To My Dear Community,

I am thinking of you and your Pesach experience, but most of all about your health and well-being. I pray that God protect you and your loved ones. 

As we busily prepare for Pesach, we think about protection. The Seder night is called a Layl Shimurim - "A Protected Night." We hope and pray that God protect us and the world in the days and nights ahead. 

We have so much gratitude to those who protect us: the medical and service workers who keep our society functioning. We understand that they take great risks in doing their jobs. Please - if you have Personal Protective Equipment - donate it to our local hospitals. Sunnybrook. North York General. Humber River. Mt. Sinai. University Health Network.

This e-mail is designed to make your life easier. You will find information about Bedikat Chametz, tomorrow's Siyum, Online Seders, Biur Chametz and Garbage Disposal, Yom Tov Davening, Yizkor, Community Support, Social Distancing, and Online Pesach Programming.  

BEDIKAT CHAMETZ: We search our homes for chametz - this evening - after 8:22 PM. 

Meeting ID: 856 859 6785
Password: 613613
+1 647 374 4685 Canada
Thank you to the Vandersluis and Burger families for sponsoring the Siyum. 

ERUV TAVSHILIN : Please remember to make an eruv tavshilin on Wednesday afternoon before Yom Tov.

ONLINE COMMUNITY SEDER: We look forward to tomorrow's Pre-Seder Community Seder at 6:15 PM. I encourage families to also make use of this tool to bring one another together virtually before Yom Tov. I have updated the instructions to make them easier to use.   Please click here for the updated written instructions.  If you have any questions,  please contact me .
Meeting ID: 856 859 6785
Password: 613613
+1 647 374 4685 Canada
Thank you to Eli Klein and family for sponsoring the Online Seder Experience. 

GARBAGE DISPOSAL: We will not have garbage disposal at the shul tomorrow (Erev Pesach) like we do on most years. Because your Toronto garbage bin is owned by the city, you can place chametz in it on Wednesday (before 12:14 PM) and leave it at the curb to be picked up on Thursday. Please place any chametz that might go in recycling into your garbage bin so that it will be picked up on Thursday. 

BIUR CHAMETZ: After searching for chametz, please do not burn it, this year. Our emergency services do not need any extra work. On Wednesday morning, please crumble the pieces of bread that you found the previous evening and flush them down the toilet. After finishing, please leave the washroom and recite the bitul, as we do every year. 

YOM TOV DAVENING: As we will not have minyan in shul over Pesach, some instructions regarding davening. On the first day of Pesach, we will add mashiv haruach u'morid hageshem in our amida at shacharit - but we should omit it at mussaf (and in all prayers going forward). We do not say the prayer of tefillat tal or the pre-mussaf piyut. Please remember to count the first day of omer before or during the Second Seder. We do not recite avinu malkeinu over Pesach. 

YIZKOR: On Tuesday April 14 at 7 PM, we will have a pre-Yom Tov Yizkor service online. 

SUPPORT: Through the generosity of Shaarei Shomayim community members, a special Pesach fund has been created to expand our shul's regular  maot chittim giving.  These funds are still available to you. If you face difficulty in affording basic necessities for Pesach, please contact me to receive a Pesach grant.  [email protected]

SOCIAL DISTANCING: We will have our Seder, Yom Tov, and Shabbat meals alone with our immediate families. We should not be inviting guests or gathering in groups. This week, COR - in consultation with the Toronto Jewish Community COVID-19 Task Force - has implemented Social Distancing Guidelines for local  Kosher Stores. Thank you to the volunteers and the local businesses who have made safety a priority. Please abide by the directions you receive and wait patiently for entry during busy times.
 
PESACH PROGRAMMING OVER ZOOM:
all programs online
SATURDAY NIGHT: Havdallah & Mini-Kumzitz - 8:45 PM
Shir Hashirim - 9 PM
SUNDAY:  Musical Hallel - 8:30 AM 
Tot Davening -  10:30 AM
Mincha & Maariv - 7:45 PM
(Meeting ID: 851 447 295,  Password: Pesach) 
Tehillim - 8:15 PM 
MONDAY: Musical Hallel - 8:30 AM
Musical Hallel sponsored by Tito & Viviane Massouda
Mincha & Maariv - 7:45 PM
Tehillim 8:15 PM 
Kumzitz with Chazzan Freund - 8:45 PM
TUESDAY: Musical Hallel - 8:30 AM 
Pre-Yom Tov Yizkor Service - 7:00 PM

REMINDER: If a person is physically ill and alone and physicians have determined that there is a possibility of the condition deteriorating further to a point of being life threatening, then family must remain in contact using electronic devices with that person over the course of Yom Tov, in order to check on the person's well-being. For this reason, my phone will be left on over Yom Tov and Shabbat. If you face an emergency - if you feel unwell, terribly sad or intolerably alone - please call me 416-886-4237. I will pick up.
We are all in this together. And together we can defeat this virus by protecting ourselves and our families. We need everyone's commitment and participation:  Stay home. Save a life. 

With Blessings for Health and Strength - 

Chaim 
rabbi chaim strauchler | shaarei shomayim congregation | 416-789-3213
r [email protected] | w ww.shomayim.org
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