H eadlines
In-person Continued from Page 1
leaders like Rabbi Eric Yanoff
at Adath Israel on the Main
Line are able to squint and see
something akin to regular life.

“I’m hopeful that we gradu-
ally move toward a sense of
normalcy,” Yanoff said of the
summer. At Adath Israel, the first
sign that congregants might be
willing to attend cultural and
communal events again came
at Pesach. The synagogue’s
outdoor barbecue required
congregants to wear masks, but
the next person to eat a grilled
hot dog with a mask on will be
the first; while their parents
ate, children played field
games that also necessitated
mask removal here and there.

For that outdoor event in late
March, Adath Israel declared
a 100-person capacity; it sold
out easily.

“People were so happy to be
there,” Yanoff recalled.

That was months ago.

As of June 1, 57% of all
Pennsylvanians have received
at least one dose of a COVID
vaccine, according to The
New York Times, and a suffi-
cient number of Adath Israel
congregants feel safe enough
that other pre-pandemic
staples are returning, though
in adjusted form. There have
been weekly kiddush spreads
outdoors, and two confirma-
tion classes graduated together.

Yanoff doesn’t think that
there would have been enough
congregants comfortable with
in-person gathering able to
host kiddushes two months
ago. The medical professionals
on the synagogue’s reopening
task force have made recom-
mendations based
on Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention guidelines,
and will continue to do so.

However, they must also take
the subjective comfort of their
congregants into account, “to
have a listening heart and a
listening ear to where our
people are,” Yanoff said. The
task force will cross the indoor
events bridge when they come
to it. In the meantime, their
minds are on the next looming
challenge: High Holidays.

At CBENT, preparations are
being made for a June 6 event
called “Pathways to Israel —
Mind, Motion and Munchies.”
Congregants who attend will
get a shuk-like atmosphere at
the Broomall synagogue, with
activities like Hebrew language
workshops, Krav Maga demon-
strations and a shofar-making
workshop. It’s not quite a
pre-pandemic event — it will
still be outdoors — but it’s not
far off.

“We decided that this was
the time, things are starting
to get back to normal, but
we still did not want to have
everything indoors,” said Amy
Blake, synagogue co-president.

In April, rounding up
enough congregants who were
comfortable with such an event
would have been out of the
question; in May, it would have
likely been an open one. But
in June, that critical mass of
congregants has been reached.

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