Philly synagogues get creative with virtual methods of worship for High Holidays

Recording of shofar
Photo credit Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Jewish High Holidays begin in a week, and this year, services to usher in the Jewish new year 5781 will be unlike any other.

It took about a month for the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia to compile all of the 240 High Holiday happenings across the 90 synagogues in the region. In doing so, Director of Community Engagement Addie Lewis Klein said a clear trend emerged.

“It seems that most Orthodox communities are figuring out ways to have in-person, mostly outdoor services, and most independent, Reform and Conservative congregations are doing their services virtually,” she said.

Much of these decisions, she said, had to do with what makes a service acceptable — which varies depending on who you ask.

“One of the interesting things that’s happened during COVID is that a tremendous amount of new halacha — new Jewish law — has been written by rabbis of all different streams of Judaism,” said Lewis Klein.

And then, there’s the issue of membership dues. Synagogues tend to collect the bulk of dues around the High Holidays, but Jeff Katz, executive director at Congregation Rodeph Shalom, prefers to take an optimistic view.

“Judaism has been around for approaching 6,000 years, and I think the right way to look at this is to take a long view with safety being the most important consideration,” he said.

For many at this time of year, they look forward to hearing the blowing of the shofar — a ram’s horn that is blown like a trumpet to sound the start of the new year. 

For the first time, that will be an experience many will not hear in person.

“Some people have called the shofar our very own superspreader,” said Lewis Klein. “It really has a way of getting those little tiny droplets to travel far.”
As a friendly reminder, she said those hosting services via video conference need to change a specific setting so the blowing of the shofar does not get flagged as background noise.
“You would hear like a half-second shofar blast and then that sound is muted,” she explained.

The Jewish Federation has been reaching out to synagogues to warn them about this glitch before the big day to make sure they have all of their settings set correctly for a smooth ceremony.

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Aside from the sound, many congregations were forced to get creative in other ways.

“Congregation Knesset Israel in Elkins Park has decided to return to their old tradition of streaming High Holiday services over the radio,” she said, a practice it stopped doing decades ago. “But, what's old is new again.”

Those services will be streamed live on WWDB — particularly at the request of some of their older congregants who struggle with modern technology.

Others have opted to pre-record portions of their services, like Rodeph Shalom.

“One of the very important elements in the services is music,” said Katz, “and this year, our singers, including the cantor, recorded ahead of time in a sound studio.”

The upside to this unusual year: All virtual High Holiday services will be open to anyone, so there's no worry about paying dues or reserving tickets.

You can find a complete list of virtual services in Philadelphia here. 

Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on Sept. 18, followed by Yom Kippur on Sept. 27.