With the help of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, major steps have been taken in recent months, in our nation in general and in our local area in particular, toward the return to many aspects of our pre-COVID pandemic lives. With a significant portion of the adults in our community having already been vaccinated and with vaccines now being made available to younger people as well, many changes have been made by the CDC and medical experts regarding the restrictions relating to masks and social distancing and the like, which necessarily characterized our public behavior for over a year and unquestionably helped limit the spread of this dangerous and deadly virus. While it is understood that we are by no means completely “out of the woods” yet, and certain precautions are thus still clearly in order, it is encouraging to hear about more and more segments of society, both business oriented and pleasure oriented, “opening up,” and we hope to see that trend continue, im yirtzeh Hashem, and to enjoy the benefits thereof, and not, chas v’shalom, experience a reversal.
With this in mind, I believe that the time has come for those of us who have not yet done so to reassess our attitude about renewing direct involvement and participation in our local shuls. Many of us, myself certainly included, were heartbroken and devastated when we had to close down our shuls after Purim last year, even though we recognized that this decision was designed to save lives, which it undoubtedly did. When, during the late spring and early summer we opened outdoor minyanim, both on our shuls’ premises and in private homes, we were excited but still rather uneasy about many of the details, including the length of the davening and the question of singing and of aliyot to the Torah, and we also acknowledged that davening outside, sometimes in unfavorable weather conditions, was not the norm, even as we did so through the Yomim Noraim season. And when our shuls, just around that time, resumed hosting indoor minyanim, we felt uplifted, but we remained somewhat uncomfortable, as the requisite building capacities and distanced seating arrangements significantly limited attendance, and many shul “regulars” still felt precluded from attending.
But with the currently changing recommendations, especially relating to those who have been vaccinated, much of this modified davening structure that was in place for many months is, baruch Hashem, no longer imperative. And so, yes, the time has come—for everyone, unless faced with a specific health concern, to begin making plans to return to shul, while still adhering, of course, to all the medically and legally mandated safety regulations, including, at least for the moment, wearing masks indoors.
It is important to stress that a shul, a beit haknesset, is not simply a building in which people come to daven tefillah b’tzibur or to learn. We know this from the Gemara in Megillah (29a, expounding a verse in Yechezkel 11:16) that likens every beit haknesset to a “Mikdash Me’at,” a miniature version of the Beit HaMikdash, which surely was much more than a place to offer sacrifices and to visit three times a year. We know this from the halachot that emphasize the clear preference to daven in a beit ha-knesset (see Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 90 with commentaries) and that describe what kinds of activities that may and may not be done inside a beit haknesset (see Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 151 with commentaries). And we know this from the very fact that there is such a concept as “kedushat beit haknesset”—the sanctity of a shul (see Chayei Adam 17:6 and Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 13:1).
Most of the above is not applicable to a backyard, a garage, or some other outdoor area, including a tent in a parking lot, where people may get together to daven. While those venues were obviously much appreciated and most welcome when other options were not viable—and we certainly owe our communal thanks to those individuals who graciously opened up their homes and otherwise assured the successful functioning of these temporary facilities—we must realize that davening outdoors, other than during a she’at ha-dechak, that is, under pressing circumstances, is not the same as davening in a shul, and indeed is usually considered far from ideal from a halachic perspective (see again Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 90 with commentaries). In consideration of this, the determination must now be made as to whether and for how much longer these alternative arrangements should still be deemed necessary.
As I said, I believe, again, that the time has come for all those who have not yet done so to contemplate returning to shul as soon as possible. We miss you. We want you back. Most shuls can make accommodations for those who have not been vaccinated or who remain concerned about sitting in close proximity to others, and shul leaders are interested in exploring ways to help make everyone feel fully comfortable again. Each person makes a difference in each one of our shuls, and everybody is wanted and needed in order to keep our shuls vibrant and thriving as the centerpieces of our proud community.
It would seem appropriate, as we approach the Yom Tov of Shavuot, the time when we accepted the Torah as a unified community (k’ish echad b’leiv echad), for all of us to commit to actively help reestablish and reinvigorate our shuls and hence strengthen our own local Torah community.
Rabbi Michael Taubes is a rosh yeshiva at RIETS and Yeshiva University High School, and rav of Congregation Zichron Mordechai in Teaneck.
