Yeah, zoom is more “like being there.” When the pandemic first hit, the temple had Shabbat services over zoom and it was very nice. There might only be 25-ish people, but you saw everyone’s face, and the rabbi would have people do readings and stuff. It was cozy in a weird electronic way.
No zoom now for services, only YouTube, live streaming from the temple website, Facebook live, and the temple now has its own Roku channel!
To attend last night in person, besides your membership card, you had to present proof of vaccination, and of course, everyone was masked. There were probably 50 people there at the early service, which I watched, spread out (except for families). This is in a sanctuary that can seat 1,200 people. Normally there are more people at the 7:30 service–I didn’t watch that one.
I save those for Sukkot. That’s one of the few fruits that is actually seasonal in my markets – I just don’t see them for several months. And they come into season shortly before the holiday. So I avoid them until Sukkot, so I can enjoy a first fruit of the season during the harvest festival.
A better answer is that Jews atone for all sins in the Yom Kippur alphabetic chant in case we committed a sin unwittingly. Another interpretation is that we atone for the community’s sins, not just our own.
Does anyone remember this brilliant episode of Northern Exposure?
It is the day before Yom Kippur, and Dr. Joel Fleischman seemingly goes out of his way to be awful to people. He fires Marilyn, gets into another argument with Maggie, and refuses to help rebuild the house of a citizen who left a cigarette lit while he slept. But will a vision of his rabbi back in New York, some choice clips from the previous season, and the specter of what his leaving town will look like change Fleischman’s heart? cite
A takeoff on A Christmas Carol – Joel meets the ghosts of Yom Kippur past, present, and future. My favorite part is at the end when Joel is rushing through clouds to get through the “Gates of Repentance” before they close – this image (as y’all know) is found in the closing service of Yom Kippur day.
Who is planning on attending Kol Nidre/YK services in person and who is planning to zoom? (Or something else?)
Our synagogue is requiring vaccination card to enter, as well as masks. Also the seating is spread out except for families/households. As a single person, I would have a good amount of space around me.
Me, too. Actually it was live streaming on YouTube, not zoom. It looked like there were about 100 people spread throughout the cavernous sanctuary. Probably safe, but you are there for hours and hours.
I hope we’re not doing it this way again next year.
After all, Rasputin’s advice was “Sin, so you can be forgiven!” 