One staffer tested positive last week

HILLEL

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

Hillel Day School welcomed students back for in-person classes on Wednesday, Sept. 2, three days after sending a letter notifying parents that one of its staff had tested positive for COVID-19.

In a pair of letters to families last week, Dr. Darin S. Katz, head of school at Hillel, said the school had been made aware that one Hillel staff member (referred to as Staff #1) had been diagnosed with COVID-19 and that another staff member (referred to as Staff #2) had symptoms consistent with COVID-19, but ultimately tested negative for the virus.

The first letter, sent Sunday, Aug. 30, stated that both cases were presumed to be unrelated to each other, that the cases were presumed to not have been contracted at school and that both individuals previously tested negative when all staff members were tested at Hillel on Tuesday, Aug. 18. A follow-up letter sent Monday, Aug. 31, stated that Staff #2, who had previously tested negative on a rapid COVID test, had also tested negative on a molecular nasal PCR test, and that the school would indeed begin in-person learning on Wednesday, Sept. 2, as scheduled.

Staff #1, who was in the building on Tuesday, Aug. 25, was said to have maintained a six-foot distance from other staff members, was masked inside the building and presumed to have had no contact with students or parents at that day’s Meet and Greets.

“Per our school protocols, school nurse Gail Chynoweth conducted extensive contact tracing for this staff member, and also contacted the Oakland County Health Division,” the letter stated.

Six teachers who span all across the Hillel K-8 communities were known or presumed to have come into contact with Staff #2 for more than 15 minutes. Dr. Katz’s second letter said that the Oakland County Health Division had confirmed these six staff members no longer needed to quarantine after the negative COVID test results were revealed.

All Hillel students have a choice between an in-person and flexible learning model, which allows any student who wants to learn from home to do so.

Hillel also reiterated that Staff #1, who tested positive for COVID-19, has been out of the building since the previous

Hillel Day School

Wednesday. “We have no concerns of exposure following our extensive contact tracing and confirmation from the Oakland County Health Department. This staff member continues to convalesce at home and we wish this staff member a full recovery,” the letter said.

“The health and safety of our entire community is paramount every year, and especially this year,” Dr. Katz wrote in a statement to the JN on Tuesday. “We are grateful that our staff member is feeling better and are excited to welcome students to school tomorrow. We are going to have a great year!”

Glen Schwartz, parent of a Hillel 1st- and 4th-grader who are both using the virtual flexible learning model, has been following the school’s updates and thinks everyone has the best intentions in mind.

“I thought Hillel did a great job of communicating what was going on,” Schwartz said. “It was certainly disappointing to hear that someone had tested positive, not because of what Hillel had been doing, but just in general. Obviously, that’s scary for everybody, but I thought it was handled well.”

Schwartz is electing to keep

his kids virtual learning at home because he said there are immunocompromised individuals in his family.

“At the end of the day, my wife’s family is older, so we were concerned there, and on my side of the family I’ve got someone that’s immunocompromised,” Schwartz said.

“For us, it just made more sense to keep them home, thinking that if they went to school — not even considering that it would be unsafe, just that in the event something did happen or even didn’t for that matter — we wouldn’t be able to be around those family members as a precautionary measure. We didn’t want to do that, so we made the decision to keep them out.

“This is just such an unknown, and I think people are trying to deal with the cards that they’ve been dealt, and frankly not be political about it on either side,” Schwartz continued. “I don’t think anyone is wrong for the way they feel, and I don’t know that there’s a solution that’s right or wrong.

“I don’t think anyone is not putting the kids interests at heart or not putting the parents’ interests at heart, I just think everyone’s trying to do the best they can.”

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JENNIFER LOVY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Teshuvah (repentance), tefillah (prayer) and tzedakah (charity) constitute the three central themes of the High

Holidays. This year, families especially may need to add a new theme — creativity — into their

New Year observances.

Temples and conservative synagogues will mostly hold Zoom services because the ongoing implications of COVID prevent them from hosting indoor gatherings.

However, some parents worry that worshiping in this way will not be as meaningful for their children as attending services.

A few weeks before Rosh COURTESY OF THE BOCKNEK FAMILY Hashanah, Amy Brody, a West Bloomfield mom of three girls ages 3, 5 and 7, started contacting a few friends and proposed the idea of holding their own outdoor service. While she understands and supports the notion that congregational services have to be online, she doesn’t want her children’s High Holiday experience to be in front of a screen. The Brodys are members of Temple Israel and

Shaarey Zedek and often go to services at both places.

“I want them to participate in KELLI DADE-HAINES communal prayer, and I know that with my girls that won’t happen on a screen.” Many congregations and religious organizations are modifying

TOP: Harry Feber of West Bloomfield blowing shofar, with Shaarey Zedek and expanding holiday offerings director of youth and family learning, Ari Reis, looking on. and providing programming MIDDLE: The Bocknek Family, Erica, Andy, Ethan, Lielle and Kefira, celebrating beyond the internet to address the holidays last year with The Well on the Detroit Princess River Boat. such concerns. For example, small BOTTOM: Leaders Rabbi Aaron Starr, Rabbi Yoni Dahlen and Ari Reis. outdoor Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services, tashlich services and shofar services are among the options available, and many are geared toward families.

To make it easier for families looking for a way to pray without being in front of a screen, Rabbi Simcha Tolwin of Aish HaTorah launched a national initiative that helps families host a service. Called PopUp Shul (popupshul.com), the idea is to provide all the materials needed for a Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur service, including online training before the holidays.

Participants can choose from one of four services; a traditional one, a family service, a meditative one, and one designed for families with teens and college kids, which includes tools for engaging those who are reluctant to participate.

“There are so many great ways to mark these holidays, but parents are going to have to dial in and learn something new,” said Rebecca Starr, a community educator, Hartman Institute staff member and wife of Congregation Shaarey Zedek’s rabbi, Aaron Starr.

“It’s going to be a significant responsibility because it’s more than just attending services. I think people are going to do some creative things in terms of fun family mitzvah projects and how they’ll approach prayer in a way that’s meaningful to them.”

Starr went on to say that “par

ents need to be OK with whatever they decided to do because these holidays are about being joyful and celebratory, not about missing something or feeling stressed out.”

Erika Bocknek, a Farmington Hills mom of three young kids and a Temple Israel member, agrees.

“We will need to be creative about creating a sense of community and connection 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 pandemic.

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 connected 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 children 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 congregation, 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/

Honoring the legacy of Dr. John and Eva Mames (z”l)

CO-CHAIRS Judy Grant and Dr. Margo Woll

HONORARY CO-CHAIRS Lori and Steven Weisberg

EMCEE Lila Lazarus

For the first time, supporters and friends will be able to join us from their own homes for this exciting virtual event.