COVID-19 Updates

Happy Springtime! During our most recent COVID Re-opening Task Force meeting, we have been working on finding ways for our community to get back to doing one of the central Jewish acts - eating together!

While we want to be able to gather to break bread together, we also know that there are members of our community who still must be incredibly careful, as the COVID disease continues to shift and has not gone away.

In order to allow those who are most vulnerable to join our Or Shalom family to say prayers for healing or kaddish or be a part of other important ritual moments, we are going to still require masks during our services and other key rituals. However, on Shabbat, once our services end, we will now welcome those who feel comfortable entering a mask-optional space to join us for an oneg (delicious treats as we gather after services) celebration. This approach allows those who still need to avoid such risk to leave before others in the community remove their masks. Our distinctions in gathering also allows us to serve food in other settings that do not have the same level of ritual requirement, such as our poker tournament or a B’nai Mitzvah celebration after the service. 

Within our school community, we are going to continue requiring students to wear masks indoors, as we are not able to create as much consistent social distancing in our classrooms. However, as the weather improves, we are also encouraging more outdoor educational moments, as well. 

We continue monitoring the COVID trends, the recommendations from public health organizations and our local health experts, and the regulations of our local communities to help us continue finding ways to bring people together in safe and healthy ways. Thank you for helping us make Or Shalom a community that looks out for one another.