*A reminder: Please be on time this evening. Kol Nidre will start promptly at 6:45 pm

Please note this important announcement:

Just as we began Rosh Hashanah as one community in prayer in the sanctuary of Sutton Place Synagogue, so too, will we conclude Yom Kippur. For the first time, the sanctuary service and the parallel service will be combined for Mincha and Neilah on Saturday evening. While Rabbi Ain and Cantor Keren will officiate at the majority of the service, both Rabbi Spielman, Cantor Wise and the Quartet will have religious roles.

Our Neilah service will continue the tradition we started last year. The ark will be opened and anyone who wishes, will be able to approach it for a quiet, reflective, moment of prayer. We will conclude with Havdalah, incorporating traditions from both services and finally, we will have multiple people sounding the shofar as we proudly enter the new year.

For those who have been in the sanctuary service throughout the holidays, if you would like to sit in your reserved seats, please arrive by 5:45 pm. Neilah will begin at 6.  Ushers will help guide those individuals that are new to the sanctuary service to open seats. We ask everyone's cooperation and patience, as we inaugurate this communal moment of prayer and as we, together, usher in a healthy and happy new year.

For the Teens on Yom Kippur:

ALL 8th-12th graders are invited to meet with JAKE STOEHR, the new teen advisor at Sutton Place Synagogue at 11:30 am during Yom Kippur services in the 2nd floor classroom, in the synagogue building, near the balcony. This will be an excellent time to get to know one another and to experience the holiday in a way that is particularly relevant for teens.

For your interest:

As this Yom Kippur marks 40 years since the Yom Kippur War in Israel, I wanted to share the following short lecture by Yossi Klein HaLevi as to his understanding of the lessons learned since that war. He will be a featured speaker here at Sutton Place Synagogue in December and his lecture will be one of the many ways that members of our congregation can engage with Israel in the year to come.

Rabbi Ain's Yom Kippur Reflections

It is a tradition of mine to get my hair cut the afternoon before Rosh Hashanah  or Yom Kippur. begins. When sharing this with someone recently, they asked with a very serious voice, "Is there a religious tradition to getting one's hair cut for the New Year?" I chuckled and said, "Maybe, but that isn't the reason that I do it. I do it because it is one less thing that I have to worry about during the intensity of the High Holiday services. I know that if I get my hair cut and blown dry, it will look fine for the New Year and I can focus on the more spiritual and religious aspects of the holiday"

Unlike any other Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur, the day of atonement that takes place 10 days after the beginning of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, in particular, has traditions connected to it that have to do with how we look. One tradition is to wear white, especially at Yom Kippur services. On a day where we are rehearsing our death in order to remind us how we want to live, the purity of white clothing highlights this endeavor. That is why I wear a kittel, a white robe over our regular clothes. And while it might seem silly for people to be wearing canvas sneakers such as Converse Hightops or Keds on the bimah, the fact is we are fulfilling the mandate in the mishnah (Rabbinic teaches from the 2nd century C.E) to not wear leather. We do this because leather was a symbol of luxury and on Yom Kippur, we are focusing on our inner parts and approaching God humbly. 

As we come together tonight for Kol Nidre and then again tomorrow, let us focus ourselves on the relationships we want to build and repair, the community we want to enter and sustain, and the world we want to celebrate and improve.

May each of you have a meaningful fast and a happy and a healthy new year,

G'mar Chatima Tova,

Rabbi Ain