Days of Awe 2020/5781
The ten days starting with Rosh Hashanah and ending with Yom Kippur are commonly known as the Days of Awe (Yamim Noraim) or the עשרת ימי תשובה, The Ten Days of Repentance. This is a time for serious introspection, a time to consider the sins of the previous year and repent before Yom Kippur.
The Days of Awe are filled with wonder and worship, days of reflection, fasting, and prayer, days of solemnity and solace. These are days meant to set the tone for the beginning of the Jewish New Year even as they remind the faithful to reflect on what has gone before.
Join Rabbi Jillian Cameron & Cantor Juval Porat as we prepare our souls and our Torah scrolls for the Days of Awe through music, personal reflection, and prayer.
All of our services this year will be held virtually and are free of charge. Registration links, High Holiday schedule and yizkor book name contributions will be posted here soon. To purchase a Machzor click here.
Join us as we ready ourselves for the High Holiday season
A Broad-Coalition Rabbinate: What Jewish Values can Teach us About Welcoming Everyone
August 23 11:00am
With Rabbi Sandra Lawson
Judaism helped to make me a better activist, a better ally, and to use my voice and Jewish values to help others. As a rabbi, I want Judaism to be a welcoming space for all who want to come, and the truth is many communities do not feel welcoming to Jews on the margins: Jews of color, Transpeople, and folks with disabilities. I love Judaism, and I want us to use our Jewish values to create inclusive Jewish communities where all who want to come are welcomed, diversity is embraced, and we can come together to learn and to pray and also to eat.
Words of the Heart
August 25, 7:00-8:30pm
With Rabbi Jillian Cameron
We are asked during this month of Elul, to prepare ourselves, to slowly uncover and open those deep and dark corners of our minds and hearts and souls; we call this, cheshbon ha-nefesh, the accounting of the soul. This year is different and perhaps you are finding it more difficult than in years past to access those parts of you. Great poetry can give words to our often-jumbled feelings, provide space for us to reflect and offer solace and connection through time and space. Join me as we explore poetry as a means to prepare our truest selves for the season of return, reflection and repentance.
The Six Genders in Judaism: More than Male and Female
September 1, 7:00-8:30pm
With Ariel Zitny & Ze’evi Berman
Did you know gender diversity and nonbinary gender identity existed in Judaism from at least the time of the Mishnah (200 CE)? Not only is there zachar (male) and nekevah (female), but also androginos, tumtum, saris, and aylonit! Come learn about the six genders in Judaism, and what our tradition can teach us about gender diversity and inclusion of people who don’t fit into the gender binary.
Ariel Zitny (he/him or they/them) just completed his third year of rabbinical school at HUC-JIR in Los Angeles, and will now spend a year in the school of education to receive a Master’s in Jewish education. Before rabbinical school Ariel studied poetry, and has a BFA and an MFA in Creative Writing. As a queer trans person, Ariel is especially interested in the intersection of LGBTQ and Jewish identity. Ariel lives in LA with his partner Ze’evi and their two cats.
Ze’evi Berman (they/them) is a cantorial student at HUC-JIR DFSSM. This year they are working toward their Master’s in Jewish Education at HUC-JIR RHSOE. Before beginning cantorial school, Ze’evi worked as a Jewish music and tefilah educator in four out of the five NYC boroughs. As one of the first trans cantorial students, Ze’evi focuses their work on creating a more diverse, inclusive Jewish future. Ze’evi lives in LA with their partner Ariel and their two cats.
The unmasked singer
September 8, 7:00 – 8:30 pm
With Cantor Juval Porat
Through melodies and spoken word, silence, shares and each other’s presence we’ll explore our tradition’s annual invitation to crack open what some might call our defenses, to resensitize ourselves to each other and to our Creator through song and to awaken ourselves to the possibility of opening to both painful truths and incredible opportunities.
