Dear TBE Community, 

For three months, Rabbi Sisenwine has stood alone on the bima on Friday evenings, joining with our clergy team through Zoom to lead Shabbat services. This past weekend marked the first time he was accompanied by others in our sanctuary as we returned to our makom to celebrate Alex Rhein’s bar mitzvah.  

Our Building Re-entry Committee instructed us on the necessary steps to ensure everyone’s safety. Rabbi Sisenwine and Alex’s family wore masks and physically distanced. Cantor Shanna Zell and Alex sang safely from behind partitions. Only twelve people were physically present in our sanctuary.  

“Alex is ready to do what Jews have done throughout the centuries in the most joyful moments and in the saddest times our people have ever known,” Rabbi Sisenwine said on Saturday morning. “A young man has taken his role amidst our community and stood in front of his family to read from the Torah. And that’s what we’re going to witness today with great joy. I have a big smile behind this mask as Alex leads us.”  

As we sang Hinei Mah Tov, “how good it is to dwell together,” the words we recite each Saturday took on a new meaning. Although we were only twelve people in the sanctuary, we felt the presence of our much larger community. Through Zoom, friends and family joined virtually from all over the world—Switzerland, Canada, California, Connecticut, and more—and we projected their faces on our overhead screens so they could “dwell” in our sanctuary with us. Our updated audio visual system enhanced the at-home experience, with improved sound and video quality to make it feel like you’re there in person.   

As a synagogue, we will continue to find new ways to celebrate Jewish life while maintaining health and safety as our top priority. Alex’s bar mitzvah is a preliminary example of what re-entry to our makom might look like. Our Building Re-entry Committee listened to the hopes and needs of the family and our clergy and tailored recommendations from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to fit the needs and best protect our safety. We are evaluating all aspects of this first step into the sanctuary and will use what we learn to adapt and respond to new opportunities to come together. We will continue to collaborate with our Building Re-entry Committee as we look ahead to the summer, to the High Holy Days, and to the upcoming year. We are committed to finding creative, compelling, and safe ways to observe Jewish life and pursue our paths to shalom.  

We look forward to the year ahead. As Rabbi Sisenwine has expressed, we need the synagogue now more than ever.