Elul 2020: Getting Ready for the High Holidays
In the month of Elul, we have 29 days before Rosh Hashanah to start reconnecting with our inner life and realigning with God and with those around us. FTJC offers multiple ways in to this fertile period of time. With High Holiday services inaccessible or limited because of the pandemic, let's really use Elul to enter the atmosphere of the holidays and do our spiritual work and personal education. Elul can help us to have a powerful experience of this year's High Holidays, no matter where we are or who we're with.
Featuring Hallel, an opportunity to say Mourner's Kaddish (modified for virtual services) -- and on Friday, the year's first sounding of the Shofar!
A virtual tefillah service including Mourner's Kaddish (modified) and Shofar. The Sunday before Rosh Hashanah, September 13, will also include Selichot.
Due to the pandemic, FTJC is not able to offer our traditional in-person late-night service. However, the national Conservative Movement is offering seven hours of learning sessions, musical moments, and Selichot services, stretching from Havdalah on the East Coast to midnight on the West Coast. Info, links, and registration: www.cjselihot.org
A weave of text learning, song, drinking, and symbolic foods for the New Year. A reflective and fun experience to help us on the path of teshuvah and celebration in community. Led by Rabbi Guy Austrian and FTJC's student clergy intern Naomi Zaslow.
Learn a shtickel torah, make a shtickel art! Join FTJC member Amalya Sherman for a 3 part art class to prep for Rosh Hashanah. At each session we will learn an excerpt from the holiday's Torah Reading and do a guided art activity. Making text-based art can help us to internalize the text and generate fresh interpretations. Especially invited: people who are "not artists" and "can't draw", experienced artists, and everyone in between. Pre-requisite skills: fluency in writing your name, ability to rip paper. Registration Required here by 8/21.
Come learn in our community homegrown Zoom Beit Midrash (house of study) over the course of Elul. Bring your own Elul learning project and get help from our Beit Midrash facilitaor, or join a learning session with guest teachers from our community. August 26: Sheva Zucker on "Elul in the Yiddish Tradition." September 2: Samuel Gelman. September 9: Dani Kogan
An adult gathering for drinking, singing, and torah. Led by FTJC members Rabbi Sara Zacharia and Adam Masser.
We talk often about teshuvah in terms of asking for forgiveness from others and from God. What about forgiving ourselves when we regret not living up to our own goals? Led by FTJC student clergy intern Naomi Zaslow.
Yirah is the spiritual quality of facing where we are not in control. We'll explore its connection to fear and trust and how it can open us up towards intimacy and love, using material from the machzor for personal reflection and small group conversation. Led by FTJC member Rabbi Lisa Goldstein.
Exploring an aggadah (narrative) from the Talmud in Yoma about tochechah (rebuke) & public/personal wrongdoing in conversation with the complexities of "cancel culture," power dynamics, and oppression. Led by FTJC member Laynie Soloman.
Still deciding what to cook for your holiday meals this year? Join Jack Greene for a cooking class where he will share how to make his signature brisket, as well as his kiddush classic sesame noodles!
Singing, music, joy, and community as we bless the new year with Mira and Rabbi Guy.
Let's come together for the art and the craft of wishing others a Happy New Year! with Mira and Rabbi Guy
Anticipating the joy of Rosh Hashanah, birthday of the world, with a game exploration of Creation! with Mira and Rabbi Guy.
Experiencing amazement and looking for miracles, through close attention to Creation, as we head toward Rosh Hashanah, birthday of the world. A fun, active, and contemplative walk through the forest with Rabbi Guy and Mira.
