Statement on the Possibility of Returning to In Person Services at the Meeting with the Vice President - May 8 2020

This is the text that I prepared for my statement. I offered a slightly different statement live in the actual meeting. You can find it at this link on the C-Span website with my part beginning at about 36:30. Here is my prepared statement:

Thank you for inviting me to participate, today. I appreciate having the opportunity to express the thoughts and concerns of the Iowa Jewish communities this morning about resuming in-person worship.

The leaders of the Jewish communities across Iowa have been holding a weekly online meeting to check in with one another about what is going on in our communities and what concerns we all have. Additionally, my congregation just had a meeting to discuss possible parameters for reopening at some point in the future. There is uniform agreement that it would be inadvisable for us to do so in the near future and especially not with rising case counts in our communities.

First, the population that regularly attends worship is significantly comprised of people who are vulnerable, either people over 70 years of age or people who have or are recovering from illness and are seeking spiritual support amid their health battles or attend to offer thanksgiving for recovering from them. None of those people should attend such gatherings right now and that would significantly impact any return to in person worship. With added concerns about younger people also having complications after contracting COVID, we cannot ignore risk to younger members of our communities as well.

Some of us in the clergy are also high risk ourselves from other medical conditions. I am recovering from Quadruple Bypass surgery that I had at the end of August.

Second, we are a people who like to hug, to eat together, and perhaps most relevant of all, to sing together. Public singing right now in any sort of confined space is very problematic. Singing increases spread of germs and may result in the rapid spread of illness through congregations, especially among members of choirs.

Third, while online worship doesn’t offer the same sense of fellowship that in person worship does and we miss that greatly, we can conduct our services with singing in a safe environment while gathering spiritually. When this crisis is over, we will continue to live-stream our services so that those who are unable to attend physically for whatever reason are still able to join us. This is also true for educational programming. We have also found ways to adapt life cycle events to online platforms, though they are perhaps a bit awkward.

The Jewish community statewide doesn’t see a pressing need to resume in person worship services. We will create new programs, services, and religious experiences to adapt to current needs. It’s what we have done through numerous times of difficulty in the past.

Finally, opening up will functionally require an end to a need for social distancing, and antibody testing to know who may be immune. Without these, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for us to return to something like the situation prior to March of this year.

There is perhaps no one who wants to return to normalcy and celebrations of communal joy and communal support for mourners than the Jewish community and we eagerly look forward to the day when we’ll be able to celebrate together in large numbers in person. Our tradition greatly values communal worship and the concept of the minyan in which the presence of God is found when ten or more are present. We urgently wish to return to worship in person.

We just do not believe that time is now or necessarily in the immediate future and are currently considering alternative plans for the celebration of the Jewish High Holidays in the fall.