Dear Romemu Community,
The past few months have been an extraordinary time. We have done our best to serve the community’s needs in the face of enormous change, uncertainty, fear, loss, and times of sorrow. We have also done our best to join with you for many times of inspiration, connection, meaning, and joy -- all “virtually” since the beginning of March.
While we have been thrilled and honored to be able to serve in this way with all our hearts and might, since the beginning of the COVID crisis the amount of teaching, programming, prayer services, pastoral work, operational, and administrative work at Romemu has increased dramatically. Given the personal and professional pressures on our team, a difficult financial outlook, and the need to take the proper time to plan for the upcoming year, Romemu will observe a self-imposed
“shmita”
(release) for the month of July, reducing the amount of external activities and spending our time focussed internally.
“Shmita”
refers to a Jewish agricultural practice of letting the land lay fallow for a year every 7 years. During this “sabbatical” year, all agricultural activity, including plowing, planting, pruning, and harvesting is forbidden according to Jewish law. At Romemu, our intention for this “Summer
Shmita
” is to give the soil of our organization time to rejuvenate, and we “farmers” the time to reflect and plan.
During the month of July
:
- The Romemu office will be closed on Mondays, and for the entire week of July 20-24.
- Classes and programs will be reduced. Romemu staff (and lay leaders) will focus our time on visioning, planning for the High Holidays and the year ahead, and on other internal organizational priorities.
- Clergy will be available for pastoral emergencies only.
The following activities WILL be happening:
- Shabbat services, including Sha’baby, Kabbalat Shabbat Services, Open Book and Saturday Morning Services
- Morning Minyan
- Rabbi Ingber’s weekday Hasidic Masters class
- Certain classes and programs led by lay leaders -- who will contact current participants directly with relevant information
The 2020
Summer
Shmita
will end on Wednesday evening, July 29th with the beginning of Tisha B’Av
. More information to follow.
Our hope is that this time of conscious
“tzimtzum
” (restriction) will ultimately lead to greater expansion and the ability to better serve this community as we move forward together.
