Excerpts from recent emails:
From: Ruz Gulko
Date: September 4, 2021 at 9:15:20 PM MDT

My dear friends,

After weighing all the risks, I have decided it is not wise for me to come there on Monday. We can set up a zoom link so that I can lead services remotely.

Some of the thinking that has gone into this decision is as follows.
In Israel they are vaccinating with third (booster) shots for everybody my age; they have been doing that for a while and they are already down to 30somethings!! I know there is some good solid science there! However, there is no Moderna shot yet. Very worrying, especially because I got my second shot over five months ago.

So when I found out that Covid is surging in Cascade county, and that the hospital has opened up a new floor for Covid patients there, I became very worried. I have now thought of nothing else for 48 hours. Needless to say, as a person with fibromyalgia, it has not been an easy time!

I am ever so sorry!! I just believe that this is the better option for me.
Please be in touch so we can talk about setting up a zoom link.

Sent from my iPhone

From: Congregation President Laura Weiss
Sent: Saturday, September 04, 2021 10:46 PM

Hello everyone.

I think Ruz has made a very wise decision. As we hear more and more about breakthrough cases, we just need to take the extra precautions, especially if in a higher risk group. This trip is not essential and safeguarding Ruz’s health takes priority.

We might even want to rethink whether we want to meet in person at all.
Perhaps we should all do the service via zoom?

Let’s think carefully about how we want to handle the upcoming holidays.

-Laura