More Rosh Hashanah on LI to be in person, but still not back to normal

The world’s 5,782nd birthday according to Jewish tradition begins Monday at sundown. And for the second consecutive year, the commemoration, Rosh Hashanah, is being calibrated for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unlike for 5781’s Rosh Hashanah, when only masking and social distance could curb the virus’ infection, there is now vaccination, and it’s widespread: On Long Island, at least five in six adults have gotten at least one shot, according to the New York State government's vaccine tracker. So more Jewish congregations are returning in person for the holiday, which lasts two days.

Still, this isn’t your Bubbie’s Rosh Hashanah.

For example, proof of vaccination is mandatory at Syosset’s Midway Jewish Center, which is splitting services into three sessions, plus the option to watch via web livestream for those who don’t join in person.

The Chabad of the Five Towns, which practices Orthodox Judaism, is still offering an outdoor service, plus a smaller one indoors.

And at the Malverne Jewish Center, services will again be online-only: the synagogue’s leadership, after consulting with the mostly older congregation, decided that the coronavirus’ delta variant, which is more infectious than previous ones, posed too much of a risk to resume gathering in person, said the synagogue’s rabbi, Susan Elkodsi.

"Before delta, back in May, I would have thought that we would have opened, but the reality is, certainly delta changed things, let’s put it that way," said Elkodsi, who is also president of the Long Island Board of Rabbis.

According to her informal poll of Long Island synagogues, congregations that practice Reform Judaism (the least ritually strict of the three major denominations) and Conservative ones (which occupy a middle ground) are mainly doing hybrid services: partly in person, partly online. Some require proof of vaccination, some require vaccination but on the honor system, and masking is a must at most. And some will have separate sections for families with unvaccinated children — the government hasn’t yet approved the shot for those younger than age 12 — and some congregations are offering outdoor services as an option.

Services for Orthodox Jews, who are the religion’s most observant and don’t use electronics on the holidays, are almost certainly in-person only, she said.

In a sign of the pandemic times, the "Find A Service" website of the century-old philanthropy UJA-Federation of New York now details COVID-19 protocols in place at listed houses of worship as well as whether observance is in-person, virtual or both.

In total, there are about 315,600 Jews on the Island, nearly 75% of them in Nassau County, according to UJA's 2011 tally.

Holidays such as Rosh Hashanah (as it is taught, the anniversary of Adam and Eve’s creation) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement, which begins Wednesday, Sept. 15, at sundown) draw the year’s biggest synagogue-service attendance, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center survey: about 58% of Jewish adults attending during those holidays, compared with about 11% at least once a week.

Among Jewish adults on Long Island who are members of congregations and their children, as well as other people who regularly attend services, about 45% are Orthodox; about 28% are Conservative; and about 26% are Reform, according to a 2010 analysis from the Association of Religion Data Archives.

Midway’s rabbi, Joel Levenson, says there will be one service outdoors and two indoors, and is anticipating more than 1,200 worshippers total, versus about 600 last year. (In ordinary years, attendance is about 1,600, he said.)

"What’s different in 2021, because people are vaccinated, we have more people who want to return to the congregation and to worship with others in a physical space," said Levenson, whose congregation practices Conservative Judaism.

All attendees, indoor or out, must be fully vaccinated if age 12 or older — proof is to be submitted either electronically or presented at the synagogue office — and all must mask, to protect those who are vulnerable, such as those with compromised immune systems, he said. Social distancing, 6 feet last year, is about 3 feet this year.

And "to make people feel comfortable," the congregation is retaining its practice, begun last year, of blowing the shofar — the ram's horn sounded to herald the Hebrew calendar's holiest days — outside a sanctuary door into the outdoor air (scattering breath and spit expelled from the blower's mouth), despite research this year, such as from the journal Aerosol Science and Technology, suggesting that wind instruments are less likely to spread the virus.

"We don’t really need to stand by the door and do it outside, but it’ll make people feel comfortable so we should probably do that anyway," Levenson said, paraphrasing what he said the congregation’s shofar blower, Michael Salzman, who is also music coordinator with Syosset schools, told him.

At the Chabad of the Five Towns, services will be offered both indoors and in a "huge" outdoor tent with space available to distance as desired. But no social distance indoors, or masking or vaccine mandate in either.

Last year, due to social distancing requirements, the Chabad center had three services: two outdoors, one indoors, including an early-morning service in addition to the regular service, "because many felt very uncomfortable," wanting to attend but with fewer there and a quicker service in order to minimize the potential for exposure to the virus, said the center’s rabbi, Shneur Zalman Wolowik, whose center is in Cedarhurst. He said the center, part of the global Hasidic outreach group that draws Jews of varied levels of observance, would follow secular law relating to the pandemic, which in New York currently mandates neither masking nor vaccination.

"Some are vaccinated, some are not vaccinated, each to their own," he said. Masking? "If they wish to, they can wear a mask, if not, not."

He said the pandemic experience had helped sharpen what’s important in life, a reflection that’s all the more acute for worshippers during the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: "After a year and a half of the pandemic, they are given the tools to reflect and to be strengthened for the upcoming year, especially as it relates to enhancing our connection to our creator and to Torah-Jewish values."

At Elkodsi’s synagogue, which is unaffiliated but leans Conservative, about 60 people are expected to attend via Zoom, where, as on Rosh Hashanah 5781, readings, blessings and honors are to be done virtually.

"I see a look on someone’s face that suggests to me that they are feeling connected to what we’re doing. There’s no substitute for in-person, but God willing, by not being in person this year, we’ll be able to be in person next year," the rabbi said. "But that’s what we said last year."

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.