Posted on May 24, 2021
We are pleased to announce that we will begin welcoming congregants to in-person worship beginning June 11. Our re-opening task force has been monitoring Federal, State and County COVID data and guidelines, and work in close consultation with our medical professionals actively involved in the task force.
Our objective is to come back together safely, in an inclusive way. We have used these Jewish values to guide our thinking about our safety protocols as we return to in-person worship:
While the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and public guidelines regarding mask wearing and vaccination status are changing rapidly, we are taking a cautious approach – starting slowly. We continue to have limitations as to numbers of in-person participants and safety protocols such as mask-wearing and social distancing. Starting on June 11, our capacity for in-person worship is 50 people.
We ask you to register in advance for the dates you wish to attend. You can visit this page (https://www.ourbethel.org/register-to-attend-in-person/) of our temple website for the links to register for in-person worship. You can watch this video (https://tinyurl.com/TBEReturntotheSanctuary) for what to expect when you return to the sanctuary.
We encourage those most vulnerable to continue to join us on Zoom. Links for Zoom participation for each Shabbat can be found in the weekly email or on the Upcoming Events page of our website (https://www.ourbethel.org/engage/upcoming-events/).
Due to limitations in the number of in-person participants, priority will be given to people observing shloshim (30 days after the death of a loved one); saying kaddish (within the year of mourning for a parent, spouse, sibling or child); observing a yahrzeit; and attending as family or guests of a bar or bat mitzvah student. If you arrive without registering, we may ask you to wait until all registered worshippers are seated.
Shabbat reservations must be made by noon on Thursday of each week. Your in-person reservation will be confirmed on Friday. If you cannot make the online reservation on your own, you may call the office at 908-722-0674, ext. 312 and ask to have one made for you.
We look forward to worshipping together again in our sanctuary.
Originally published in the May-June 2021 issue of the Shofar. For more issues of the Shofar, visit the Shofar archives.
