A Comprehensive Guide to Rosh Hashanah 5781
Dear Friends,
This email is intended to serve as your comprehensive guide to Rosh Hashanah this year. You will find links to important documents that will be continually updated as Rosh Hashanah approaches. We’ve been working overtime to make sure that our Yamim Noraim will be as meaningful as possible, whether or not you will be with us at or near The Jewish Center. We hope we’ve gotten some things right, but I am sure there will be hiccups along the way. This will be a year like no other and we appreciate your patience and understanding. Special thanks is owed to our outstanding professionals and to the dozens of devoted Jewish Center members who have volunteered in too many ways to count.
For those of you who will not be in shul on Rosh Hashanah, we have prepared a complete holiday calendar as well as a Machzor companion that will guide you as daven at home. To make sure that everyone has the opportunity to hear the Shofar, we have organized a Shofar map with the times and locations of over a dozen outdoor shofar blowing sites spanning the length and breadth of the Upper West Side. No registration is required.
Our services this year will be held in multiple locations. We have done our best to accommodate everyone’s preferences. While it was not possible to do so in every case, we were able to honor the overwhelming majority of requests. Please note that we will have assigned seating for minyanim at The Jewish Center. Our outdoor minyanim will follow an open seating format. We now have a waiting list for Rosh Hashanah seats. If you have made a reservation but will not be attending, please let the office know as soon as possible. Your color-coded tickets went out in the mail to you on Friday, September 11. So that we can start punctually and to minimize crowding at the entrance, please make every effort to arrive on time.
While we will not have youth groups this year, this Rosh Hashanah will be an opportunity for children to daven alongside their parents. Children ages 10 and up have been seated with their parents in most of our minyanim. For those with school-aged children, we have made our gym minyan available to your family. In all cases, we kindly request that both adults and children remain in their seats throughout the service.
In the event that rain is forecast, we will provide guidance in advance for contingency plans for those registered for services in one of our outdoor locations.
We are pleased to share a number of additional resources which we hope will enhance your Rosh Hashanah:
Finally, allow me to conclude with a reminder about our Yom Kippur Appeal. We recognize that these are extraordinary times. Our lives have been upended. Through it all, The Jewish Center has been and remains a source of constancy and vibrancy for our community. As you can imagine, our tenants have been struggling to pay their rent; income generated by the rental of our facility is down; and members have left the city – either temporarily or permanently. Though we have slashed our expenses, our budget is still tight. So that our Center can continue to provide all that it does, please contribute generously. With your help, we will make it to the other side of this pandemic. Let’s be sure the institutions upon which rely are strong and vibrant when we get there.
With warmest regards,
Yosie Levine
Rabbi
Upcoming Events and Programs
Forget About It? How We Can Move Past a Year Gone Wrong
Rosh Hashana Reflections with Rabbi Yosie Levine
Thursday, Sep 17th at 8:00pm
In lieu of a formal sermon on Rosh Hashanah, please join Rabbi Levine to reflect on the year that has passed and the year ahead. .
Selichot and Shacharit
Friday, September 18th, Erev Rosh HaShanah at 7:00AM
or join us on Zoom or dial in 1 646 558 8656 Meeting ID: 856 6097 7137 Passcode: 206816
Please join Rabbi Levine daily at 8:30am for five minutes of learning followed by Shofar
