Mar 2, 2022 | COVID-19
March 2, 2022
Dear Partners,
We have great news regarding the TAE COVID-19 protocols! Because of the steady downward trend of COVID-19 cases, the COVID Task Force met and agreed to align TAE’s COVID protocols with city and state guidelines. While many of our mask requirements will be relaxed, we strongly recommend that you wear a mask for your own health and safety and for those around you. If you are sick or have been directly exposed to a communicable illness, we ask that you err on the side of caution and stay home.
SHABBAT AND B’NAI MITZVAH SERVICES:
- Vaccination and COVID Tests – Proof of vaccination and COVID-19 testing will no longer be required.
- Traditional Service at 7:00 p.m. and B’nai Mitzvah Services – As of this Friday, March 4th, masks will be encouraged, not required. Please be mindful of those around you and respect personal space as needed. Services will continue to be simultaneously live-streamed. Don’t miss this Friday’s special Refugee Shabbat Service!
- Young Children’s Shabbat Service at 6:00 p.m. – As of Friday, March 11th, this service will resume! Young children who attend this service cannot be vaccinated. Mask protocols are to be determined.
- Oneg Shabbat – Oneg Shabbat receptions will resume in the Social Hall soon. We encourage you to wear a mask when not eating or drinking.
- Band and Chorale – Band of Milk and Honey and the TAE Chorale will resume playing at select Shabbat services.
SIMCHAS (CELEBRATIONS):
- Parties will resume in the Social Hall. Courtyard parties are encouraged.
- Masks are encouraged, not required.
- If you would like to reserve the Social Hall or Courtyard for a celebration, such as a bar or bat mitzvah, please click here to complete a room reservation form. Heidi will then help you with the process!
RELIGIOUS SCHOOL AND YOUTH GROUP:
- To align with the local school district policies, as of Sunday, March 13th, masks will be encouraged, not required during religious school and youth group events.
- Effective immediately, wellness forms will no longer be required. Please keep your children home if they show any sign of illness.
OFFICE AND MEETINGS:
- Meetings may resume on campus.
- Mask are encouraged, not required.
While mask policies are relaxing on campus, our main concern is keeping our community as safe and healthy as possible. We ask that you stay home if you are sick and to be respectful of the preferences of those around you. We will continue to monitor the COVID case and hospitalization rates and modify policies as needed.
As always, we appreciate your patience and understanding. We are looking forward to seeing all of you at our Purim celebrations!
Sincerely,
Rabbi Barry Diamond
Juli Rycus, TAE President
Bryan Friedman, Executive Vice President
Feb 2, 2022 | COVID-19
February 2, 2022
Dear Temple Partners,
We hope this email finds you healthy and well. TAE’s COVID Task Force recently met to adjust our COVID-19 protocols based on slowing positivity rates.
We are reopening our campus for in-person services and classes!
We based our decisions on three values:
- Al Tifrosh Min Hatzibur – The need and desire for in-person interaction.
- B’reirah – Respect for autonomy and choice of our partners.
- Kehilah – Our communal responsibility not to further overburden our healthcare system.
Who is on the TAE COVID Task Force? Click here to learn about the members.
Services and Adult Education
- Friday evening Shabbat services will simultaneously be held in-person or virtually at 7:00 p.m. Don’t miss this Friday’s special service, featuring Aaron Wolf! Click here to view the live-streamed service. This link is also available on the TAE website at www.adatelohim.org.
- Saturday morning meditation services will be held in-person and outdoors at 10:00 a.m.
- Saturday morning Talmud study at 8:00 a.m. and Torah study at 8:45 a.m. will be held in-person or via Zoom. Click here to join the Zoom meeting.
- Select adult education classes will continue to be offered via Zoom. Please check the temple calendar for location details.
- For all in-person events, masks are required. Disposable masks such as KN95, KF94, and surgical are recommended. Additionally, full COVID-19 vaccination or negative PCR test within 48 hours of the service is required.
Religious School
- Beginning Sunday, February 6th, Religious School will be offered in-person only.
- While we encourage our students to attend class in-person, accommodations will be made for anyone who cannot attend class in-person due to medical reasons. Please contact Reesa Shaw at rshaw@adatelohim.com if you need accommodations.
- Masks required. Teachers will be wearing KN95 or KF94 masks. It is recommended for students to wear disposable masks such as KN95, KF94, or surgical.
Gallant-Schiff Infant Center and Early Childhood Center
- Classes will continue in person with all COVID-19 protocols enforced. Parents have been informed of the specific protocol changes.
