There’s a Rosh Hashanah children’s book that goes page by page describing different things that Jews do on the holiday with pictures to accompany… “We blow the shofar;” “We dip apples in honey;” “We go to synagogue.”
It’s a cute book that made me think more deeply about the declarative and universal way we often talk to kids, “we don’t hit;” “we use nice words;”…” as if “we” represents all of humanity, or in the case of this children’s book, the entirety of the Jewish people. Perhaps the book is intended to be aspirational instead of descriptive because when it comes to the Jewish people one thing we do know is that there is no one thing that we all do, especially when it comes to a holiday observance like Rosh Hashanah.
Of course it is true that many people (millions around the world) hear the sound of the shofar, dip apples in honey, and go to synagogue on Rosh Hashanah. At the same time, there are millions of people in Jewish homes around the world who do not do any of these things on Rosh Hashanah. I say this without judgment and merely as a statement of fact. There are millions of Jews who went to synagogue yesterday and millions who didn’t.
I spent the first 10 years of my rabbinic career serving those who go to synagogue and am so grateful for those amazing years. My goal, now, is to validate that there are other legitimate ways to live Jewishly and to immerse myself in the world of those who are looking for alternatives… Those who don’t want to exclusively go to worship services on the High Holy Days but who still want to mark these holidays in a meaningful way.
Yesterday I had my first opportunity to offer an alternative Rosh Hashanah experience and I couldn’t be more thrilled with how it went! I decided to run a program at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum centered around the theme of apples and honey with a goal of offering an experiential, joyful, celebratory, and educationally integrated program. We had close to 100 people attend and unfortunately even had to create a waitlist because of the Arboretum’s limited capacity.
The experience was precisely how I envisioned it, and then some. I provided an opening teaching about the significance of apples and honey for Rosh Hashanah (beyond just the standard “something sweet for a sweet new year”) and then we broke up into two rotations led by the Arboretum staff, one on beekeeping and one on apple harvesting. I learned a ton from the experts at the Arb and also got to bask in the joy of seeing so many new faces learning and engaged. After the rotations we gathered as a large group to get to taste the apples and honey. I led the blessings, had an opportunity to share my homemade round challah, sang a few Rosh Hashanah songs, offered some additional teachings about the holiday, and blew each of the sounds of the shofar, along with Jake, who outlasted me in t’kiah g’dolah (the long and final blast of the shofar). We even got to taste a new prototype apple that has not been released to the public and doesn’t even have a name yet! A brand new apple for a brand new year!
I’m so grateful for all who attended for trusting me and trusting YourJewish with a new way of celebrating Rosh Hashanah.
I’ll be doing something similar, but totally different for Yom Kippur. Similar in the sense that it is validating that there are meaningful ways to mark the holiday beyond worship services but different in pretty much every other way! I’ll be collaborating with an incredibly talented group of local musicians to offer a program that takes a deep dive into the themes of Yom Kippur through both traditional and contemporary music. I’ll be doing some teaching on the themes of three significant prayers and the musicians will be playing with the way contemporary artists have brought forward these themes in new and powerful ways. While Rosh Hashanah had a light, celebratory, and joyous vibe, Kol Nidre will take us on a deeper, spiritual, and musical path as we explore themes of vulnerability and mortality, forgiveness, faith, and presence.. If you are interested in joining us, we’d love to have you. Click here to learn more.
Thanks as well to all those who have made donations in support of our mission and vision. Both of these High Holy Day events have high costs associated with them and would not be possible to pull off without the support of our donors..Thank you for believing in us and for helping us expand the pages in our collective book of what we do when we celebrate the holidays. Perhaps in the future our children’s books about the holidays may include pages like, “We go to the Arboretum” or “We listen to Leonard Cohen.” :) Click here to contribute to our campaign in pursuit of these grand goals.
Thanks again to those who joined us at the Arb and I hope everyone else had a meaningful and fulfilling holiday. Sending you each all my best for a sweet new year.
