We welcome you to join us for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Join us with your broken heart, your questions, your joys, and your dreams for the year ahead.
May each and every one of us, Jewish and Palestinian and everyone who dwells on this sacred earth, be inscribed in the Book of Life. May 5786 be a year of healing and liberation for all.
This year we have one registration form for both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. If you are able, we encourage you to fill out the form once. If you need to register for Yom Kippur later, that is also ok.
- Registration for Rosh Hashanah closes Thursday, September 18th
- Registration for Yom Kippur closes Thursday, September 25th
Below you’ll find the full schedule, volunteer opportunities, potluck information, childcare details, and access details.
Listen here to a playlist with many of the songs and prayers we’ll be singing during Selichot, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur.
Volunteering
CJC is a collectively created community. All of our Core Teams have spent several months dreaming up meaningful and accessible gatherings for this most sacred season of the year. Now we need your help! We are looking for volunteers to help with set up, clean up, and childcare. Please sign up for a shift at the link in your confirmation email after you register. Thank you!
If you are signing up for a childcare shift, please also read and agree to the Childcare Co-op Brit (Agreement) here.
We are creating this community together and are incredibly grateful for all the ways our members contribute their time and energy. It is a holy act to create and sustain community.
Potluck Information
We will have a vegetarian potluck dinner on erev Rosh Hashanah, and a vegetarian potluck lunch on Rosh Hashanah Day 1. We encourage you to bring a dish to share with the community. If you are unable to contribute food, you are still welcome!
Some people in our community are Gluten Free, Dairy Free, or allergic to nuts or purple nightshades – please keep these dietary needs in mind as you decide what to bring for our potluck, so that everyone has at least one thing they can eat. Please list ingredients so that people know what they are able to eat.
Childcare Co-op
We will be providing childcare on Rosh Hashanah Day 1, Kol Nidrei, and Yom Kippur Day via our Childcare Co-op, made up of CJC parents and those with childcare experience, who will be taking shifts to supervise the children.
Feel free to bring activities and food you know your kid will enjoy. On Yom Kippur Day, we will also have snacks for the kids.
Please let us know when you register if you plan to utilize the Childcare Co-op.
You can sign up for a shift at the link in your confirmation email after you register. Please also read and agree to the Childcare Co-op Brit (Agreement) here. Thank you!
Erev Rosh Hashanah Potluck Dinner & Prekante & Tashlich
Monday, September 22nd | 6:00pm “Doors Open” | 6:15pm Blessings & Dinner | 8:00pm Water Rituals (prekante & tashlich) | Euclid Beach Shelter, Cleveland (map) | All ages welcome! | Register here by Thursday, September 18th
Join us to welcome in Rosh Hashanah! We will begin by lighting candles, blessing grape juice and challah, and eating apples with honey. We will provide these ritual foods, and we invite you to bring a vegetarian dish to share with the group (see potluck details in section above).
After dinner, we will head down to Lake Erie for two water rituals. Prekante is a Sephardi practice from Turkey and the Balkans of face washing in order to let go of what we can’t control and leave the old year behind. Tashlich is an Ashkenazi practice of casting away our mistakes from the past year into water.
Access, Weather, & Transit Info:
- You can read our Health Equity Brit here, which everyone is asked to agree to when they register.
- Dinner will be in a pavilion with ADA picnic tables. We will have a few folding chairs for those who need a chair with a back. We invite you to bring anything that will make sitting more comfortable and accessible for you.
- There is onsite parking with paved sidewalks from the parking lot to the pavilion.
- There are flush bathrooms nearby.
- After dinner, we will take a paved sidewalk to the beach. We will have 2 beach wheelchairs available for use on the sand.
- In the case of rain, we will still meet, protected by the pavilion roof. In the case of severe weather, we will let you know if we decide to cancel.
- We will provide warm drinks and hand warmers if it’s chilly. Please dress for the weather.
- Euclid Beach Shelter can be accessed via bus #10. We also strive to arrange rides for those who need – let us know if you need one in the registration form.
Rosh Hashanah Day 1
Tuesday, September 23rd | 10:00am-2:30pm – come to part or all | Acacia Reservation, Lyndhurst (map) | Adult Oriented with childcare provided (see details above) | Register here by Thursday, September 18th
***10:00am Doors Open***
***10:15am-12:30pm Shachrit: Morning Prayer***
Join us for Rosh Hashanah morning prayers, which will include singing, poetry, shofar, and Torah reading.
