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Coronavirus Update: March 12

Staying in Community in the face of COVID-19

While doctors and scientists are still unraveling details of how COVID-19 spreads, what is clear is that, while controlling the ultimate scale of infection will be very challenging, controlling the pace of infection is imperative. “Flattening the coronavirus infection curve” should be a priority for each of us, as well as for BJ as a community.

As such, in consultation with public health professionals, and with the support of the BJ Board of Trustees, we have made the very difficult decision to suspend all in-person programming other than prayer, and we will limit in-person participation in Shabbat Services to prayer leaders, Torah readers, and b’nai mitzvah families. We will continue to welcome community members to morning minyan and evening minyan, which will now be held in the Sanctuary to allow for seating at a social distance. All prayer services, both daily minyanim and on Shabbat, are available to the greater community via livestream. At-home prayer resources can be found here. (If you need assistance with technology, or wish to borrow a siddur, please email executivedirector@bj.org).

We have already begun offering learning programs via Zoom, and will continue to build out other virtual opportunities in the coming days and weeks so we can stay connected as a community as much as possible. Below are details of what is coming up this week.

Kadima @BJ will be on hiatus next week as we work on distance learning alternatives.

We pray that we all will remain safe and healthy, in both body and soul. In these challenging and uncertain times, please don’t hesitate to reach out to rabbis@bj.org for additional support.