure to consume too much food but mix it up with bushwalking or swimming or just time spent together relaxing.
I find this option, particularly the interaction with nature, to be more spiritually uplifting than being in synagogue for two days straight. Some of our more traditional friends have found this decision rather odd.
This year, however, Jewish communities are having to make major adjustments to how they pray, hear shofar, repent and ask forgiveness. It’s a topsy-turvy world with a mixture of new and almost unlimited opportunities, and strict restrictions.
In Israel, many synagogues will use outdoor spaces to limit the spread of Covid. Yet, astonishingly, it looks like some services will allow up to 1,000 people.
Synagogues around the world have a variety of plans, and after speaking to a few in Sydney (Emanuel Synagogue, Or Chadash) and in Melbourne (Kolenu, South Caulfield), checking the online details of other congregations, and getting intel from friends, there also appears to be a broad range of responses in Australia.
In Melbourne, organised services with live audiences seem highly unlikely even if stage 4 restrictions are lifted. In a best-case scenario, families might share meals with select friends and family they haven’t seen for weeks.
In Sydney, most synagogues are offering multiple, shorter, staggered services for up to 100 people at a time, with cleaning between services and mask-wearing strongly recommended. People with pre-existing conditions as well as the elderly are discouraged from attending. Congregants are required to pre-register.
A noticeable exception to this is Emanuel Synagogue, which recently completed a major renovation to its campus where it holds Progressive, Masorti and Renewal services. Senior Rabbi Jeffrey Kamins said with more than 3600 families, it wasn’t feasible to limit numbers to 100 at a time. It would be difficult to ensure there was no mingling and that holding services over the High Holidays without a congregation present was the socially responsible decision.
Instead, Emanuel will livestream its Progressive services and pre-record its Masorti services. North Shore Temple Emanuel in Sydney’s north is also offering online services only to ensure they are “inclusive, engaging and uplifting”.
Although Emanuel Synagogue has resumed Shabbat services, uptake has been low as people remain wary of large gatherings. Or perhaps they don’t want to wear masks during services and miss out on kiddush.
Instead, the synagogue has focused its efforts since March on offering an intensive range of online speakers, classes, services, as well as almost daily emails and a lot of personal outreach by the rabbinic leadership. Rabbi Kamins admits says “it’s been easier for people to tap into the online learning than joining a Zoom prayer service”.
There have been surprising benefits from going online, including accessibility for those with mobility issues, young families, elderly members who are unable to leave home, former congregants who are now overseas and those not in the Sydney area.
As a result, Rabbi Kamins believes that even after Covid, the synagogue will continue to offer hybrid programming, both in person and online.
Both Rabbi Alon Meltzer, from Sydney-based Or Chadash (modern Orthodox) synagogue, and Rabbi Daniel Rabin from South Caulfield Hebrew Congregation (Orthodox), have also seen increased interest in online programming.
However, they all miss the face to face interaction and Rabbi Kamins hopes that when the doors of the synagogue can reopen without restrictions “people will remember what it means to be part of a community”.
So far, membership has not been badly impacted for these congregations but it remains unclear whether a younger generation will continue to support institutions that they don’t actually attend.
Kehillat Kolenu, a secular humanistic Jewish congregation in Melbourne, usually can’t fit the hundreds of attendees that want to attend its High Holiday services; many are forced to stand or sit on the floor and some can’t even get into the building.
She says services won’t be exactly the same as in pre-Covid times but will still connect people. Kehillat Kolenu considered not doing services online, Sharp said, but realised “these services might be people’s only significant Jewish experience this year.”
This decision was buoyed by the positive response from Kehillat Kolenu’s cross-generational community to ongoing online Shabbat services - with more than 100 people attending each week, a solid uptake of the online chavruta Jewish learning program and one-offs such as Tisha B’av events. “People have been very thankful for the opportunities. It’s a testament to the need for spirituality and community connection,” Sharp says.
This need for connection has been amplified by the difficulties of isolation and lockdown. Rabbis across all denominations have felt this intensely over the past few months. South Caulfield’s Rabbi Rabin is busier than ever, offering ongoing programming for kids, trivia nights, history talks, cooking demonstrations, shiurim, services and more.
He says there is so much good content available that some people have taken to shule hopping for both services and classes.
Indeed, in many ways there are more choices available than ever to Jews who are prepared to use technology over the holidays. Rather than asking for thousands of dollars in membership, many online services ask instead for a voluntary donation.
The one denominator common to all congregations is the hope for a better year, filled with good health - and hopefully a vaccine.
ON FRIDAY: The future of Jewish life under Covid
Artwork: John Kron
