Volunteer for the High Holidays

Dear Temple Emanu-El Members,
 
This year, Rosh HaShanah begins on Friday evening, Sept 11. Yom Kippur begins on Sunday evening, Sept 20.
 
We each have a different relationship to the High Holidays. For some, they primarily mark the start of a fresh, new year – along, perhaps, with those fresh notebooks and new clothes for school. For others, they primarily allow moments for reflection about how we use our precious time and energy, looking back to the previous year and ahead to the next. And for others still, they provide time for deep spiritual reckoning, guided by our Jewish tradition.
 
For me, the High Holidays have also been a time to indulge my love of Hebrew and Torah. Reading directly from our Torah scrolls, serving on behalf of our congregation, is deeply fulfilling. I cannot describe how it feels to be immersed in the handwritten Hebrew script, reading from one of our 100-plus-year-old scrolls, reciting words that go back thousands of years, and following a tradition that is being enacted simultaneously all around the world. 
 
For many years, I have volunteered to organize our High Holiday Torah readers and also those who take aliyot. (Aliyot – plural of aliyah. Aliyah – the ‘going up’ to the pulpit and reciting the blessings before and after each Torah reading.) Although I have been away from Rochester for almost three years now, I am happy to continue to coordinate these two sets of volunteers – and a few others.
 
 I am looking for:
  • Torah readers for the first day of Rosh HaShanah (Saturday morning, Sept 12) and for Yom Kippur (Monday morning, Sept 21). You can be an experienced reader, someone who has never read from Torah, or someone in between. The only prerequisite is that you can sound out Hebrew letters and words.

    I will supply the Hebrew text with both the vowels (for learning) and without the vowels (to better represent what you will see in the Torah scroll). As we get close to the High Holidays, you will also receive photos of the text from our actual Torah scrolls so that there will be no surprises when you come face-to-face with your scroll. I will be happy to meet with you for regular practice sessions over the summer (via Zoom), occasional practice sessions, or only a single last-minute practice session.

  • People to take an aliyah for Rosh HaShanah (Saturday morning, Sept 12) and for Yom Kippur (Monday morning, Sept 21). You will chant or say the blessing that is done before reading the Torah and the blessing that is done after reading the Torah.

    Many of you already know these blessings, because there are occasions where the congregation recites them together. Others of you might want to take this opportunity to learn them for the first time. You can volunteer as a single person, a pair, or a (small) family. Again, I will be happy to meet with you on Zoom and to help you with whatever you may need to learn these blessings.

  • Volunteers to light the candles on Erev Rosh HaShanah (the first evening of Rosh HaShanah, Friday, Sept 11) and on Kol Nidre (the first evening of Yom Kippur, Sunday, Sept 20). You will also recite the blessing(s) in English. You can volunteer as a single, pair, or small family.

  • Someone to recite the Hebrew blessings before and after the reading of the Haftarah on Yom Kippur morning.

  • Two people (related or not) to read the Yom Kippur Morning Haftarah in English. The Haftarah portion is from the Book of Isaiah.
Please contact me – for more information or to volunteer. Think about which holiday (Rosh HaShanah or Yom Kippur) is better for you. 
 
I look forward to hearing from you very soon!
 
Leslie