Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are that of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the Union for Traditional Judaism, unless otherwise indicated.
In his article in A Journey Through NYC Religions, Rabbi Shlomo Segal discusses the experience of online services during the coronavirus pandemic.
When I was a teenager, a very large Synagogue in NYC would broadcast their Sabbath services each Friday afternoon over radio station, WQXR. I would listen religiously when sundown was late in the day. While the content of the service was Reform in nature (not my religious orientation), I still felt there was something very powerful about disseminating a Sabbath service to the greater public. It gave people who would not frequent a house of worship the opportunity to participate: the unaffiliated; shut-ins; and even a professor of mine who would listen in his car on the way to the Hamptons.
I felt that I would like to replicate that idea in some way in the future. …
Read more at https://nycreligion.info/the-experience-of-online-synagogue/
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Rabbi Shlomo Segal is a member of the UTJ’s Panel of Halakhic Inquiry, which issues religious responses on behalf of the organization on contemporary issues, and vice president of Morashah, the rabbinic arm of UTJ.
Rabbi Segal is also a member of the International Rabbinic Fellowship (IRF) and the New York Board of Rabbis.
In fall 2013, after a decade of pulpit experience, Rabbi Segal founded Kehilat Moshe, a liberal Orthodox congregation in the Sheepshead Bay area of Brooklyn, NY. While still a new congregation, Kehilat Moshe has emerged as a diverse, multi-generational caring and intellectually stimulating community rooted in both pluralism and halakhah.
Rabbi Segal delivers a weekly commentary which you can find at kehilatmoshe.org and on YouTube. He was also interviewed on National Public Radio on the subject of “Swinging Chicken Ritual Divides Orthodox Jews”.