Join us for the High Holy Days

Kol Rina has always prided itself on beautiful and innovative community High Holiday services. Our need for community and for uplift has never been greater than during these challenging and unprecedented times. The Covid-19 pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of our lives in the past 5 months, and there is no end in sight.

Kol Rina’s High Holidays subcommittee has been hard at work to design services that will inspire, uplift and safely bring our community together for a joyful New Year observance. Bear in mind that the decisions outlined below were made several weeks ago, in the beginning of July. I’m sure you can appreciate that we had no way then to know for certain, and in fact we still have no way to know, exactly what the circumstances will be in September. After much discussion, and weighing of safety considerations, the guidance of various other Jewish communities and authorities, cost limitations, and the unique flavor and style of Kol Rina, the subcommittee has outlined the following format for our services.

High Holiday services will take place as a Zoom Webinar.

The Webinar format allows for multiple “panelists” (participants), with the remainder of attendees off-camera and muted.  This will allow multiple people to participate actively (for example, to read Torah or to deliver a sermonette), while the rest of the congregation is able to listen quietly.

•    All participants, both active and listening, will be in remote locations, attending via Zoom; there will be no need for any group to physically congregate.

•    A person will be hired to act as “usher” for security.

•    Sharon Litwinoff will lead as our cantor.

•    The service will be live as much as possible (or entirely), as opposed to pre-recorded. However, certain portions of the service may be pre-recorded as a backup in case of technological difficulties on the day.

•    The services will be edited to reduce their length.

•    Discussion groups and other alternatives to the prayer service will vary the pace.

•    There will be a charge to non – Kol Rina members of $54.