The Jewish High Holy Days: A time to reflect – Jewish Deaf Community Center

Thursday, September 2, 2010
Last updated: Thursday September 2, 2010, 1:25 AM
BY TANYA DROBNESS
The Montclair Times

It’s a time of reflection and redirection.

And during the Jewish High Holy Days, leaders of Montclair’s two synagogues are hopeful the experience will reach as many people as possible.

“Who would want to miss the opportunity to ask themselves, ‘Am I going in the right direction and do I need to adjust my course?'” said Rabbi Elliott Tepperman of Bnai Keshet Reconstructionist Synagogue on South Fullerton Avenue.

The High Holy Days begin with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, this coming Wednesday evening, Sept. 8, and continues through Sept. 10. It is the start of 10 days of repentance, concluding with Yom Kippur.

And in between, there’s a lot of thinking to do.

“It means turning and redirecting ourselves to where we want to be,” Tepperman said. “We think about life, the possibility of death, and we take a couple of days to really consider where we’re stacking up, what we might do better, and what will be our plan of attack so that we can wake up to the life we want to live.”During the services, Montclair’s two synagogues will offer a variety of programs.

Congregation Shomrei Emunah on Park Street is celebrating partially with yoga and meditation. Bnai Keshet is providing a special program for the hearing impaired and a meditative service.

“We have a commitment of exploring tradition,” said Rabbi David Greenstein of Congregation Shomrei Emunah. “But we want the richness of the tradition to be accessible to people of different backgrounds.”

Assistant Rabbi Darby Jared Leigh of Bnai Keshet, who is one of only a handful of deaf men and women ordained as rabbis, said this is the third year the synagogue will offer open captioning, or Communication Access Real-time Translation for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Whatever is said and read will be typed and appear on a large screen that can be seen from almost anywhere in the sanctuary.

Leigh said the program “makes Jewish tradition and ritual acceptable to the community wherever they are.” He noted, “We want everybody who comes to participate fully. Offering real-time captioning is another attempt at trying to make people feel as comfortable as they can and as at home as they can.”

A whole section of the service, Avodah, will be enacted by members in an open microphone setting to share poetry, music, song and meaningful anecdotes.

At Congregation Shomrei Emunah, several services are being offered for children and teenagers, including a teen discussion. Also, new prayers written by members will be read during Yom Kippur.

However, yoga will be “key” to the theme of the High Holy Days, Greenstein said. Yoga, he said, is a formally held option that will take place in the social hall.

The synagogue will also hold an open shofar blowing for anyone who wants to participate. The shofar is an instrument typically made from a ram’s horn. “It gives people a real surge of emotion and energy,” Greenstein said.

Both congregations will join next Thursday, the first day of Rosh Hashanah, at 5 p.m. at Edgemont Memorial Park for Tashlikh, when people symbolically cast away their sins into a large body of water.

“It’s part of what the holiday is about, to reaffirm our connection to each other,” Greenstein said.

Leigh added, “In order to be able to experience the true blessing and power of the High Holy Day services, one must be able to experience them in a community.”

It’s a time of reflection and redirection.