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Abrams’ safety measures
are keeping the community
safe, according to Budow.

“They’re 98% back to
normal,” the rabbi said of his
students. Judy Groner, the head of
school at the Perelman Jewish
Day School, also said that
masks have become normal.

Last week, students even wore
ones with Chanukah designs.

Groner reopened her
pre-K-5 buildings in August
2020. Over a school year-and-
a-half, Perelman has seen no
COVID case transmissions.

Rabbi Abe Friedman has welcomed congregants back to Temple Beth
Zion-Beth Israel this year. His COVID policies have emphasized masking
inside. Courtesy of Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel
Rabbi Marshall Lesack has emphasized vaccines in his approach to
dealing with COVID at the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy.

Photo by Jordan Cassway
They’re 98% back to normal.”
RABBI IRA BUDOW
The head of school
attributed that to policies
that are more cautious than
the recommendations of the
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.

Perelman students mask
both inside and outside. They
only unmask to eat lunch, and
they eat lunch outside unless
12 DECEMBER 9, 2021
the weather is inclement.

The school staff has a 98%
vaccination rate. Any vacci-
nated Perelman community
members who travel abroad
must take a test to return to the
buildings. Any unvaccinated
individuals who travel inter-
nationally must quarantine for
7-10 days upon returning.

Like Abrams, Perelman
celebrated Chanukah last week.

Also like Abrams, Perelman has
no plan to change its COVID-era
operating procedures.

“It does seem to be working,”
Groner said. “Everyone has
adjusted.” The Jack M. Barrack Hebrew
Academy faces a different
challenge. Abrams and Perelman
primarily serve pre-K and
elementary school kids. Barrack,
based in Bryn Mawr, educates
students in grades 6-12.

People 12 and up have been
eligible for vaccinations since
September. So Barrack, led
by Head of School Marshall
Lesack, has focused on shots.

Getting a COVID vaccine is
“part of being a staff member at
Barrack,” Lesack said. Vaccination
is “highly encouraged” to students,
and the “vast majority” are inocu-
lated, Lesack added.

Barrack requires masks in
its building, too. But no other
major restrictions are neces-
sary, according to the head of
school. Lesack is monitoring the
JEWISH EXPONENT
omicron news. But it’s “not
affecting any change in our
policy,” he concluded.

Local synagogues are in a
similar position as schools:
Nothing really needs to change
for now.

Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel
in Center City has returned to
in-person congregational life. The
only restrictions are that, indoors,
BZBI maintains masking and
does not yet serve food.

In the spring, the synagogue
reopened. For a while there-
after, Rabbi Abe Friedman met
regularly with a COVID task
force of doctors in the congre-
gation. Now, he just consults
them as needed.

After dealing with COVID
for nearly two years, BZBI
even has its own contact
tracing protocol.

Friedman and his staff put
member names in a book.

When congregants attend
services, they put stickers next
to their names.

That way, if someone at
the service comes down with
COVID, everyone knows if
they’ve been exposed.

“This is just what we have
to deal with,” Friedman said.

“Sometimes it’s this, sometimes
the electricity goes out.”
Congregation Kol Emet in
Yardley follows similar proce-
dures. Inside, the synagogue
requires masking and does
not yet serve food. It also
maintains physical distancing
during services.

Rabbi Anna Boswell-Levy
wants to bring food events
back, though, by Tu Bishvat in
January. Omicron may deter-
mine whether that happens.

But otherwise, unless it’s more
severe than the delta variant, it
won’t change much else.

“We don’t have to backtrack
if we just keep it conservative
and simple to follow,” she said
of her pandemic policies.

COVID may not be causing
Kol Emet to backtrack, but it
is pushing the synagogue to
move forward.

Boswell-Levy started
offering multiaccess services
when the virus first broke out.

She has continued offering them
because about 50% of attendees
now prefer to join online.

Kol Emet also raised money
recently for an outdoor sanctuary
on its 11-acre property.

“We need to live with it and
figure out what changes we
need to make in the long term,”
she said. l
jsaffren@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM