Dear Friends,

We are so happy to finally be able to open registration for High Holy Day services and to share the full schedule with you. For the past few months, we had anticipated being able to welcome you back to the sanctuary in-person, and we spent the past few months carefully developing plans to do so — plans that, sadly, we had to change because of the Delta variant.

But the High Holy Days are about change and sweetness, so we are excited to have new plans that we think will make for a beautiful High Holy Day season unlike any other, and also keep our community safe. While we are disappointed that we won’t be able to welcome you back inside the sanctuary, we are excited to offer both in-person outdoor and virtual opportunities to pray.

Click here for the full schedule, descriptions of services, and click here for the FAQ’s.

Click here to register for online Zoom services.

Click here to reserve seats for in-person outdoor services at Beth David.

We also hope you’ll participate in our High Holy Day social action activities (scroll down), and please click here to submit videos and photos by Sunday, August 29, that we can include in services!

• Some services are virtual-only (the clergy will lead from the sanctuary, or from home on Rosh Hashanah evening, while all participants join via Zoom). Other services are multi-access (the clergy will lead outside from the back patio, and participants have the choice to join in-person outside in our backyard, or via Zoom). All services except for Tot services will be accessible virtually. The full schedule is available here.
• Masks are required for all in-person services. Vaccination is required for everyone ages 12 and older for all in-person services, and you must show your vaccination card (or a photo of it) upon arrival. Unvaccinated children under 12 are welcome to attend Family services, Tot services, and the Yom Kippur Concluding service (Ne’ilah), but unfortunately, we cannot allow unvaccinated children at other in-person services.
• All outdoor services are capped at 150 in-person attendees, and you must reserve a seat in advance, which you can do online here. While we anticipate having room for everyone who wants to attend in-person, we encourage all members to make their reservation for in-person outdoor seats by Thursday, September 2nd at 5:00 pm. After that date, you can still make reservations as available, but we will also open reservations for members who wish to purchase guest tickets. If you would like to purchase guest tickets, which are $150 per guest, please contact Dena at dmarchiony@bdavid.org with the number of guest tickets you would like to purchase, and which services your guests plan to attend, and we will contact you on September 3 to confirm availability. Guest tickets are required for in-person morning and Kol Nidrei services, but not for Family Services, Tot services, or the Yom Kippur Afternoon or Ne’ilah services, or any of our virtual services. If you reserve seats but subsequently decide not to attend, please cancel your reservation so we can make those seats available to others.
• Answers to more questions can be found on our FAQ page.

Once again our Yizkor Book of Memory will be in digital format and duplicated exactly as you see here. (Note this version is from 2020.  The final version will be updated for 2021.)

If  you wish for your loved ones to be included email Jill Cooper: 1.  the name(s) of your deceased loved one(s), 2. how you want the names listed under REMEMBERED BY, 3. (optional) photos.  Please make your donations online here by clicking on the Yizkor Book of Memory Remembrance 5782 image.

We need your help purchasing local grocery gift cards for those in our community who are in need.

WHAT’S DIFFERENT THIS YEAR? The continuation of providing food access is critical however, due to the challenges presented by COVID-19, we are modifying our annual High Holiday Food Drive and invite you to support our pantries through our Grocery Gift Card Drive. There are two ways you can help:

1. By purchasing grocery store gift cards to be distributed directly to our clients so that they can choose the items they need from their local grocery store. We recommend gift cards from ShopRite, Acme and Giant, as these are the stores most easily accessible to our clients. Gift card values up to $50 are the most helpful.  Please either bring your gift cards to services, drop off at the office during office hours, or mail to the office – ATTN Jill Cooper, 1130 Vaughan lane, Gladwyne, PA 19035.

2. By purchasing foods through our Mitzvah Food Program Amazon wish lists so that the products are shipped directly to a pantry of their choice.

School starts soon and students are excited to begin a new school year with brand-new school supplies! We’re collecting backpacks for NHN (Neighbors Helping Neighbors) to be distributed school-age children. Please drop off your donation in the designated bins in front of Beth David. You can also send them to Beth David via Amazon. We will be collecting backpacks through September 8.