In these tenuous times when health officials have still not officially called an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jewish congregations are ushering in 5783 with a delicate balance of in-person and livestreaming and virtual programming, outreach, education and religious services. Zoom and livestreaming are not going away, and many congregations are creatively making the most of outdoor spaces, such as courtyards, tents and pavilions, so long as the coming colder months will allow.

At Southfield’s Congregation Shaarey Zedek, Rabbi Aaron Starr said they again will be live- streaming High Holiday services to members, but the congregation expects most of its congregants to be in person in the synagogue’s sanctuary.

“We know there are still those among our congregational family who cannot attend in-person due to health reasons,” Starr said. “While the joy, the camaraderie and the uplift of the holiday season are best experienced in-person, it is important to CSZ that every member can access the song and spirit, the wisdom and warmth of community wherever they are.”

During Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, CSZ will offer two simultaneous services. One will be inside in the sanctuary where masks are optional, but there will also be a mask-required section. The second service will take place outside on the Saulson Pavilion.

Throughout the month of Elul, CSZ hosted meetups in parks around town for those who want to fulfill the mitzvah of hearing the shofar blasts and having the option to socialize afterwards.

Little moments of engagement like this are very important to CSZ’s Rabbi Yonatan Dahlen, who said beyond the High Holidays, outreach to congregants continues as a consistent deliberate daily practice, especially with young families. Dahlen created a WhatsApp group where young families can opt in to get announcements, calendar updates or a reflective message right before going into Shabbat.

“It’s a crazy world out there,” said Dahlen. “Our job is to be there as a resource to navigate it in all its complexity. And hopefully to do so with humility, with compassion and empathy, and with our undivided attention. Other than that, I’m on the phone and getting coffee with folks — not just to talk about big things that are going on in their lives, but for any reason, and, more often than not, just to check in and see how things are going.”

Rabbi Aaron Bergman of Adat Shalom of Farmington Hills said that the digital aspect of online services is something that is going to stick around, as technology has benefitted many people who either are anxious about returning to the sanctuary, are ill or who have mobility issues. The congregation holds daily in-person morning and evening minyanim that are also accessible through Zoom.

“There are many good reasons to keep connections going through Zoom,” Bergman said. “Zoom has connected people to our Adat Shalom community who otherwise would not be connected, including our congregants who snowbird to warmer places in the winter. It’s allowed all of us to sample services not only across town but all over the world.”

Still, Bergman and his rabbinical colleagues, Daniel Horowitz and Blair Nosanwisch, have heard from congregants that they want to return to more in-person services and programming that can also be streamed for others through Zoom. And it’s been working. For example, an August film screening of the documentary Modern Israel and a talk with the filmmaker drew over 25 people into the building.

During the warmer months, the synagogue has welcomed younger families with monthly pre-Shabbat barbecues. These, in turn, have offered a multi-generational Shabbat experience using the synagogue’s outdoor spaces such as its playground, a tent and new pavilion space.

“Overall, people are still coming to enjoy both indoor and outdoor services and programming, and we have a lot of great things going on,” Bergman said. “We hope to keep (outdoor Shabbat services and programming) going at least through October with the help of space heaters, until it really begins to snow. We have been very creative with our outdoor space.”

Rabbi Shalom Kantor of Congregation B’nai Moshe in West Bloomfield said the new reality is that his congregation is working to draw people in and make them feel comfortable, and that means recognizing a wide range of comfort levels. This year, to kick off the High Holiday season, B’nai Moshe hosted a community-wide Selichot service and concert with Rabbi Josh Warshawsky.

The congregation has held in-person services, including monthly Kabbalat Shabbat services with instrumental accompaniment followed by Shabbat dinners and kiddush lunches on Shabbat mornings that have drawn between 40-50 people each week.

In-person services are also held Sunday and Monday mornings. During hybrid services, when congregants are praying in the building and those at home pray over Zoom, services are led by those attending in person aside from a few English prayers that can be read over the internet, Kantor explained. This year, to welcome younger families, the congregation will introduce a “Moshe Mousketeers” family Shabbat program.

