Dear {{first_name}}
On Friday night, as Rabbi Josh led our Erev Shabbat service, the chat was ‘zoombombed’. Here, Rabbi Hannah, who was joining from home, reflects on how the experience felt, and the response of the Alyth team:
In Masechet Derech Eretz it says: ‘People should always be in your eyes like thieves, but you should honour them as if they were Rabban Gamliel.’
This saying comes after a story about Rabbi Yehoshua, who allows a weary traveller to come and stay in his home. He feeds him and shows him to the attic where he will be able to sleep for the night. Rabbi Yehoshua is doubtful of the man’s intentions and secretly removes the ladder from the attic to lower levels of the house. His suspicions are confirmed, as during the night the traveller takes all the valuables from the attic. Looking to make a quick escape he opens the door of the attic but does not notice that the ladder is gone. He falls and injures himself, leaving Rabbi Yehoshua feeling vindicated.
Despite his mistrust, Rabbi Yehoshua was hospitable, making sure the visitor was comfortable, treating him as if he were a prince into his home. Yet he also exercised caution. From this story we learn the saying, ‘suspect them, but respect them’.
When, during our Erev Shabbat Service, our zoom chat was interrupted by abusive messages, it felt as if someone had come into our house to steal our belongings. Participating at home in the service, I felt uncomfortable, as if my prayer had been violated.
We are not alone in our experience. American online newspaper, ‘The Forward’ note that “Zoombombing” is increasing as synagogue life moves online due to coronavirus. There has been a rise in hateful and graphic material being posted in Zoom video conferences that has affected not only our places of prayer, but also schools and businesses.
It would be easy to close our doors in the face of this intrusion. However, like Rabbi Yehoshua, we still need to be welcoming and hospitable to those who might visit us. In the UK, half of all households which include a Jew are not affiliated to a synagogue. At this time when so many people feel alone, we want them to feel welcome to come in. So, too, those who come to us from communities without the resources or the religious permission to run online services. This is why, at this stage, we prefer not to password protect our online offerings.
But like Rabbi Yehoshua, we are also wary. When we invite people into our personal space, we must treat them with honour and respect, and still exercise caution. So we are also taking steps to respond. The chat has now been disabled in our service spaces, and our zoom calls will be monitored by a member of the professional team.
At Alyth, we are gatekeepers for Jewish life for many people beyond our walls.
We want to continue to keep the gates open to those who wish to come in, while making sure that those who enter feel protected and safe. In the words of American conservative Rabbi Sidney Greenberg, found just outside the doors of the Alyth Beit Tefillah:
May the door of this synagogue be wide enough
to receive all who hunger for love, all who are lonely for friendship.
May it welcome all who have cares to unburden,
thanks to express, hopes to nurture.
May the door of this synagogue be narrow enough
to shut out pettiness and pride, envy and enmity.
May its threshold be no stumbling block
to young or straying feet.
May it be too high to admit complacency,
selfishness and harshness.
May this synagogue be, for all who enter,
the doorway to a richer and more meaningful life.
