We celebrate all major (and most minor) Jewish holidays as a community, including:
Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Chanukah, Tu B’shevat, Purim, Passover, Shavuot, and Tisha B’Av
We hold Family Days in our Sinai School for each holiday throughout the year and together, we bring the rhythm and meaning of the Jewish calendar into our personal and communal lives.
High Holidays 5781 / 2020
These Holy Days are a time of prayer, music, reflection, and learning.
Come and join our congregational family
for a spiritually deep High Holy Day experience!
We Welcome Everyone!
Due to the ongoing pandemic, the size of our facility while practicing sacred social-distancing, and for the safety of our community, this year we will celebrate the High Holy Days online via a live-stream to our website and Facebook and we will hold our smaller, more interactive High Holy Day events and classes via Zoom.
As always, Temple Sinai welcomes all members and guests to our High Holy Day services and events. This year there are no tickets, “seats,” or nametags to reserve and our services and events are completely FREE, although we do gratefully accept freewill donations.
To make a donation for the High Holy Days, to submit memorial names for our Yizkor service, and for more information about the High Holy Days this year at Temple Sinai, just expand the collapsible sections below.
-
Elul Adult Study Sessions
3:00 PM SUNDAYS, AUGUST 23, 30, & SEPTEMBER 8
- “Forgiveness from Jewish Sources”
(led by Dr. Deborah Achtenberg via Zoom)
4:00 PM SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13
- “Yizkor: History, Meaning & Traditions”
(led by Dr. Jeff Gingold via Zoom)
Full details below. Register for the sessions here.
Selichot Service
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
- 8:00 pm Leil Selichot Program via Live-Stream
(See details below.)
Erev Rosh HaShanah
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
- 7:00 pm Rosh HaShanah Seder via Live-Stream
See the “Resources Section” below and download the Haggadah for the Rosh HaShanah Seder.
(brief Friday Evening Service after)
Rosh HaShanah
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
- Morning Blessings Self-Guided Worksheet
(See the “Resources Section” below to get the worksheet.) - 10:00 am Morning Service via Live-Stream
- 4-4:30 pm Tot Rosh HaShanah, 0-8yrs via Zoom
(This is a service geared for kids 0-8 years old, and will feature music by Rabbi Sara and a story from one of our librarians, Marilyn Bowie.) - 5:30 pm Tashlich Service
Live-stream of the Rabbis’ Tashlich Service.
(See the “Resources Section” below and download a Tashlich Service booklet to use for your own Tashlich during the day.)
Shabbat Shuvah
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
- 7:30 pm Kabbalat Shabbat via Live-Stream
Kever Avot
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
- 2:00 pm Hebrew Cemetery Community Memorial Service
(Live-streaming service at the Hebrew Cemetery; everyone welcome in person. Wearing a mask and observing social distancing guidelines is required.)
Erev Yom Kippur
Sunday, SEPTEMBER 27
- 7:30 pm Kol Nidrei Service via Live-Stream
Yom Kippur
Monday, SEPTEMBER 28
- Morning Blessings Self-Guided Worksheet
(See the “Resources Section” below to get the worksheet.) - 10:00 am Morning Service via Live-Stream
- Afternoon Self-Guided Offerings
(Six amazing offerings to choose from. Expand the “Yom Kippur Self-Guided Offerings” section below for full details and links to resources.) - 4-4:30 pm Tot Yom Kippur, 0-8yrs
(This is a service geared for kids 0-8 years old, and will feature music by Rabbi Sara and a story from one of our librarians, Marilyn Bowie.) - 6:30 pm Yizkor (Memorial) and N’ilah (Concluding) Services
See the “Resources Section” below to download a Yizkor Service Book.
(live-streamed back-to-back as one service)
- “Forgiveness from Jewish Sources”
5781 Elul Study
Lech L’cha – Go Out and Vote!
There is a story about the Chazon Ish, an early 20th Century Orthodox rabbi, who ran into a congregant on Election Day. When the congregant admitted having not voted because he could not afford the poll tax, the rabbi told him to sell his tefillin, the boxes he wound around his arm and head each morning before praying. Tefillin, the rabbi argued, could be borrowed, but your vote cannot.
As we near the election in this country, we are equally as interested in making sure that everyone votes. It is our civic duty to do so, and even a Jewish one. A teaching from the Talmud reminds us that “A ruler is not to be appointed unless the community is first consulted” (Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 55a). With the potential for a historic turnout and the reality of a pandemic, there are many more concerns and issues surrounding election day than ever before. Fortunately this year, every voter in Nevada will be receiving an absentee ballot. Concerns about waiting to vote, social distancing, and other barriers to voting are no longer an issue.
If you are eligible to vote, and have not registered, you can do so here: https://www.nvsos.gov/sosvoterservices/Registration/Step0.aspx If you are 17, but will be 18 on election day, you can also register. Mail-in registrations must be postmarked by October 6, 2020, and online registration runs through October 29, 2020. Please let us know if you have any trouble registering or need a hand. We are here to help.
Whether you are concerned about national elections, local issues, or everything in between, we recall the words of Jewish Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis: “‘The most important political office is that of the private citizen.” And as citizens, our duty is to cast our ballots and vote.
L’shalom,
Rabbi Sara Zober
Rabbi Benjamin Zober