JERUSALEM (JTA) — Tel Aviv is trying to make sure that worshippers can attend High Holiday services during the pandemic in a city known as the secular capital of Israel.
The Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality said it would allow synagogues to extend into public spaces as part of its effort to facilitate public prayer services hampered by restrictions on public gatherings to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Its announcement Sunday said the city also would offer logistical assistance, including access to electricity, providing shade and distributing chairs for worshippers, as well as pre-holiday shofar-blowing courses.
There are 450 synagogues located within the borders of the municipality, with 150 in municipal buildings.
“The right to prayer and religious gatherings is fundamental, and everything will be done in order to permit tens of thousands of worshipers to carry out the holiday commandments – even under the health restrictions,” Mayor Ron Huldai said in a statement.
