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Join Us for the High Holidays 2022/5783

Join us for the High Holidays!

Our Rabbi and Cantor have set the theme for our High Holidays observance this year in their Holiday Message:  

Opening to Forgiveness, Hope, and Change in the New Year

This page contains all you need to know about our High Holidays 5783 programming. Here are the topics covered with links to the sections. Where available or required, registration and sign-up are noted.

Questions? Email Leslie Knight, programming@bethelohim.org or our synagogue administrator, Shoshana, szuckerman@bethelohim.org.
 

A Holiday Message from Our Rabbi and Cantor

Dear Congregants,

Shalom! Our theme for the holidays is Opening to Forgiveness, Hope, and Change in the New Year. These past few years, we have experienced unprecedented challenges and uncertainty in our lives. Yet this new year, we are given the immense gift of potential for strength, healing, and confidence. Together, we have the opportunity to set out on a path for a brighter, fulfilling future for ourselves and the world.

Our services this year will bring greater focus to the meaning and intentions of our words, and deeper attention to the positive, life-affirming themes of the holidays. In addition to many familiar prayers and songs, there will be some additions and innovations. Our Torah readings will center on stories of forgiveness and reconciliation, and we will offer an alternative to Untaneh Tokef that celebrates hope, love, and life. Based on your feedback, we also plan on making services shorter this year. So that we can read more literal translations and think together about the meaning of the words of the prayers, we will once again use our prayerbook Mahzor Hadash.

We’re looking forward to coming together this fall to celebrate new beginnings for all of us. This new year, may we walk a path of love, truth, and great blessings! 

Rabbi David and Cantor Sarra

High Holiday Appeal - "We are CBE"

This year, our High Holiday Appeal campaign theme is “We are CBE”, which focuses on our community members. 

Check out our High Holiday Appeal 5783 page to read more about this year's campaign, to contribute so we get to know our CBE community members, and to donate.

You may donate on that page or can always visit our DONATE PAGE, and select "High Holiday Appeal" from the dropdown fund menu.

 

Join our choir and Cantor Sarra in singing "A New Year".

At each of the Rosh Hashanah services, the choir and Cantor Sarra will conclude with a wish for peace and blessings in the new year, expressed in this song by Michael Hunter Ochs. This song is an expression of our hopes for the new year — that love and blessings will be plentiful for all of us. When our choir sings this song at our Rosh Hashanah services, we hope you’ll sing along — and that the good wishes will be multiplied by the strength of all our hearts and voices!

Click on the image below to watch and listien to a beautiful recording of this song — and download the lyrics to sing along.

 

Adult Services:  Both In-Person and Streaming via ZOOM

We are excited to welcome congregants and non-congregants to observe the High Holidays with the CBE community. L’shanah tovah u’metukah, our best wishes for a good and sweet and healthy year!

To accommodate all, we are offering both in-person and streaming via ZOOM for our adult High Holiday services.  

Children's services and programming are offered in-person only.

 

COVID Protocols for In Person Services & Children's Programming

Please remember that anyone 5 years and older must be fully vaccinated, including boosters for those eligible, to attend in-person at CBE. We strongly recommend, but do not yet require, vaccinations for those 6 mos-4 years old.

For High Holidays, we are temporarily reinstituting mandatory masking for anyone in the upstairs portion of CBE (including the sanctuary and community court).

The downstairs classroom area will remain mask optional. We recommend that everyone ages 2 years and older wear a high-quality mask (such as an N95 or KN95) for improved protection.

You can find our more detailed COVID protocols HERE.

 

Ticketing for Congregants:

Ticketing for In-Person Services & ZOOM Services Information

 

Congregants: Ticketing for in-person services in the sanctuary

Family, Single, and Young Adult congregants, with accounts in good standing (and others with prior arrangement), will receive a "ticket email" early in September that will serve as your family's High Holiday services ticket for the adult services in the sanctuary. This ticket email will be sent to the adult family members to the email address that we have in our member directory. The ticket email will be issued from the Congregation Beth Elohim email address:  cbe_main@bethelohim.org.

For ease of email search, we will re-issue this ticket email around September 25th. 

