Fellow CBI Congregants,
Thank you for your responses to the CBI High Holidays Survey. The information is being used to help us match our offerings of services for the High Holidays to the needs of the community.
First, here are some highlights of the survey:
- We received responses from almost half of the households in the congregation.
- Around 90% of respondents and their families who plan to come to in-person services have shared that they are fully vaccinated. Of those who are not fully vaccinated, the majority are children.
- Half of respondents require social distancing to come to an indoors, in-person service.
- About 1/4 of respondents do not plan to attend indoors services at all, mostly because of safety concerns.
We reviewed all the survey responses carefully and have also heard directly from many of you sharing ideas and opinions. We are now putting together the information package that we will soon mail out, but would like to give you an idea of what to expect since the High Holidays are fast approaching.
- We will require mask-wearing within the building for everyone, whether attending a service in the main sanctuary or engaging in any other activity. Mask wearing is known to be the best measure we can take beyond vaccination and what we can do for each other to keep our community safe.
- We will have a short, early service on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur mornings. This service will be strictly limited in attendance to allow for full social distancing.
- The main services on Rosh Hashanah mornings and Yom Kippur will allow for higher attendance levels, but at less than full capacity. Social distancing will not be guaranteed but a socially-distanced section is anticipated.
- We will have some services held outdoors. As you can guess from the survey, this includes the end of the morning service on both days of Rosh Hashanah (with shofar blowing), Tashlich in Taylor Park in the afternoon of the first day of Rosh Hashanah and shofar blowing at the conclusion of Yom Kippur.
- Programming for our youth will include services to be held in an outdoor tent as well as some indoor activities in the classrooms.
Please keep in mind that the environment is changing, and it is hard to predict whether the current surge in Covid infections will continue through the end of the summer or begin to settle down. As the situation changes, we may be required to impose stricter limits on attendance at in-person services and we ask you to be understanding of the need to keep our community safe while taking prudent risks.
Looking forward to a happier and healthier 5782,
Jamey Potechin, President
Rabbi Ari Isenberg
Cantor Lorna Wallach
Susan Gordon and Brad Schenerman, Religious Affairs Co-chairs
