A letter about our reopening
From Rabbi Abraham and temple president Pam Brander
Dear Temple Sholom Family,
It has been a long two years with COVID and we are not out of the woods, yet. Through all the craziness, we have tried to be present (even over Zoom), to respect each other, and to be compassionate. We have longed to be present again, perhaps even more than we did prior to the pandemic. Our ReOpening Task Force has tried to take into account the needs and wants of all of our congregants, as well as the best public health advice. We hope that we have done our best.
At our monthly meeting on March 21st, the Board of Trustees voted to move all of our Temple events to "mask optional" as of April 1st- religious services, committee meetings, religious education, and other events. We will also resume serving food indoors.
The good news is that we will resume an in-person second night Passover seder. We look forward to seeing you all on Saturday, April 30th for Casino Night - and at all of our regular calendar of events. Because so many have taken advantage of remote access to participate, we will continue to have hybrid services with on-line and in-person attendance for the foreseeable future.
We want to thank all of you for your patience and for doing the hard work of staying involved with our congregation. We want to thank all those who took on extra work - from delivering to congregants to reaching out in other ways. We especially want to thank our ReOpening Task Force and its chair, Larry Trenk, for doing the research, debating the issues, and considering the diverse feedback.
Please remember that we are all coming back a little broken and give others the consideration that you would wish for yourself. People are all at different stages - some may have been ready to share a hug months ago; others may still need some distance and time. Let us continue to strengthen this Temple family that we all love. If you have any concerns, please share them with us as we always listen to feedback, as offered in love and concern.
Thank - health and strength to us all,
Pam Brander (president@sholomnj.org) Rabbi Joel N. Abraham (rabbi@sholomnj.org)
