Interior Minister Aryeh Deri sent letters on Thursday to 174 local council heads throughout Israel, entitled Preparations Of The Councils For The Yamim Noraim Tefillos And The Tishrei Chagim In The Shadow Of The Coronavirus, encouraging the use of public buildings for the Yamim Noraim tefillos.

“As is known, we’re in a challenging period which demands of us, the government, the councils and citizens, special advance arrangements,” Deri stated.

“We’re approaching the Yamim Noraim and chagei Tishrei when there is a significant increase in mispallelim in the shuls. We must prepare accordingly in order to enable access to the special tefillos to the entire public in accordance with social distancing regulations in order to prevent endangering the mispallelim.”

“Therefore I’m turning to you in order to recruit you for this important effort, by allowing the use of existing public buildings: schools, ganim, community centers and the like.”

“Since the tefillos and chagim require special expertise such as chazzanim and tokim b’shofar, you should arrange in advance for appropriate distribution and registration of the communities and tefillos in order that the tefillos won’t harm anyone and we’ll succeed in guarding both the health of the mispallelim and the kedushas tefillah.”

“B’Birchas Shanah Tovah and Tefillas ‘Avinu Malkeinu Mena Megeifah M’Nachlasecha,'” Deri concluded.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)