Synagogue services are just a click away
FRIDAY nights will never be the same for psychologist Glenda Jones and her husband David after Temple Beth Israel (TBI) began streaming its Shabbat services online last month.
The Shepparton couple, who travel to Melbourne each week for the Saturday services, felt something missing from their erev Shabbat time, but tapping into TBI’s Kabbalat Shabbat service has brightened their lives.
“We light our candles and have our prayer books ready to follow the service, It’s very straightforward – we go on TBI’s website and there are a few clicks on the computer and we’re watching the service. It doesn’t feel anything like viewing TV though. It feels warm and inclusive. We know a lot of the people who are actually at the service,” said Glenda, a TBI member who has lived in Shepparton for 26 years.
“Because you are not physically there you are far more aware of yourself so it becomes a more personal, almost intimate experience … a different quality of sacredness.
“After the service, we have our traditional Friday night dinner,” she told The AJN.
Rabbi Gersh Lazarow, TBI senior rabbi, said the ability to stream services emerged from new camera and sound equipment installed in the synagogue’s main sanctuary. Services are now regularly streamed live and archived on the TBI website for future access.
A grandmother’s lament at missing her grandson’s bar mitzvah was the catalyst for going online, he said.
The live streams will enable rural residents, the elderly and those who struggle with mobility to access the services.
“The neighbourhood around TBI is becoming increasingly congested,” said Rabbi Lazarow. “Not everyone can travel for simchas. We’ve got a bar mitzvah this weekend where family in the United Kingdom will be following it online, either live or on demand; there are two weddings coming up, and we have an increasing following from people in Tasmania.”
Progressive Jews in the Australian Capital Territory are considering gathering as a group to view Kabbalat Shabbat family services on a large screen, and pray with song leaders in Melbourne who would not be able to travel to Canberra for face-to-face worship.
Rabbi Lazarow said Jewish Care Victoria has agreed in principle to provide screen access in “semi-private” areas of its facilities already set up for secular activities, where those who wish to view the services on Shabbat can do so without disturbing Orthodox residents.
The rabbi said only a very few might decide to stop coming to shul because they can view it online. “The experience you get from a roomful of people gathered together to celebrate Shabbat is not comparable to what you can get through this [online] experience, but it’s great for those who can’t make it otherwise.”
To watch the streamed services, visit www.tbi.org.au/live.
PETER KOHN
TBI’s Rabbi Gersh Lazarow.
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