It is now September and the Jewish Community Worldwide is getting ready to start the New Year 5786 and the observance of our High Holy Days and other Holidays commemorating the Harvest and beginning of the annual Torah Reading Cycle. This is the high point of our year at Temple Shalom of Central Florida.
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year starts at sundown on Monday September 22.
We will offer a combination of prayers, rituals, music and traditions that will enable sharing and interaction with our Temple Members, Friends and Guests. A full list of Dates and Events appear below.
Samantha Sherman, President of Temple Shalom of Central Florida and resident of the Village of Buttonwood, extends her best wishes to the entire Tri-County Community during the Jewish High Holy Days. “Our High Holy Day Prayer Services will embrace all the joy and emotion of the season. We offer an opportunity to take a break from our normal routines and to reflect on our past year achievements and challenges and explore how we might change in the future. We hope for good health, happiness and fulfillment for ourselves, our families and our community.”
Rabbi Zev Sonnenstein will lead all the High Holy Day Services accompanied by the Temple Shalom Choir. He is assisted in planning by the Temple Ritual Committee led by Marsha Riefs, Village of Collier, with an active Committee of 20 Temple Members.
Rabbi Zev states “On Rosh Hashanah, we celebrate life and the possibility of new beginnings. We affirm the freedom and responsibility we have, to conduct our lives with decency and morality. On Yom Kippur, we focus on the mistakes we make when we fail to exercise our freedom with responsibility. We seek atonement and forgiveness for our mistakes, and we experience the fragility of life. We realize that we want to make a meaningful difference by the way we live our lives while we still can and do teshuvah. Contained within the word teshuvah is the root shuv (shin, vav, vet), meaning to turning, returning, reflecting and learning how we can be our best selves and our best as a community.”
Temple Shalom of Central Florida is excited to share our holiday customs and traditions with the entire TriCounty Community. For more information and dates/times, check out our website at www.tscfl.org, contact Temple Shalom by email or at [email protected] or call 352-748-1800.
A Guide to the Jewish High Holidays
Temple Shalom started the High Holy Day Season on Saturday September 13 with Selichot and Havdalah Service. We began the evening with the beautiful Havdalah Service which signifies the end of Shabbat followed by the meaningful tradition of changing the Torah Covers to special High Holy Day Torah Covers.
Rosh Hashanah, literally meaning “head [of] the year”, is the Jewish New Year starts on Monday September 22. It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days that occur in the early autumn of the Northern Hemisphere. Rosh Hashanah is a two-day celebration. Rosh Hashanah customs include sounding the shofar (a cleaned-out ram’s horn), attending synagogue services and enjoying festive meals that include symbolic foods such as apples dipped in honey, hoping to evoke a sweet new year.
Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement on Wednesday October 1, is the holiest day of the year in Judaism with the special Kol Nidre Service. It takes place 10 days after the New Year. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with an approximate 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services.
We continue our Holiday activity on Monday October 6 with Sukkot commonly called the Festival of Shelters. During the existence of the Jerusalem Temple, it was one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which the Israelites were commanded to perform a pilgrimage to the Temple. It marks the end of the harvest time and the agricultural year in the Land of Israel. It lasts seven days. The Sukkot is the plural of Sukkah which is a temporary walled structure covered with plant material, such as palm leaves, and hung with fruits and vegetables where meals are eaten and many people sleep there as well. Temple Shalom builds a Sukkah every year.
Simchat Torah is on October 14. After the seven joyous days of Sukkot, we come to the happy holidays of Shemin Atzeret and Simchat Torah. We still dwell in the Sukkah, but without a blessing. Yizkor, the memorial for the departed, is also said on this day. The second day is known as Simchat Torah, when we complete and immediately begin the annual Torah reading cycle. This joyous milestone is marked with dancing as the Torah scrolls are held aloft. It is a chance to get up close and personal with the Torah. Both days are celebrated by nightly candle lighting and festive meals.
The full schedule for Temple Shalom’s High Holy Day Services is attached. We welcome current and new members to join us in our celebrations. Some events require a ticket or reservation but many are open to the public. Please inquire if you would like to join us.
Temple Holiday Outreach Season Begins with Sukkot
Twelve years ago, one of our Temple Members, moved into a Villages assisted living residence and asked if someone from the Temple could come to his facility and share holiday traditions with the Jewish residents and other interested people at the facility.
Sylvia Elinoff (Village of Hadley) is the current Chairperson of the Temple Shalom Sisterhood Holiday Outreach Program. Over the years the Committee grew to 40 Sisterhood participants who share the Sukkot, Hanukkah and Passover Holidays with residents in 18 rehab, assisted living, nursing and memory care centers around the TriCounty area. The tambourines and song sheets are always there so that the residents and staff can sing along. They highlight the elements and symbols of holiday, describe the historical significance, perform the blessings in Hebrew and English, and talk about how the holiday is celebrated today with personal recollections including the special holiday foods.
Villager Susan Feinberg is a member of Temple Shalom.