Adult services are recommended for adults and children in grade 7 and above. We welcome your younger children, ages 3 months to grade 6, in our childcare and children's programming. You must pre-register your child(ren) BELOW.

For in-person services, you should be prepared to show this ticket email at the door. You can choose to show tickets on your cell phone or you may print the email and bring that with you. Please be sure to turn off your cell phone upon entering the building.

If you have any questions regarding your account, you may contact our financial secretaries, Kathie Becker and Alan Berko, at financialsecretary@bethelohim.org. If you do not receive your ticket by mid-September and you have checked your spam/ junk folder and have confirmed no issue with your account, please contact Gary Budiansky at websupport@bethelohim.org.

Congregants: Zoom Services Link and Password

The ticket email, referenced above, will also include the ZOOM link and password for ZOOM services in the event that you will attend all or some services via ZOOM.

Ticketing for Associate Congregants, Congregants' Additional Family Members and Non-Congregants  

Ticketing for In-Person Services and ZOOM 

 

In-Person Adult Services Ticketing

  • Congregants may purchase tickets for additional family members that will join in-person services with them at $75 per ticket. 
  • Associate congregants may purchase tickets at the same price ($75 per ticket).
  • We welcome non-congregants to join us in person by purchasing tickets at $350 per adult and $75 per child in grade 7 through college age. 
Upon registration you will receive a confirmation email that will serve as your ticket.  For in-person adult services we ask that you show this ticket email. You can choose to show the email on your cell phone or you may print the email and bring that with you. Please be sure to turn off your cell phone after entering the building.

Your ticket email will also include the ZOOM link and password for ZOOM services in the event that you want to attend some of the services via ZOOM.

You are registering to attend our adult services. Adult services are recommended for adults and children in grade 7 and above. We welcome younger children, ages 3 months to Grade 6,  in our childcare and children's programming. You must pre-register your child(ren) at the link listed BELOW.

Congregation Beth Elohim is committed to providing a welcoming community for all who want to observe and celebrate the high holidays and will not turn away anyone due to financial hardship. For inquiries about special arrangements please contact Synagogue Administrator Shoshana Zuckerman at szuckerman@bethelohim.org. 

ZOOM Services Only Ticketing

We welcome associate congregants, additional family members of congregants, and non-congregants to join our ZOOM services if preferred over our in person services. 

Please register HERE to attend services via ZOOM only.

We are asking for a fee of $36 for both non-congregants and for additional family members of congregants and for associate members. You must register in order to receive the ZOOM link and password for our High Holiday services. 

Reciprocal Tickets

No-cost reciprocal tickets are available to family members of congregants or to associate members who belong to a synagogue outside of our area. We request that you provide written confirmation of membership in good standing from their synagogue to our Synagogue Administrator, Shoshana, at szuckerman@bethelohim.org and we will send you a ticket email for our in person services and provide the ZOOM link and password if you plan to attend via ZOOM. 

If you have children we are happy to have them attend our children's programming.  Please pre-register and pay the children's programming fee BELOW.

Prospective members

The High Holidays are the perfect time for prospective new members to join our CBE community! If you are considering joining CBE and would like to attend High Holiday services as our guest for the first time, please call 978-263-3061 or email  membership@bethelohim.org . We will be glad to email complimentary tickets to you for in-person services and provide you the ZOOM links and passwords if you prefer to participate via ZOOM. Our membership chairs can also tell you more about our community, CBE membership, and reduced rates for new members. 

If you have children we are happy to have the children of prospective members attend our children's programming. Please pre-register and pay the children's programming fee BELOW.

 

Childcare and children's programming - in person

Programming for children 3 months to grade 6

 

Sign-up using the High Holidays Children's Registration Form.

For $18 per child with a $36 maximum per family, we are happy to offer 
  • Childcare on the two days of Rosh Hashanah and on Yom Kippur morning from 9:30 AM until the end of adult services for children ages 3 months to Pre-K. 
  • Children's services and programming for students in grades K through 6 on the two days of Rosh Hashanah Day and on Yom Kippur morning from 9:30 AM until the end of adult services. Age-appropriate children's services and programming will be offered to children in two groups: Kindergarten to grade 3 and grades 4 to 6. Groupings may change based on enrollment.  