“We would love for more people to come in person, but we are trying to work with our congregants wherever they are,” Kantor said. “Non-Orthodox synagogues have experienced a revolution with Zoom in terms of how people access prayer. And with any revolution, once you go through it, you can’t go back. And while having services completely in the Zoom format, as we did in the early days of the pandemic is not the ideal for most, our congregation did an audit and we decided what worked was to have in-person services three mornings a week and Zoom evening services every evening but Saturday. And when we are in the building in-person, we have Zoom access to those services as well.”

Kantor said there is a high vaccination rate among his congregants and like other synagogues, there has been a medical advisory board that has flexed masking, eating and social distancing policies in accordance with CDC guidelines and the current rate of COVID cases. For now, masking is optional, and congregants space themselves by sitting in every other row.

“From the beginning of the pandemic, I have assured my congregation that no one would be left behind, and as a rabbi, my solution is to throw our arms around each other, whether that be literally or figuratively,” Kantor said. “Whether they attend in person or over Zoom, we want people to have meaningful access to services and to be comfortable.”

At Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield, creating a flow of indoor and outdoor spaces has been built into the congregation’s “Project All Together,” capital campaign and renovation plans. The long-awaited campaign is designed to bring Shir Shalom’s preschool on-site, as well as to add educational, sanctuary and outdoor spaces for the congregation.

Rabbi Daniel I. Schwartz said as the plan moves forward, he hopes current and future congregants will find the building a comfortable place to feel welcomed for prayer and other programming. An updated social hall will include more natural light and lead into an outdoor patio and pavilion area. Schwartz envisions these outdoor areas to be used for multiple purposes: from a place to gather for an oneg or kiddush following services, to outdoor classroom time for the temple’s religious school or preschool students or an outdoor cocktail hour space for weddings and b’nei mitzvot events.

Schwartz said during the height of the pandemic there was a focus to make students and young families feel welcome and safe. Last year’s High Holiday season featured a family Rosh Hashanah service on the bleachers of the West Bloomfield High School football field. Many students, who spent the bulk of their school years online, were thankful to come to educational and social programs in person outside the building, braving the cold with heat lamps and wearing masks, as advised by the congregation’s volunteer committee of medical professionals.

“At their May graduation, our Hebrew High School students told us that our outside classes were the only time they got to socialize and be with friends in person,” Schwartz said. To keep its youngest congregants connected, Shir Shalom last year conducted its religious school program last year a-la-camp style on the grounds of the Jewish Community Center. “This year we will also begin religious school with that camp-style feeling and conduct Sunday school classes as long as possible on the JCC campus, and then we’ll move things inside the JCC,” Schwartz said. “It’s always nice to learn outside with the natural light and fresh air. It makes people feel safer.”

Schwartz noted that years before the pandemic, Shir Shalom had been live- streaming its religious services. The onset of the pandemic only boosted the need.

“Whether we have had elderly members or those who have been immune- compromised, or even if there have been those anxious about coming to temple because of security reasons, our services were accessible to people. The onset of the pandemic just increased those numbers using online resources.”

Congregation Beth Ahm in West Bloomfield this High Holiday season is enhancing youth and family activities thanks to planning by the synagogue’s Jewish educators. The second day of Rosh Hashanah will be marked with a birthday of the world celebration for families with young children, and the congregation welcomes members from Hazon and Interfaith Power and Light to have conversations with teens about personal values, Jewish identity and environmental concerns.

When weighing the choice of whether to attend in person or stay home and be online, Rabbi Steven Rubenstein said Congregation Beth Ahm seriously takes into account that there are many in the community with health concerns and compromised immune systems, and COVID remains a threat to their health. That is why High Holiday services will be livestreamed.

Expressing concerns for continuing to participate in Judaism at the communal level, Rubenstein said Jews owe it to each other to show up for the holidays in person if they can, that 2019 seems very far away, and many families have changed and grown since then. “While the themes of the holidays and of our tradition are the religious focal point of the holidays, the communal aspect of coming into the building has a special feeling.”

Rubenstein added that there are some things that cannot be replicated online. Seeing congregants occupying seats in the sanctuary that they’ve sat in for generations, noticing how children have grown taller and having a conversation with a friend one has not seen in some time — are all part of the High Holiday experience.

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