CEH is committed to providing a safe environment for in-person activities, guided by the Jewish values of Pikuach Nefesh (saving a life) and Shmirat haGuf (protecting our bodies). Our staff and volunteers are working to ensure a meaningful and accessible experience to everyone.

As we all are continuously adapting to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we, as a community, continue to adjust our protocols, based on our commitment to the safety of the entire CEH community and particularly those teens and adults who are immunocompromised or who cannot yet be vaccinated.

Here is the current protocol that is guiding all CEH activities.

Our Preschool and Religious School have specific guidelines that apply for their ongoing activities and are being shared directly with families enrolled.

• We strongly recommend all attendees of our programs to wear masks when in indoor spaces. N95 masks (or similar) are preferable.
• All participants must be fully vaccinated. If you have not submitted your proof of vaccination, please send a picture of it to vaccine@etzhayim.net. We do not keep these in our files, we just mark that we have seen it.

All CEH staff and teachers are vaccinated. If you can get vaccinated but haven’t yet, we strongly recommend you get vaccinated to protect yourself and those around you.

Please get vaccinated and get a booster. COVID-19 is a serious condition and unvaccinated people are a risk to themselves and others.

The Conservative/Masorti Movement, with which we are proudly affiliated, recently approved this Teshuvah in favor of vaccination, written by Rabbi David Golinkin (former CEH member):

“(…) since the discovery of the smallpox vaccine by Dr. Edward Jenner in 1796 it has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that vaccines against infectious diseases save the lives of millions of people every year while only a very small percent experience complications or die. Therefore, there is a halakhic obligation for Jews to vaccinate themselves and their children, unless their doctors determine that it’s dangerous for that specific person to be vaccinated due to a pre-existing condition.

Similarly, it’s halakhically permissible for a school or a synagogue anywhere in the world or the government of the State of Israel to enact a takkanah or regulation that one must receive a vaccination and to prevent an unvaccinated person from entering a synagogue, a school, or a shopping mall.

May God help the doctors finish developing, testing and disseminating the vaccines against Covid-19 as soon as possible in order to save humanity from this terrible plague.”