Art by Batya Reed
The High Holiday season culminates with Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah. Sukkot, the Fall Harvest Holiday, invites us to connect with nature, celebrate agricultural abundance, and reflect on our impermanence. This year, Sukkot begins the evening of September 25th and continues until sundown on October 2nd. Shemini Atzeret immediately follows and leans into these themes even harder. From there we roll into Simchat Torah, to celebrate finishing the Torah reading cycle and beginning again. It’s a dance party with the Torah!
Hang out in the CJC Community Sukkah
Friday, September 25th – Tuesday October 3rd | CJC Sukkah, Cleveland Heights | All ages welcome!
Join us in the CJC Community Sukkah! We will be hosting several events in the sukkah (see calendar below, and keep scrolling for more details), and we also invite you to use the sukkah throughout the holiday!
לֵישֵׁב בַּסֻּכָּה
Lei’shev ba-sukkah – During Sukkot we are instructed to dwell in the sukkah. Many have the custom to eat all their meals or even sleep in their sukkah. Come chill in the sukkah all week!
What can you do in the sukkah?
- Hang out
- Eat a meal
- Read a book
- Craft
- Play boardgames
- Shake the lulav and etrog
- Bring your laptop and work
- Etc.
**Please keep in mind that there will be church services Sunday morning, September 27th, and that there may be others using the building throughout the week**
We will post the location, wifi password & info about getting into the building to access bathrooms in the CJC discord, facebook group, & email newsletter.
Access:
- wheelchair accessible
- gender neutral wheelchair accessible bathroom indoors
Foraging Local Lulavs
Want to forage your own local lulav? Check out our guide for foraging and shaking the lulav here.
For thousands of years, Jews have shaken lulavim and etrogim during Sukkot. Traditionally, the lulav has been made of the leaves of date palms, myrtle, and willows, and the etrog has been understood to be a citron fruit. Often these plants are grown in the Land of Israel. However, over the past few years, a new trend has emerged of foraging diasporic or place-based lulavim. Sukkot is all about connecting with the earth, and foraging your own lulav is a way to ground yourself in the holiness of the land you live on.
Shabbes in the Sukkah
Friday, September 25th | 5pm decorate the sukkah | 7pm shabbes & sukkes blessings | 7:30pm potluck vegetarian dinner | CJC Sukkah, Cleveland Heights
Join us to decorate the sukkah and welcome in both shabbes and sukkes! All ages welcome!
Blessings will be promptly at 7:00 so that we can begin eating by 7:30.
Decorating:
We invite you to bring photos of ancestors (biological, chosen, spiritual, and/or political) that we will laminate and hang in the sukkah.
Food:
If you would like to be a potluck host (help set up potluck table, provide entree), please sign up at the link below. (Instructions for potluck hosts are here.)
We ask everyone else to bring a vegetarian side dish or dessert if you’re able,to supplement the entrees provided by the potluck hosts.
Some people in our community are Gluten Free, Dairy Free, or allergic to nuts, apples, parmesan, or purple nightshades – please keep these dietary needs in mind as you decide what to bring, so that everyone has at least one thing they can eat. Please list ingredients so that people know what they are able to eat.
Access:
- wheelchair accessible
- gender neutral wheelchair accessible bathroom indoors
Yiddish Dance Workshop
Wednesday, September 30th | 5:30pm Workshop for kids | 6:10pm Dinner | 7-8:30pm Workshop for adults | Cleveland Heights
Get ready for Simchat Torah with a Yiddish dance workshop led by Miryam Coppersmith (she/they), a queer Yiddish dance teacher and performance artist from Philadelphia! Miryam will also be leading us in dancing on Simchat Torah!
There will be TWO Yiddish dance workshops
- 5:30-6:10pm geared towards kids and their families
- 7-8:30pm geared toward adults
In between, join us for a pizza dinner in the sukkah! All pizza will be vegetarian and kosher-by-ingredient. We will also have hekshered, DF, and GF options by request (let us know when you register).
Co-sponsored by Nariya Cleveland, Mitsui Collective, Beth El – The Heights Synagogue, and Kol HaLev.
Access:
- masks encouraged and provided
- wheelchair accessible building and sukkah
- gender neutral wheelchair accessible bathroom
- modified dance options for those with access needs
- sensory space available
Miryam Coppersmith (she/they) is a Philadelphia-based performance artist, writer, dance leader, and teacher. She started training in Yiddish dance in 2019 under Yiddish Dance Master Steve Weintraub and has since led dance for synagogues and bands, and taught workshops at Klezmer festivals and in communities. In her own performance, she works with movement, speech, and sound coming from her body, drawing on various trainings and traditions. Miryam’s solo dance/theater piece Mirele Lernt Zich Yiddish was hailed a “must-see performance” by The Dance Journal. Other works include Taengle (Sept 2026) and Women of Chelm (July 2026) Miryam is the Executive Director of thINKingDANCE.net, where she has served as a dance critic since 2018. miryamcoppersmith.com
Shemini Atzeret – Fall Attunement
Saturday, October 3rd | 10:30am-12:30pm | Forest Hill Park, field near Pavilion 2A & 2B (enter from Forest Hills Blvd not Lee Rd (google map here or see map below) | Adult oriented
Join us for an earth-based spiritual experience. We’ll attune to our bodies, the season, and the earth, through poetry, song, and foraging items for a nature altar. We’ll sing the prayer for rain and abundance, a special prayer said at the end of Sukkot on Shemini Atzeret, and close with blessings for peace, healing, and Mourner’s Kaddish.
Access:
- wheelchair acessible
- flush bathrooms nearby, accessible for partially ambulatory users
Simchat Torah
Saturday, October 3rd | 7:00pm Doors Open | 7:15pm Unroll the Torah | 8:00pm Dance Party with the Torah! | Cleveland Heights | All ages welcome!
Join us to close the High Holiday Season. We will unroll the entire Torah and create a circle of blessing (we need your help to do this!) in order to read the end of the Torah and then begin all over again.
After we roll the Torah back up, we’ll have a dance party with the Torah! Miryam Coppersmith (she/they), a queer Yiddish dance teacher from Philadelphia, will be leading us in Yiddish dancing!
We’ll have a few snacks available to eat outside in the sukkah, but please eat dinner beforehand. We’ll mostly be indoors, but may take our dancing outside for a bit.
Access:
- Indoors – masks required, except for accessibility reasons. Read the full health equity brit (agreement) here
- wheelchair accessible building and sukkah
- gender neutral wheelchair accessible bathroom
- modified dance options for those with access needs
- sensory space available