Children in grades 7 and above

  • Children in grade 7 and above are invited to attend adult services. 
  • Students in grades 8 to 12 are invited to attend the adult services.  However, we do have a limited number of volunteer opportunities for members in grades 8 to 12.  Find more information below and Sign up HERE to volunteer.  

Registration for childcare & grades K to 6 programming

Children must be registered by Wednesday, September 21st to attend this programming for Rosh Hashanah and by Wednesday, September 26th to attend this programming for Yom Kippur. Parents/ guardians must pre-register their child(ren) (through grade 6) for the grade-appropriate childcare and children's program using the High Holidays Children's Registration Form.

The fee, regardless of the number of services attended, is $18 for one child with a cap of $36 per family. 

Please email Leslie Knight at programming@bethelohim.org to let CBE know if your child has any food allergies, needs any accommodations, or if you have any questions.

 

Volunteers Needed!

Adult volunteers as ZOOM Hosts, Ushers, Greeters, and Parking Assistants

We need many volunteers to serve in these roles across all days and services.

You may sign up using the High Holidays Volunteer Form here.   You may sign up for multiple services & volunteer roles on this form.  

You will be contacted by Leslie Knight or others with more information prior to the holidays.

Parent volunteers

We are looking for parent volunteers from 9:00 AM to 9:45 AM for each of the three mornings of children's programming to greet and check in children.  We need two volunteers for Rosh Hashanah Day 1 and for Yom Kippur and one volunteer for Rosh Hashanah Day 2.  You will find the parent volunteer form fields at the bottom of the High Holidays Children's Registration Form, so can sign-up when you sign up your children.  You can also email Leslie Knight at programming@bethelohim.org.

Teen volunteers in grades 8 to 12

We are looking for teen volunteers in grades 8 to 12 to assist during the children's services and post-services programming. 

Parents of teens or teens, themselves, can sign up HERE to volunteer.  We'll ask for the teen's two top choices of age groups to volunteer with.  Beth Goldstein will assign the teen volunteers based on where there is a need and attempt to place the teen in one of their choice rooms, but no guarantees.  

Parents signing up younger children will, optionally, find a section at the bottom of the High Holidays Children's Registration Form to sign up their teens to volunteer. 

 

Sign Up for Community Shofar Chorus

It is a tradition on the first day of Rosh Hashanah at CBE that many congregants bring their shofars and join us on the bimah for our "community shofar chorus" at both Rosh Hashanah morning services.

To help keep our community safe, we are asking this year that all who want to join the "shofar chorus" pre-register. You will be asked to take a COVID rapid test, provided by CBE, each morning before Rosh Hashanah services.    

Pre-register HERE and let us know who, in your family, will join us with their shofar on the bimah!  

 

Prayer Book PDFs for ZOOM Participants

Special thanks and appreciation to Rabbi Kupchik and the Temple Beth El of Cedarhurst, NY community for graciously sharing these online resources with us. If you are joining us via ZOOM you can click on each link to access the PDF of the machzor we will be using for our services.

 
 

Yizkor Memorial Booklet

During the Yizkor service, we remember our family members, congregants, and friends who have passed. Yizkor services take place four times each year: Yom Kippur, Shemini Atzeret (at the end of Sukkot), the last day of Passover, and Shavuot. 

Each year we print a booklet recalling our loved ones, distributed at the Yizkor service on Yom Kippur and other holidays throughout the year. 

In honor of the gift of our loved ones’ lives and contributions, there is also a custom to donate tzedakah (assistance to those in need) or to the synagogue community.

High Holidays Annual Food Drive for the Acton Food Pantry

Acton Food Pantry serves a critical need in our community by feeding hungry families in our community. Please give generously!

Instructions: Pack your non-perishable items in bags or boxes and bring to the synagogue parking lot on Kol Nidre, October 4th, or on Yom Kippur morning, October 5th.

You may donate non-perishable food items, baby items, personal care items.  

Questions? Contact Rick Silverman.

Tue, May 30 2023 10 Sivan 5783