Late last night, our board of directors teleconferenced, and confirmed the immediate suspension of all our temple programming, including our religious school, until further notice, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. An official note from our president
Michael Adelman
, will be released within hours.
The Corona contagion has brought us to reshape our Jewishly relevant living as we follow directives from health officials. As TBD Jews, we commonly share Kiddush cups, our children embrace each other as they enter our doors, we sway arm in arm to Havdallah’s Shavua tov, we shared Hamantaschen dough together just last week, and, in our near planning was a Passover model school seder. Thanks to
Lindy Bornstein, our food enrichment specialist, the seder table was to be set with symbolic food of bitter maror reflecting slavery and a juxtaposed sweet charoset reminding us of next year in Jerusalem. Now, communal activities are mandated to be reduced in numbers, food is advised not to be shared, hugs are to be turned to elbow greets, and we are attuned to news of potential quarantine.
TBD is our home, and gathering together for onegs, school assemblies, the seder, or purim carnivals adds to that feeling of Jewish Heimat.
Debby Singer, a wise educator once told me that everything relates to Judaism. That includes changing lifestyles. We now have to find a temporary alternate path to live our home lives, Jewishly. As we transition into a period of time where we cannot congregate, or carry our rituals in one way, we must find ways to follow our faith in other ways.
Our school therefore will continue throughout the worldly current affairs. In the next few days, our beloved teachers, clergy and I will gather together, digitally, to see how and what that might entail. Our goal remains the same- we strive to provide a Jewishly Warm and Relevant learning experience even through a closed TBD door.
I will be sharing what that might entail with you thereafter.
An especially healthy Shabbat Shalom,
Gal Kessler Rohs, Education Director