- Friday morning Tot Shabbat services will be held outdoors on the Courtyard. Classes will sit in designated zones and the service will be shorter.
Chorale and Band
- Shabbat Shira has been postponed to Friday, April 22, 2022.
- Chorale rehearsals will temporarily be held virtually. In-person rehearsals will resume soon. Cantor Shukiar will communicate the schedule with Chorale members.
- Band rehearsals will take place in-person and outdoors. Cantor Shukiar will communicate the schedule with members of the band.
- Masks required. Disposable masks such as KN95, KF94, and surgical are recommended. Full COVID-19 vaccination or negative COVID-19 PCR test within 48 hours of the in-person rehearsals required.
We will continue to monitor and keep you informed about changes to our protocols. Please remember to check the TAE E-News that is emailed every Wednesday evening, the TAE Calendar, Facebook, or Instagram for updates.
We appreciate your understanding.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Barry Diamond
Juli Rycus, TAE President
Bryan Friedman, Executive Vice President
Jan 13, 2022 | COVID-19
January 13, 2022
Dear Temple Partners,
We hope this communication finds you heathy and safe. While Temple Adat Elohim strives to provide opportunities for engagement and community, as the Omricon variant of COVID-19 continues to surge, we have decided to evaluate our programs.
The TAE COVID Task Force recently met to consider adjusting protocols. While we understand the importance of being together, we have a responsibility to balance togetherness with preventing the transmission of COVID-19 as much as possible.
Effective immediately and through the end of January 2022:
Services and Adult Education:
- Friday evening Shabbat services will be virtual only at 7:00 p.m. Click here to view the service. This link is also available on the TAE website at www.adatelohim.com.
- Saturday morning meditation services will be in-person and outdoors at 10:00 a.m. Masks required. Disposable masks such as KN95, KF94, and surgical are recommended. Proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or negative COVID-19 PCR test within 48 hours of the service is required.
- Saturday morning Talmud study at 8:00 a.m. and Torah study at 8:45 a.m. will be virtual via Zoom. Click here to join the Zoom meeting.
B’nai Mitzvah:
- Will be held in-person.
- All attendees must wear masks at all times. Disposable masks such as KN95, KF94, and surgical are recommended. Proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or negative COVID-19 PCR test within 48 hours of the service is required.
- The b’nai mitzvah student may be unmasked only while leading and/or chanting.
- Parents may be unmasked only for their Aliyah.
- Private meetings with Rabbi and Cantor will be virtual.
- The final run through will be in person with all participants fully masked. Disposable masks such as KN95, KF94 or surgical recommended.
Religious School:
- Students will be offered the option of attending in-person or via Zoom (additional information will be sent by the Religious School).
- Masks required. Teachers will be wearing KN95 or KF94 masks.
- To keep students and staff as healthy as possible, it is highly recommended that students wear disposable masks such as KN95, KF94 or surgical.
Gallant-Schiff Infant Center and Early Childhood Center:
- Classes will continue in person with all COVID-19 protocols enforced. Parents have been informed of the specific protocol changes.
- Friday morning Tot Shabbat services will be held outdoors on the Courtyard. Classes will sit in designated zones and the service will be shorter.
Chorale and Band:
- Shabbat Shira has been postponed until February 25, 2022. The task force will evaluate a possible additional postponement.
- Rehearsals will be held virtually.
Miscellaneous Planned In-Person Events:
- Please remember to check the TAE E-News that is emailed every Wednesday evening, the TAE Calendar, Facebook, or Instagram for updates. Some events will remain in-person.
- Like all of you, we did not expect to enter 2022 with new COVID-19 restrictions. We have been told by our COVID Task Force that while highly contagious, the Omicron variant is less likely to cause the serious illnesses we’ve seen in the past, especially for those who are fully vaccinated and boosted.
We will continue to monitor and keep you informed about changes to our protocols.
We appreciate your understanding.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Barry Diamond
Juli Rycus, TAE President
Bryan Friedman, Executive Vice President
Apr 8, 2020 | COVID-19, Temple Event
Dear Temple Adat Elohim Community,
I hope this email finds you safe and well at home with your loved ones. Many of you have noticed, as have I, how wonderfully our clergy and professional staff have sought and continue to find innovative ways to keep our community engaged.
ECC Director Donna Becker and the amazing ECC teachers are providing multiple opportunities every day for children and parents to stay engaged: classroom morning meetings, circle-time, flannel boards, Story Time, Shabbat Star fun activities, as-well as pre-recorded Virtual Tot Shabbat with Cantor Shukiar and Rabbi Diamond on Friday mornings.
