Adath Jeshurun

High Holy Days at AJ

Wel­come to Adath Jeshurun’s High Holy Day Guide for 2011. Here you can learn about the var­i­ous hol­i­day events and ser­vices AJ offers as well as learn more about the his­tory, cus­toms and prayers of the of the High Holy Days.

Gen­eral Infor­ma­tion
High Holy Day Timetable
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kip­pur

Descrip­tion of Ser­vices at AJ
Tra­di­tional Ser­vice
Inter­gen­er­a­tional Ser­vice
Lay-Led Tra­di­tional Ser­vice
Ris­honim (Grades K-2)
Jr. Con­gre­ga­tion (Grades 3–5)

Gen­eral Information

Impor­tant Notice About Seat Reser­va­tions
The sanc­tu­ary ren­o­va­tion reduced the num­ber of avail­able seats. There­fore, seat­ing in the Main Sanc­tu­ary is by reser­va­tion only. There will be unre­served seat­ing avail­able only in the back of the Small Audi­to­rium and in the back of the Chapel.

Seat request forms must be 100% com­plete in order to be processed, and must list the names of every per­son for whom a seat is being reserved. Addi­tion­ally, if you cus­tom­ar­ily pur­chase seat reser­va­tions but won’t be doing so this year, please let us know by return­ing your seat form with nota­tion say­ing “NOT ATTENDING THIS YEAR.” This will be extremely help­ful to our Seat Chairperson.

No mem­ber will be turned away from pur­chas­ing a seat reser­va­tion due to inabil­ity to pay. Mem­bers who have a finan­cial hard­ship are requested

High Holy Day seat tick­ets are no longer mailed. In most cases, your reserved seat from last year will be repeated this year. Mem­bers will only be con­tacted by phone or email if their seats have changed. Like­wise, mem­bers who did not pur­chase seats last year will be noti­fied with their seat location.

Atten­tion All Mem­bers Who Store a Tal­lit in the Switow Chapel Draw­ers
Please remove your tal­lit from the draw­ers in the Switow Chapel prior to Rosh Hashanah. your coop­er­a­tion is needed to help us reduce dis­rup­tions to those wor­ship­ping in the Switow Chapel dur­ing the High Holy Days.

Atten­tion All Mem­bers Who Store Tal­lit in the Switow Chapel Draw­ers
Please remove your tal­li­tot from the draw­ers in the Switow Chapel prior to Rosh Hashanah. Your coop­er­a­tion is needed to help us reduce dis­rup­tions to those wor­ship­ping in the Switow Chapel dur­ing the High Holy Days.

Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah lit­er­ally refers to the begin­ning of a new Jew­ish year. This hol­i­day pro­vides an oppor­tu­nity for each of us to exam­ine our actions from the pre­ced­ing year.

Read more about Rosh Hashanah events and ser­vices at AJ, hol­i­day cus­toms and tra­di­tional prayers.

Yom Kip­pur
The Day of Atone­ment is con­sid­ered the holi­est day on the Jew­ish cal­en­dar. This is a time when we ask for for­give­ness for our trans­gres­sions dur­ing the past year.

Read more about Yom Kip­pur ser­vices at AJ, hol­i­day cus­toms and tra­di­tional prayers.

Tra­di­tional High Holy Day Service

• Loca­tion: Main Sanctuary/Charles & Jean K. Ersk­ine (Large) Auditorium.
• 
  Seat­ing: Assigned seat­ing only. Non-reserved seat­ing is not available.
  
• Ser­vice lead­ers: The ser­vices are pri­mar­ily led by Rabbi Slos­berg and Can­tor Lipp with par­tic­i­pa­tion by the Adath Jeshu­run Choir members.
• Prayer Book: Mah­zor Lev Shalem
• Hol­i­days: The tra­di­tional ser­vice is held on Ley’l (night of) Rosh Hashanah, both days of Rosh Hashanah, Kol Nidre (night of Yom Kip­pur) and Yom Kippur.
• Lan­guage: The ser­vice is con­ducted largely in Hebrew com­bined with Eng­lish read­ings and expla­na­tions pro­vid­ing an oppor­tu­nity to expe­ri­ence the rich pageantry of our ancient traditions.
• Empha­sis: This ser­vice empha­sizes the tra­di­tional struc­ture and rit­ual of the beau­ti­ful High Holy Day wor­ship service.

