High Holiday Learner's Service

Our learners' services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur will take place downstairs in Jeff’s Place beginning at 10:00 a.m., followed by a delicious kiddush luncheon.

- Experience an alternative service full of learning and exploration
- Warm and Welcoming Atmosphere
- Kiddush Luncheons after Services and Break-fast after Yom Kippur

Seats are complimentary; donations are appreciated. Please reserve your seats in advance.

Rosh Hashanah Days 1 & 2 - October 3-4:
10:00AM With special guest and spiritual leader, Yocheved Sidof.

Yocheved is a spiritual and community leader, activist, writer, mystic, and guide. She harnesses decades of social entrepreneurship, certifications, and lived experience — including her own wounds and healing — into her work and passions, intersecting spiritual leadership, community building and collective trauma healing.

Most recently, Yocheved founded and leads Ohmek (learn more here), a community of women and men pursuing deeper ways of being where she weaves the sacred and contemplative space. Her leadership evokes what's simply known within: how we are all interconnected, and that wholeness emerges when we are held in compassionate space.

Immersed in advanced trainings in healing intergenerational and collective trauma, Yocheved employs a unique modality that integrates therapeutic and somatic practices with mystical teachings. More than anything, Yocheved shares generously of her unique abilities to cultivate connection and bring harmony to paradox: innovation and tradition, teacher and student, the broken and the whole.

Yom Kippur: October 11- 12, 2024
Learner’s Service will be led by Rabbi Schusterman

Pre-Yom Kippur Dinner - Friday October 11, 2024
5:30 PM Stories to Stir your Soul
Eating on the eve of Yom Kippur is like fasting on the day itself. As we partake of this potent meal, let's align our souls with stories that will set us on course for the 26 hour journey we are to embark on.

Shabbat - October 12, 2024
Learners Services:
10:00 - 11:00 AM: Meditation and Uplifting Ideas
Ideas are not thoughts. And thoughts are not consciousness. During this hour, we will explore core Yom Kippur ideas and then we'll move beyond ideas to access a deeper aspect of who we are. Briefly explore what might be blocking you. Then take a meditative journey to inquire of your higher self what you truly want and how to get there. Close with a profound meditation - The Divine Breath - to put you in touch with your core self.

11:00 - 11:45 AM: Alternative Prayer Service
The Landscape of My Soul
Prayers, poems in a sense, from the Yom kippur liturgy serve as a metaphor for our inner world. They describe both our mission for the Day and for Life.
In this session, we will talk about what prayer really is. We will then explore select poems from the liturgy and attempt to experience their relevance to our daily lives. We will also briefly practice some chanting of prayers in both Hebrew and English and then close with meditating upon and praying the holy Shema.

Yom Kippur afternoon featured talk and discussion:
4:45 PM: In The Belly of the Fish
Life can be dark and smelly. This past year has been a challenging one. It has felt alone and at times we've experienced a desire to escape the isolation. We'll explore what the traditional Yom Kippur Mincha reading of the book of Jonah can teach us of being alone, trying to escape from the world and where we find our grounding. Lively interactive discussion invited.