***12:30pm Food Blessings***
We will bless challah, grape juice, apples and honey (all provided by CJC), before eating lunch.
***1:00-2:30pm Lunch n Learn Potluck***
Join us for learning and discussion over lunch. You are also welcome to just hang out during lunch. Please bring a vegetarian dish to share if you are able (see potluck details in section above).
On Rosh Hashanah it is traditional to read the story of Abraham nearly sacrificing his son Isaac. It is often said that this was a divine test and proves Abraham’s faith – but what if Abraham misunderstood the instructions and failed the test? We will use this story to ask: when everything feels turbulent and we are full of grief, how do we discern right action? What are we asking for when we pray?
***2:30pm Optional hang out, tashlich on your own***
Feel free to linger and enjoy the afternoon. There is water nearby if you’d like to do tashlich.
Access, Weather, & Transit Info:
- Weather permitting, we will pray outside, on a grassy field near Acacia Shelter. In the case of rain, we will move into the shelter. Lunch n Learn will be in Acacia Shelter.
- The shelter is enclosed with both heating and air conditioning and four large garage doors to increase air flow. We will also use a medical grade HEPA filter.
- You can read our Health Equity Brit here, which everyone is asked to agree to when they register.
- Flush restrooms are attached to the shelter.
- Outside, we will use a mixture of camping and folding chairs. Inside, seating will primarily be at picnic tables. We will place folding chairs on the ends of tables for those who need a chair with a back. There is also space for wheelchairs at the ends of tables. We invite you to bring anything that will make sitting more comfortable and accessible for you, including your own chair, or bleacher seat cushions with backrests to use at the picnic tables.
- We will provide warm drinks and hand warmers if it’s chilly. Please dress for the weather.
- There is onsite parking with paved sidewalks from the parking lot to the shelter.
- The park can be accessed via bus #11 or #94. We also strive to arrange rides for those who need – let us know if you need one in the registration form.
Intergenerational High Holy Days Program
Sunday, September 28th | 10:00am-12:00pm | Forest Hill Park, Pavilion 2A & 2B (enter from Forest Hills Blvd (map) | All ages welcome! | Register here by Thursday, September 25th
Join us for an outdoors, experiential, all ages, holiday program. Led by Rabbi Miriam and Laurel Simkoff, we will engage in introspective conversation, create nature-inspired art, talk to trees, get loud with shofarim, and immerse ourselves in nature as we reflect on the past year and set intentions for the year to come with tashlich. We will end by enjoying apples and honey for a sweet new year, and invite you to stay after for a pizza lunch party!
Access, Weather, & Transit Info:
- You can read our Health Equity Brit here, which everyone is asked to agree to when they register.
- There is a paved path from the parking lot to the pavilion. Most of the program will be in or near the pavilion.
- For tashlich, we will head to the water together, via a roughly paved, mostly flat path that is about half a mile and includes a high bridge over the road that is caged on each side.
- There are flush toilets near the pavilion.
- In the case of rain, we will still meet, protected by the pavilion roof. In the case of severe weather, we will let you know if we decide to cancel.
- We will provide hand warmers if it’s chilly. Please dress for the weather.
- The park can be accessed via bus #9. We also strive to arrange rides for those who need – let us know if you need one in the registration form.
Kol Nidrei
Wednesday, October 1st | 7:00pm Doors Open | 7:15pm Prayer | Pilgrim UCC, Tremont (map) | Adult Oriented with childcare provided (see details above) | Masks required | Register here by Thursday, September 25th
Join us in yearnful song and soulful prayer, as the Gates of Teshuvah (returning/repentance) open wide. Claudia Cangemi (trombone) will lead us in Kol Nidrei, as we enter the holiest day of the year.
We invite you to wear a tallit if that is a meaningful practice for you.
If you made a soul candle with us during Elul, we invite you to bring it to Kol Nidrei to light during the service.
Access & Transit Info:
- You can read our Health Equity Brit here, which everyone is asked to agree to when they register. As this event is indoors, masks are required. We will utilize a medical grade HEPA filter.
- The building is ADA accessible.
- There is a gender neutral ADA bathroom.
- There is a parking lot onsite.
- The church can be accessed via bus #51 and 51A (half mile walk), or via the Red Rapid Line (1 mile walk). We also strive to arrange rides for those who need – let us know if you need one in the registration form.