Inter­gen­er­a­tional High Holy Day Service

• Loca­tion: Rae and Gary Shapira (Small) Audi­to­rium and Switow Chapel.
• Seat­ing: Reser­va­tions are required for entrance to the Inter­gen­er­a­tional ser­vice; Seat­ing is unas­signed. Front rows are reserved for those with wheel­chairs, walk­ers, etc. Lim­ited unre­served seat­ing is avail­able in the back of the Small Auditorium.
• Ser­vice lead­ers: The Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kip­pur ser­vices are led by Rabbi Laura Met­zger accom­pa­nied by a guest can­tor. Kol Nidre is led by Rabbi Slos­berg and a guest cantor.
• Prayer Book: Mah­zor Hadash which uses con­tem­po­rary egal­i­tar­ian language.
• Hol­i­days: The Inter­gen­er­a­tional Ser­vice is held on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, Kol Nidre, and Yom Kippur.
  
• Lan­guage: Hebrew and Eng­lish. Eng­lish read­ings are led by congregants.
• Empha­sis: The Inter­gen­er­a­tional Ser­vice is inter­ac­tive, inti­mate, invit­ing, infor­mal, and acces­si­ble. It is a full high holy day wor­ship expe­ri­ence, stream­lined and all on one level, so every­one can see, hear and par­tic­i­pate. In Eng­lish and Hebrew, word and song.

Lay-Led Tra­di­tional Service

• Loca­tion: Switow Chapel.
  
• Seat­ing: Reser­va­tions are required for entrance to the Lay-Led Tra­di­tional ser­vice. Seat­ing is unas­signed. Those with seat reser­va­tions for one of the other ser­vices offered at Adath Jeshu­run dur­ing the High Holy Days are wel­come to drop in for all or part of the Lay-Led ser­vice. Lim­ited unre­served seat­ing avail­able in back of Switow Chapel.
  
• Ser­vice lead­ers: Con­ducted entirely by AJ members.
• Prayer Book: Mah­zor Lev Shalem
  
• Hol­i­days: The Lay-led ser­vice is held on the first day of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kip­pur. Those who reg­is­ter for the Lay-Led ser­vice choose which of the other two ser­vices (the Main Sanc­tu­ary Tra­di­tional Ser­vice or the Inter­gen­er­a­tional Ser­vice) they will attend dur­ing times when the Lay-Led ser­vice is not in session.
• 
  Lan­guage: The ser­vice is con­ducted largely in Hebrew, with some Eng­lish read­ings and expla­na­tions designed to make the ser­vice acces­si­ble to any­one inter­ested in a mean­ing­ful, spir­i­tual and learn­ing experience.
• Empha­sis: This ser­vice empha­sizes the warmth and infor­mal­ity of a small tra­di­tional Con­ser­v­a­tive Jew­ish ser­vice. Mem­bers are invited to par­tic­i­pate. Oppor­tu­ni­ties are avail­able for all those who want to take part, regard­less of their level of Hebrew knowl­edge or pre­vi­ous famil­iar­ity with the ser­vice. The focus is on pro­vid­ing a set­ting in which mem­bers of all ages and back­grounds will feel wel­come and comfortable.

Seats for Chil­dren in Grades 2 and Below
Ris­honim wor­ship ser­vices are offered for chil­dren in grades K-2. Child­care will be offered for all chil­dren in grades 2 and below. Reser­va­tion forms for these activ­i­ties are included in this mail­ing. If you have out-of-town guests who need these ser­vices, please call the syn­a­gogue office prior to August 15th at 458‑5359 and request a Child­care Reser­va­tion Form.

Seats for Chil­dren in Grades 3–5
Chil­dren in grades 3 — 5 are wel­come to attend Junior Con­gre­ga­tion at the times when it is offered, and to sit with their fam­i­lies dur­ing other ser­vices. There is no charge for seats for chil­dren in these grades. Child­care will also be avail­able before and after Junior Con­gre­ga­tion so that par­ents can wor­ship with­out inter­rup­tion (A fee will be charged for this ser­vice which can be reserved using the Child­care Reser­va­tion Form included in the High Holy Day mail­ing or by call­ing the AJ office).