Director of Education Marcy Goldberg, and the staff of the TAE Religious School, continue to engage with the Sunday, upper grades and Confirmation classes, offering Hebrew games, videos, music, and stories. Teachers engage students in individual Zoom classes and have been sharing a variety of resources with parents and kids. B’nai-mitzvah students continue to work with their tutors to perfect their Torah portions and liturgy skills.
Rabbi Diamond and Cantor Shukiar continue to hold live-streamed Shabbat services, daily Zoom sessions, and we have had over 80 volunteers reaching out to check on the welfare of members. Many households interacted and celebrated last week’s Shabbat on Facebook Live, immediately followed by a fun, virtual oneg, albeit without the babka. Don’t forget to join us for our very first Virtual Community Passover Seder this Thursday at 5 p.m.
Aliza Goland and the office staff have worked tirelessly throughout, helping to coordinate ECC, Religious School, clergy, and lay leaders’ efforts and communications, checking in on staff and members, and working with multiple committees to minimize unnecessary expenses and investigate recently legislated avenues by which we may ease the financial challenges we face.
This is a very dynamic situation, but Temple Adat Elohim is fortunate to have members who are experts in various fields, such as finance, law, human resources, building management, etc. We are closely watching our income streams (member dues, ECC tuition, Religious School tuition) and reducing expenses where possible (ALL discretionary, security, and unnecessary spending has been frozen). We are in the process of applying for relief provided by the recently passed Paycheck Protection Program and will continue to learn about other options to pursue.
Among the guiding philosophies of Temple Adat Elohim is the notion that we are a single, caring community. We pride ourselves on supporting one another, and our intention is to continue to support our employees financially by continuing full pay and benefits for as long as possible. When you think of Temple Adat Elohim and what this community means to you, please be as generous as you can. The coming months will be more challenging before they begin to ease. Your continued support is critical to our efforts. Please keep yourselves safe and healthy. We look forward to being together again.
Wishing you joy and many blessings at Passover and beyond. Chag Sameach!
Juli Rycus, President
Apr 7, 2020 | COVID-19, Temple Event
Passover 2020
The celebration of Passover and especially the Seder meal connects us over time and space. The purpose of the Seder is to help us, and especially our children, experience the Exodus from Egypt as powerfully as possible. That is why the most important sentence of the Seder is, “In every generation we need to view ourselves has having left Egypt.” When we re-experience the Exodus, leaving slavery behind, we can be changed by that experience and connect to Jewish tradition, community, and God.
This Passover we also are overcoming physical distance, as we spread across the community, the country, and the world. And, like the Israelites on the night of the tenth plague, we remain sequestered in our homes, praying that all remain safe and healthy.
We should always remember that the freedom delivered through the Exodus is only the first of many challenges faced by the Jewish People. We also had to choose to bind ourselves together as a people, rather than as a collection of individuals. We might face similar challenges in our society as the days proceed. It is more important than ever that we tend to the yarn that knits our society together. It is more important than ever to know your neighbors and to reaffirm our commitment to our mutual well-being.
We will be connecting with other TAE neighbors through TAEngage, but please remember that it was not Jews alone who left Egypt. We left with a “mixed multitude” that also accompanied us. We need to strengthen our bonds with those within our community and those without because it is only through our focused, intentional effort that we will weather this COVID storm and come out stronger on the other side.
I wish you a joyous Passover and look forward to seeing you again soon.
Chag Sameach, Happy Holiday,
Rabbi Barry Diamond
Mar 26, 2020 | COVID-19, Temple Event
Online Groups and Meetings
Let’s Count Our Blessings (Zoom)
Join with Rabbi Diamond as we begin our day recognizing our blessings
9:00 a.m. Daily beginning Thursday, March 19 through Monday, March 23.
Click here to access the Let’s Count Our Blessings Zoom meeting
Click here to access a free copy of our prayer book.
Tea Time (shmoozing) with Rabbi Mike Lotker. 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Daily (for the time being) (Zoom)
TALMUD & TORAH STUDY CLASSES (Click on the classes to join)
Shabbat Talmud & Torah Study 8:00 a.m. Talmud, 8:45 a.m. Torah (Zoom)
Men’s Torah Study 7:00 p.m. Monday evenings (Zoom)
Women’s Torah Study 10:30 a.m. Thursday mornings (Zoom)
Questions? Please contact Rabbi Barry Diamond