Yom Kippur Day
Thursday, October 2nd | 10:00am-9:00pm – come to part or all | Acacia Reservation, Lyndhurst (map) | Adult Oriented with childcare provided (see details above) | Register here by Thursday, September 25th
On Yom Kippur Day, we invite you also to enjoy the park. In between or even during afternoon sessions, we invite you to walk among the trees, head to the water, journal, and use this space and time however is most meaningful for you. We will have poetry and other materials available to inspire self-reflection and journaling. Please take care of your body and soul however you need.
If wearing a tallit is a meaningful practice for you, we invite you to wear one throughout Yom Kippur, from Kol Nidrei through Neilah.
***10:00am Doors Open***
***10:15am-12:30pm Shachrit: Morning Prayer***
Join us for Yom Kippur morning prayers, which will include singing, poetry, and Torah reading.
***12:30-1:00pm Break***
***1:00-2:30pm Learning***
Turning to Talmud, Yiddish poetry, and contemporary sources, we will ask – how do we face the uncertainty of the future? What must die to be reborn? What are the medicines, resources, and creativity we carry within us that will help midwife olam haba, the world of our dreams?
***2:30-3:00pm Break***
***3:00-4:45pm Nizkor (we remember): holding our grief***
We will hold space for ourselves and each other to grieve the losses of the past year, both individual and collective. If there is a loss from a previous year that is on your heart or that you never had a space to grieve, that is welcome here too. We will make space for any and all grief that folks want to share.
We will use a variety of modalities to help us access and co-metabolize our grief, including but not limited to: embodied practice, singing, journaling, voicing our feelings out loud, and altar building.
Due to the nature of this space, we ask you to be on time. It is disruptive to the container of trust for people to join late. Therefore, once we begin, the circle will be closed.
***4:45-5:15pm Break***
***5:15-6:15pm Embodied Practice with Celeste & Laurel***
Join Celeste and Laurel for a quietly contemplative embodied journey through the year. We will tap into sensorial experiences as we reflect on the past year and move into the new one, more fully in our bodies and attuned with nature. This workshop will take place after the grief space and will intentionally move us into the present awareness using movement, opportunities for journaling, engagement with nature, and more.
***6:15pm Personal time with the Torah***
New at CJC this year is a practice of spending time with the Torah just before Yom Kippur closes. During this extended break we will open the ark and anyone who wants can spend a few minutes with the Torah, individually or as part of a small group. This is a chance to voice your prayers, yearnings, and dreams to the Universe with Torah as witness, as the day nears its close.
***6:45-7:45pm Neilah (closing prayers) + Havdalah***
As the Gates of Teshuvah (returning/repentance) begin to close, we will return once more to yearnful song and soulful prayer. Combining traditional prayers with alternative prayers and poetry, we will seal ourselves into the year ahead.
We will transition to havdalah (the blessings distinguishing between Yom Kippur and the following day) around 7:30pm.
***7:45pm Break-fast***
Whether or not you spent the day fasting, we invite you to share this meal with us. We will have bagels and fixings, including GF and DF options.
Even if you won’t be joining us for Neilah (closing prayers), we invite you to join us for Havdalah (the blessings distinguishing between Yom Kippur and the following day), which will begin around 7:30pm, just before the meal.
Access, Weather, & Transit Info:
- Weather permitting, we will pray outside, on a grassy field near Acacia Shelter. In the case of rain, we will move into the shelter. Lunch n Learn will be in Acacia Shelter.
- The shelter is enclosed with both heating and air conditioning and four large garage doors to increase air flow. We will also use a medical grade HEPA filter.
- You can read our Health Equity Brit here, which everyone is asked to agree to when they register.
- Flush restrooms are attached to the shelter.
- Outside, we will use a mixture of camping and folding chairs. Inside, seating will primarily be at picnic tables. We will place folding chairs on the ends of tables for those who need a chair with a back. There is also space for wheelchairs at the ends of tables. We invite you to bring anything that will make sitting more comfortable and accessible for you, including your own chair, or bleacher seat cushions with backrests to use at the picnic tables.
- We will provide warm drinks and hand warmers if it’s chilly. Please dress for the weather.
- There is onsite parking with paved sidewalks from the parking lot to the shelter.
- The park can be accessed via bus #11 or #94. We also strive to arrange rides for those who need – let us know if you need one in the registration form.