SEPTEMBER 10 • 2020 | 19
ents need to be OK with
whatever they decided to do
because these holidays are
about being joyful and celebra-
tory, not about missing some-
thing or feeling stressed out.
”
CREATIVITY REIGNS
Erika Bocknek, a Farmington
Hills mom of three young
kids and a Temple Israel
member, agrees.
“We will need to be cre-
ative about creating a sense
of community and connec-
tion to our temple since that’
s
what will be missing,” she
said. “But, I know that our
temple is also thinking about
that, and there will be ways
to keep families connected.”
The Bockneks plan to start
a new holiday tradition of
sending New Year’
s cards to
the family and friends whom
they will not see this year
because of the current pan-
demic.
One novel approach to the
holiday is participating in
a Rosh Hashanah seder. At
least two congregations, Beth
Ahm and B’
nai Moshe, are
hosting them.
“We are offering a box of
blessings with many Rosh
Hashanah items in it for
a Zoom Rosh Hashanah
seder with Rabbi Kantor
and his family,” said Steve
Fine, executive director of
Congregation B’
nai Moshe.
“There are several different
foods, each of which is con-
nected to a specific blessing
for the new year and often
based on puns for that food.
We’
ll create some new and
creative blessings like putting
raisins in celery and then
saying, ‘
May it be your will,
O Lord our God, that we all
have a raise in salary.’
”
Rachel Lopatin and her
husband, Rabbi Asher
Lopatin, have four chil-
dren between the ages of 13
and 19. One way they are
encouraging their teens to get
excited about this year is by
asking them to reach out and
connect with others, wishing
old friends and acquaintances
a happy New Year.
Their family will be
attending outdoor services
at Rabbi Lopatin’
s congre-
gation, Kehillat Etz Chayim
in Huntington Woods. The
services will be shorter and
social distancing practices put
in place. Because of COVID,
there will be less socializing
than usual.
“If you can go to synagogue,
that’
s ideal,
” Rabbi Lopatin
said. “But if your synagogue is
on Zoom and if you would use
technology on the holidays,
then go to synagogue on
Zoom. Dress up and attend
services on a shared device.
“Your presence means a
lot to those who are putting
together the service. A lot of
rabbis are being much more
deliberate in what they are
planning for this year.”
The Jewish News reached out to congregations and
organizations to see what options they will be offering
for families during the High Holidays. Below are links
from those who responded.
• Congregation Shaarey Zedek:
https://tinyurl.com/y3r4g4wq
• Adat Shalom: https://adatshalom.org/youth-hhd/
• The Shul: https://tinyurl.com/y2nav9bq
https://www.shofarintheparkmi.com/
• B’
nai Moshe:
https://www.bnaimoshe.org/hi-holidays.html
• Aish: https://www.aishdetroit.com/
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DAVID
ADOM
af
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WEDNESDAY
OCTOBER 14, 2020
7:
30
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RECOGNIZING
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