Dear Members of our KI Family,
I reconnected with an old friend from Chicago last week who was curious about how we’ve been managing throughout the pandemic. “Has your congregation been able to stay afloat?” he asked. “Actually” I replied, “our communal prayer-life has grown a lot since March of 2020.”
I described how we now host services not twice daily, but three times each day.
Among the nearly 40 new households this year that call KI home, prayer experiences now accompany midday learning, volunteerism, and teen takeovers. His question got me thinking about just how fortunate we are to have sharpened our priorities and deepened our connections over the past 20 months.
We will soon transition to a world that is less defined by the Coronavirus. In so doing, of course, we will remain attentively careful and considerate concerning the wellness of others. Here are our plans for reactivating in-person services at KI.
Currently, in-person morning services take place on Mondays, Thursdays, and Shabbat. This week, on November 19th, we’ll begin adding Friday mornings. Starting Thanksgiving weekend, we’ll resume Sunday mornings.
Our current in-person evening services, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, will begin including Mondays next week along with Thursdays in honor of Hanukkah on Thursday December 2. By the end of January of 2022, we hope to have added Tuesdays and Wednesdays to our in person offerings. Closer to springtime, we anticipate beginning to host 12:20PM midday Mincha services in person as well.
We’re excited to continue our online components to all of our in-person services. Such offerings help us continue to expand our reach and to be more inclusive. Indeed, online prayer continues to bless its participants.
We hope to soon expand our Shabbat services to safely include many more children as the calendar turns to 2022. To help preserve the sanctity of Shabbat and Festivals, those joining us online will be not be audible within KI’s prayer spaces. Should you wish to have someone included in prayers for healing or for a Saturday afternoon memorial prayer, kindly notify Jodie in the office. Those joining us online are encouraged to relate to technology differently on Shabbat from your weekday rapport. We invite you to launch your session prior to Friday evening candles and awaken your device in some atypical manner throughout Shabbat. The same would apply to unmuting for Kaddish. We do feel it’s important that those praying Kaddish online are able to hear and respond to each other. This enables Kaddish’s call-and-response to function more helpfully than would be the case with streaming.
Lastly, and importantly, you have a significant role in helping us reactivate in-person services at KI. It’s been said that new discoveries don’t leave prior forms undisturbed. Rabbi Neil Kurshan expresses concern over potential atrophy of our minyan-making muscle. He reminds us of the tender potential of the ‘tug on the sleeve’ once described by Abba Kovner which helped awaken him to the soothing caress of belonging associated with enabling a minyan. I deeply sense that you all know how coming to KI to pray, perhaps once or twice a week, changes those who do. As our sages teach, ‘the reward mirrors the effort’ (Avot 5:23). We’re grateful to you for your refreshed responsiveness to this call and we look forward to greeting you at KI soon.
As we enjoy the bounty and benefits of online algorithms, may we gradually reclaim our authentic spiritual rhythms that fill our lives and our community with larger purpose.
Gratefully yours,
Rabbi William Hamilton
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