Hudson Yards Synagogue

COVID-19 Vaccine Guidance Presented by the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America December 15, 2020 29 Kislev 5781 "...Halacha obligates us to care for our own health and to protect others from harm and illness. In... addition, Halacha directs us to defer to the consensus of medical experts in determining and prescribing appropriate medical responses to both treating and preventing illness. There has long been an almost uniform consensus among leading medical experts that vaccines are an effective and responsible manner of protecting life and advancing health. For over two hundred years vaccinations have been responsible for the dramatic reduction of many terrible diseases and have significantly improved public health in our country and around the world. For this reason, the consensus of our major poskim (halachic decisors) is to encourage us to use vaccinations to protect ourselves and others from disease. While this guidance of our poskim has addressed vaccine usage generally, the introduction of the novel COVID-19 vaccines required specific reconsideration. The poskim recognize that the COVID-19 vaccines have been developed with unprecedented speed and are expected to be made available under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). In addition, the two currently leading COVID-19 vaccine candidates are mRNA vaccines which employ a new vaccine technology. Notwithstanding these factors, the conclusion of our poskim is that, pursuant to the advice of your personal health care provider, the Torah obligation to preserve our lives and the lives of others requires us to vaccinate for COVID-19 as soon as a vaccine becomes available. " Full statement below at link https://www.ou.org/assets/Guidance-re-Vaccines.pdf

In tonight's episode of the webcase Dialogue Across the Streams, featuring Rabbi Herman, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, and Rabbi Rachel Ain, they discuss faith and doubt and a bit of cancel culture. See all episodes at swfs.org/dialogue

More interesting things to come: https://www.nytimes.com//n/moynihan-station-high-line.html This will bring the Highline right up to our shul

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach ! Stay safe and stay healthy!!

Shana tova to all. Local Rosh Hashanah times

Letter sent by our President in advance of this year's holidays ----------------------- Elul 5780... Dear members and friends of the West Side Jewish Center, This year was tough. I don’t have to say much more than that. The closing of our doors a week after Purim, the separation from our communal spiritual life and from our friends, the sickness and passing of loved ones. 5780 / 2020 will be a year to remember and commemorate, one of the toughest in our 130-year history. But for the tough moments, we also remember the bright ones. One of the brightest was in late June, when after the pandemic had peaked, members of our community congregated outside in the synagogue parking lot, 103 days since our last minyan. We were socially distant and masked, but we were all together. We davened Maariv out of praise, we said kaddish for the departed, we benched Birkat HaGomel, the prayer of gratitude, to be thankful for our own survival. Finally, we said kiddush levana under the night sky, sanctifying the new Moon. It was a beautiful, almost mystical evening - we felt strengthened by togetherness after the adversity we all faced. Rarely had we been so grateful for the blessing of Tefillah B’Tzibur Now it is Rosh Hashanah and it is time to daven for the year to come. A year to come that will be about rebuilding rebuilding our shul, our community and our lives. We are a small part of everything that is going around us, but we anchor a cycle, a neighborhood, a people and a place to be for the Yomim Noraim and all year round. For that, we hope you will support us physically, spiritually and financially, now and through the year, as we rebuild and refresh. Even in these times, please find in you to give and continue to help us strengthen our ‘synagogue with a heart, in the heart of the city.' Shanah tovah u’metukah, and may we all be together soon under the soaring ceiling of our beautiful shul, Ian Fichtenbaum President, West Side Jewish Center

Yes - We will have Rosh Hashanah services this year, with appropriate distancing, masks and other precautions. Please message us if you'd like to join (no entry without registration). Also please ask about second day (Sept 20) outdoor shofar blowing, followed by Tashlich in Hudson River Park. Shanah Tova! Email at [email protected]

This is right near our shul! Such great news for the neighborhood especially right now!! https://nypost.com//facebook-closes-on-massive-nyc-office/

Shalom Shabbat Nachamu!

Shabbat Shalom!!!!!

Rabbi's Message Dear Friends, Today ends Shivah Asar B'Tammuz, the fast of the 17th of Tammuz, which begins 3 weeks of mourning before the 9th of Av. The day primarily commemorates the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem. The city had been under siege for months and the Roman army breached on the 17th of Tammuz leading to the destruction of the Temple three weeks later. In Babylonian times, the wall was also breached in this month and a number of other events are ascribed ...to this day including the Moses smashing the tablets after the sin of the Golden Calf. The day should serve to remind us that the walls we build can't ultimately protect us. Only God can do that. We are reminded ultimately about how vulnerable we are. In the last few months, we have all been witness to the reality of that lesson as it seems so many walls around us came crashing down. We are vulnerable to a virus, to an economic collapse, and we have seen many Jewish and communal institutions struggling as a result. However, there is another lesson of the 17th of Tammuz as well that we can see in how the Mishna pairs it with 9 Av. The Mishna tells us that the daily offering that was brought in the Temple ceased on 17 Tammuz. This perhaps suggests to us that if the Temple wasn't used, its destruction was inevitable. We therefore mourn not just the destruction, but also the cessation of its use. We too have mourned in a way that we have not been able to use our shul building these past few months. However, as I have reminded everyone before, our shul has not ceased to function. Our daf yomi shiur has still happened every morning on the phone and WhatsApp, we have had other classes and guest lectures on Zoom, and continued to support and be there for our members. And it is perhaps fitting that just before these three weeks, we resumed davening together (albeit sporadically in our parking lot), and we are making plans to reenter the shul. We say that is our hope that we turn the fasts of 17 Tammuz and 9 Av from days of sadness to days of joy and with God's hope that will begin this year. When I first became a Rabbi, someone told me that no shul ever died from lack of funds or lack of a building. Shuls only die from lack of interest. It is a blessing that the people in our shul care about it and care about the community and seeing that, I firmly believe that no matter what comes our way, our shul will long endure. May these days of sorrow indeed become days of celebration and joy and bring our ultimate redemption speedily in our day. Shabbat Shalom, - Rabbi Jason Herman

Shabbat Shalom!

Shabbat shalom from the Hudson Yards Synagogue

Kiddush Levanah by the Hudson Yards

First minyan at our shul in many months, earlier this evening. Not quite a re-opening, but a step along the way. Great to see everyone there. G-d bless the strength of the Jewish people and our humble community.