Yom Kippur 5781

Yom Kippur 5781

Kol Nidre  Sunday, September 27 • 6:30-8:15pm

Our gathering will begin with a cello rendition of Kol Nidre, followed by the chanting of Kol Nidre and the evening service.  The service  will include opportunities for individual/family reflection, a reading of our communal “Al Hayts” (transgressions), singing of powerful Kol Nidre piyyutim/songs, and a talk by Rabbi Toba.

Youth program: After the chanting of Kol Nidre, kids aged 7 and up are invited to join Director of Congregational Learning Earnest Vener for 45 minutes of interactive programming in a separate Zoom Sanctuary.

Yom Kippur  Monday, September 28

Morning Service via Zoom:

♦  9:45-11:50am - Shaharit morning service (times are approximate):

9:45am-10:10  Morning songs and blessings – wake up your spirit with song!  We will start promptly at 9:45am; feel free to log on a few minutes early.

10:10am-10:50am  Shaharit service -  The morning service includes song, time for individual reflection, and a special video appearance by CDT Sings!

10:50am-11:50am  Torah service - We will hear the traditional Torah reading from the book of Leviticus, with virtual aliyot honoring the CDT Board and other CDT volunteers, and open aliyot on a variety of themes for all who wish to join in.  There will be small group discussion of the Yom Kippur haftarah (a call to enact justice and love by the prophet Isaiah), and Rabbi Toba will give a talk following the Torah reading.  The Yizkor service will be held in the afternoon.

Musaf Service (12:00pm-12:45pm): The Musaf service features the distinctive liturgy of the High Holydays, including Unetaneh Tokef and the full-prostration Aleynu.  If you’ve never stayed for Musaf, here’s your chance to hear some beautiful liturgy!  (and it beats thinking about not eating lunch)

Family & Teen Morning Programs
Please note the varying start times of these programs, each of which will be in its own Zoom “sanctuary.”  If you have children in different age groups, please choose the program(s) that work for you.

♦  9:00-9:30am - Tot Service - The rabbis in the Talmud teach that Yom Kippur is the happiest day of the year. At this program for families with children aged 2-5 we will tap our hearts and celebrate the great love that connects us with ourselves, our families, and all of creation. Join CDT Director of Congregational Learning Earnest Vener and CDT member and song leader Ora Gladstone for an interactive Yom Kippur experience!

♦  9:30-10:15am Family Service for 1st-3rd Graders and their grown ups – Join CDT member and educator Esther Kohn for an interactive Yom Kippur experience. Yom Kippur helps us pause, reflect on our actions in the past, and reset our arrow to aim for who we want to be in the new year. At this service we will sing, move, and reflect on the Yom Kippur themes of forgiveness, transformation, and abundant love.

♦  9:45-10:45am Family Service for 4th-7th Graders and their grown ups – Join Earnest and CDT member and song leader Ora Gladstone for an interactive Yom Kippur service. We will sing, reflect, and learn practices to help us do the reflection we are called on to do on Yom Kippur.

♦ 10:00-10:45am - Yom Kippur Teen Program, for preteens/teens in 7th-10th grade. spend time with other CDT teens and educators to reflect on the year and set intentions for who we want to be in the new year.

Afternoon Programming 12:30-4:14pm       

Register for virtual afternoon Programming and evening services HERE. Come and go as you please for the remainder of the day until the final shofar call. 

In the Zoom Sanctuary:

♦ 1:30pm-2:20pm “Shehechiyanu Stories: Share Your Spiritual Journeys”:  Adults and teens are welcome to this session to share moments in your personal spiritual journey, or simply to listen. Facilitated by CDT members and story-tellers Cindy Rivka Marshall, Jo Radner, and Lisa Hirsh.

♦ 2:30pm-3:15pm “Jonah and Job in Dialogue”:  

A prophet in spite of himself, Jonah is sent from the belly of the whale to warn Nineveh that God will destroy the city: the evildoers repent and are spared. A faithful follower of God’s ways, Job is the victim of a wager between God and Satan. When friends charge him with wrongdoing—he must have provoked the destruction of his family and property, the illness torturing his body—Job maintains his innocence and even questions God’s righteousness.

One biblical book reinforces a link between action and consequences; the other pictures a God speaking from the whirlwind, beyond and unanswerable to human justice. Together these stories set up a dialogue that raises questions about personal and collective responsibility for the harm, suffering and injustices in the world around us. In a time of pandemic, economic distress, police brutality and systemic racism, how can we understand that dialogue? 

If you have the time and inclination during this month of Elul reflections, take a look at these two unusual and idiosyncratic books within the biblical canon. On Yom Kippur afternoon, we’ll read together a number of extracts from Robert Alter’s translations of Job and Jonah to join the dialogue.

CDT member Matilda Tomaryn Bruckner is a scholar of medieval French literature and Professor emerita from Boston College.

Text for this session can be found HERE.

♦ 3:20pm-4:00pm  Tai Chi/Qi Gong, with  Peter Wayne of Tree of Life Tai Chi.  Get renewed energy for the remainder of the day with this gentle, energizing movement practice!

Outdoors (registration required; space is limited):

Nature walk registration can be found HERE

♦ 12:30pm-2:00pm All-ages Nature Walk with Deb Albenberg in Roslindale

♦ 1:30pm–2:30pm Adult contemplative nature walks with Jamie Tessler and Liz Krushnic at the Arnold Arboretum.

♦ 2:00pm-4:00pm Goat yoga - adults and kids aged 6+ are invited to do yoga with the help of some baby goats (on whom we will also gently lay our sins from the past year); in Newton. Register for Session One at 2pm or Session Two at 3pm.  
 
♦ 3:00pm-4:30pm All-ages nature walk with Doug Hersh, Waltham

Zoom Programming to Close the Day

♦ 4:30 - Yizkor/Eleh Ezkereh - We will have the opportunity to remember loved ones, recite the Yizkor prayers, and have a special remembrance of CDT members Stan Fleischman and Susan Moser, may their memories be for a blessing.

♦ 5:15pm - Mincha Program - We are thrilled to welcome teacher, activist, visionary Rev. Mariama  White-Hammond, who will speak with us about her work on the intersections of racial and climate justice.

♦  5:15-6:00pm Mincha Youth Programs – Kids in grades K-4 are invited to join Earnest and CDT teen Izzy Feinfeld for a program that connects the Jonah Story to CDT’s Voter Mobilization Project. Kids in grades 5 and up are invited to join CDT youth leaders and CDT member and educator Esther Kohn for a Voter Mobilization teach-in.

♦ 6:30pm - Ne'ilah - We close the fast day together with the music and prayers of Neilah.  Set up your Zoom under the open sky, so you can be ready for three stars to appear!

♦ 7:00pm - Final Shofar call - get your shofar and something to eat ready!  We will end the day together and gather in chat rooms for virtual break-fasts.