Online Shule offers Rosh Hashanah service for locked down Australians

Paula talks to the Melbourne founders of an online experience designed to give people a High Holy Day service in more ways than one

DURING ITS 2020 LAUNCH, The Online Shule had around 800 people attending over the High Holy Days. “At least 400 were there the whole time – with another 400 popping in and out, maybe coming just for Yom Kippur,” says Yoram Symons, writer, storyteller and one of the three-member team that organises the shule’s services.

The others are Mark Symons, one of Melbourne’s leading Torah readers, and Rabbi Yaron Gottlieb, who has led High Holy Day prayers for numerous congregations throughout Australia and overseas.

So how did this project start? “We were in lockdown. It was getting close to Yom Tov and I had been doing a bunch of Facebook live streams, talking to my people, and I thought – if we’re in lockdown over Yom Tov, I’ll just do the davening and Facebook-Live it,” says Yoram.

“Then my dad (Mark) and friend Yaron said they’d come on board, which made it more formal, and more in line with the halacha [Jewish religious laws],” says Yoram. “They were very fastidious that it be done in a certain way – they both take halacha very seriously.”

Yoram is also passionately Jewish but says “I do it in my own way”.

Though all three are Melbourne-based, and last year’s followers were mainly Melburnians, some were from Sydney, as well as “some people in America, Canada, Israel and South Africa who tuned in,” Yoram says.

In addition to Zoom, the Online Shule services - which only operate over Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur - will be available on YouTube and Facebook Live for those concerned about their security. The latter may also be preferred by those who are more stringent in keeping halacha.

One of the biggest issues the Online Shule deals with is the use of electricity on Shabbat and holidays while still observing halacha. “We believe that the Halachic concept of Sha’at HaDchak (an emergency) is what we’re going through,” Yoram explains.

“We believe it’s an aspect of the halachic concept of Pikuach Nefesh (literally 'saving life’), which in these circumstances we understand to mean helping preserve mental and emotional health.”

Their website details a number of decisions by Orthodox rabbis who allow the use of electronic devices for services, despite it typically being forbidden, because of the extraordinary circumstances COVID-19 has created.

They claim the Online Shule is different because their main goal is to get their congregants to understand the prayers they are saying and the context in which they are said. “Our mission is to bring Judaism to life: That’s our goal.”

Two approaches help achieve this. First is what Yoram calls a “micro-drosha”, one-minute mini-explanations on various prayers, poems and parts of the liturgy. The other is the use of performance poetry, something he does professionally.

“Performance poetry can really bring prayers to life,” he says. “I do performance versions of the iconic pieces - Unetaneh Tokef, the Book of Jonah and others.”

Last year’s feedback was overwhelmingly positive. “Participants told us that for the first time ever they actually understood the meaning of the prayers.”

The core of the service is the traditional liturgy so the Orthodox prayer book is followed, and an online siddur has been organised so people can easily follow the page numbers. The services are free but donations are most welcome to defray the costs involved.

“It goes deeper than just providing prayers online,” says Yoram. “It is Rosh Hashanah, and we need to be able to get together as a community to maintain the pulse of cultural transmission – we can’t allow lockdown to deny us engagement with our cultural touchstones. Anyone can sit at home and pray by themselves – but it’s always better to share the experience.”

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