2022 High Holidays

Temple Beth Shalom High Holidays 5783

Temple Beth Shalom, the Reconstructionist synagogue on the West Shore in Mechanicsburg, is inviting the community to join us for 5783 High Holiday Services. The schedule of services is on our Web site, www.tbshalom.org, and will include Rosh Hashanah, Kol Nidre, and Yom Kippur. This year, services will be led by Rabbi Carl Choper.

The COVID pandemic has presented all of us with new and unexpected challenges. This year, we will be holding services simultaneously in person and on Zoom. We are also livestreaming services on YouTube. Our goal is to allow congregants to participate regardless of where they are physically. Our vision is for everyone to be “in the service.”

As with last year, we are asking everyone who will be participating to register on our web site, for each service, regardless of whether they will be attending in person or not. For those who do not have Internet access, we ask they contact the office, at 717-697-2662 to provide the registration information. We have dispensed with ticketing or charging for attendance for High Holidays, but we welcome donations.

For those attending in person, indoors, we are recommending that participants be vaccinated. (For those not vaccinated, we invite them to participate on Zoom.)  Everyone will be required to wear a mask in the Sanctuary. The pews are set up to socially distance by family pod. We do not take these measures lightly, but we don’t want anyone who comes into our Sanctuary to expose themselves to any unnecessary COVID risks.

Of one thing we are certain. If you have not yet been vaccinated and are eligible to do so, please get vaccinated. TBS supports the CDC recommendations and the recommendations from the PA Department of Health. If you have questions about getting vaccinated, please talk with your doctor or medical provider.

We are now in interesting times, given the stubborn continuance of COVID-19 over the last 30 months Like last year, we are hosting hybrid services for most of the High Holidays. 

What we mean by hybrid services is an online platform – Zoom – that will host the service. Members that are attending the services in person will meet in the TBS Sanctuary. Members that are attending the services virtually will join the service on Zoom. It is our intention that where you are physically should not matter with respect to participating in the services. Everyone should be connected in real time visually and audially.

We are offering these services to our own religious community, but also to the larger West Shore community. For security reasons, we are requiring all attendees to register separately for each service they plan to attend, whether in-person or on zoom (see below).

Option 1: In-person attendance

In-person attendance will be available for all High Holiday services, with the exception of the second day of Rosh Hashanah. TBS is not charging for attending High Holiday Services, whether in-person or on zoom. Registration is still required, but there will be no fees or paywall to attend services. Instead, we will be requesting donations to Temple Beth Shalom on a voluntary basis.

TBS Safety Protocols

1. Masking will be required for all-in person attendees. If you do not have your mask with you, we will provide a mask.

2. While we are not requiring vaccinations for attendance, we do strongly recommend that all attendees get fully vaccinated. This is as much for your own personal health, as well as those in your family and others in the community that cannot be vaccinated.

3. We are requesting social distancing outside of family units. Alternate rows in the Sanctuary have been cordoned off.

4. Finally, if you are showing COVID symptoms, and/or have tested positive for COVID in the last 5 days, we ask that you join our services via Zoom (see Option 2 below).

Please continue to monitor our website, and face book page for any updates.

Option 2: Participation in services through Zoom

If you are not attending a High Holiday Service in person, you are invited to participate via Zoom. As with in-person attendance, TBS is not charging for attending via zoom; however, we are still requiring advance registration. Rather than selling tickets, TBS is requesting donations to Temple Beth Shalom on a voluntary basis.

If you need a Reconstructionist Prayerbook, you can either rent one from TBS or purchase one. Please contact the office no later than September 1st. During most of the services, the Prayerbook page will be shared online.

Option 3: Viewing services on YouTube as livestream

If you are not attending a High Holiday Service in person, nor plan to register and attend on Zoom, you are invited to view the services live on YouTube, which means it can be watched on a computer or TV. Because it is a livestream, you will not be able to directly participate, though.

Once you have registered, you will receive a unique link to each Service. Put the link in an accessible place, but please do not share it with anyone else. If you have other family members that are wishing to attend a service on a separate device, please ask them to register separately. If you are attending in person, you will come to TBS for the service, but will not need the link.

If you have never participated in a Zoom meeting, take some time to learn what is involved. If you need help in navigating the Zoom software, please contact the office in advance. Someone will reach out to you to help with this.

THIS IS IMPORTANT. If you have a tablet or phone, make sure the name of the phone is your name. If you acquire the Zoom app, you can set your name properly in advance, and entering the meeting is easier. We want your actual name as it appears to us in Zoom, so we can recognize you as someone who registered.

To join the service, click on the link. You will be placed in a waiting room and then brought in to the service in a two-step process. Your microphone will be muted on entry. 

Watching on Youtube:

Our Temple Beth Shalom Youtube channel, Temple Beth Shalom – PA, can be found at the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2t1U2CmwTq_OvMi22QQZIw/featured

If you are joining the services via Youtube, you can go to our Youtube channel. Active services should be available on the channel at the tim of broadcast. You can also bookmark each of the services to put it on your calendar.

Dear Members and Friends of TBS,

In previous years, it has been a tradition during the High Holidays to bring groceries to the Temple for the Kol Nidre Service. While this has been an extraordinary year and we have been strict about coming into the building, it has been an all-too-common year for those in need.

As a response to our traditions and to the economic hardships brought on by the COVID-19 Pandemic, we are asking that instead of physically bringing food to Temple Beth Shalom, you make a (substantial?) donation to either area food banks, such the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, or to Mazon, which is the a national Jewish Organization that is fighting to end hunger among people of all faiths and backgrounds in the United States and Israel.

Click on one or both of these links to donate to the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank and/or Mazon.

Central Pennsylvania Food Bank

Mazon

Sincerely,

Temple Beth Shalom Board