Preparing for the High Holidays: Heart • Body • Mind

Preparing for the High Holidays: Heart • Body • Mind

This year, we are offering a series of three adult education opportunities in preparation for the High Holidays. Each session stands on its own, so come to as many as you like! We’ll explore the heart through song, the body through the tastes of Rosh Hashana, and the mind through learning on friendship and forgiveness.

These classes are designed with adults in mind; teenagers are always welcome.

I. Song of the Heart: High Holiday Singing Circle

Sunday, September 7, 10:00–11:30 AM in the Kleiman Sanctuary
With Rabbi Eliana Jacobowitz & Amy Pasternack, Ritual Chair

Brush up on familiar melodies, learn a few new ones, and sing your way into the High Holidays! We’ll share the tunes that make this season so moving—no experience needed, just your voice and an open heart.

Register for Song of the Heart!

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II. Symbolic Foods of Rosh Hashana: Meaning, Memory, and Hope

Sunday, September 14, 3:00–4:30 PM in Nissenbaum Hall
With Rabbi Lior Nevo

From apples and honey to leeks, fenugreek, dates, and even more surprising items, Jewish tradition is rich with symbolic foods eaten on Rosh Hashana. Each carries a wish, a prayer, or a hope for the year ahead. In this class, we’ll explore familiar and unusual “simanim” (signs), uncover their origins in Jewish sources, and discover how these delicious customs invite us to mark the new year with meaning and intention. We’ll also have the chance to taste these symbolic foods and share creative serving ideas—so you can bring the tradition, and the flavor, to your own holiday table.

Rabbi Lior Nevo serves as a chaplain at Hebrew SeniorLife, in the Greater Boston Area. She has a bachelor’s degree in Bible and Jewish Thought from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She received her master’s degree in Pluralistic Jewish Education in a joint program of Hebrew University and Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, where she also received her ordination in 2015. 

Register for Symbolic Foods of Rosh Hashana!

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III. High Holiday Reflections on Friendship and Forgiveness

Wednesday, September 17, 7:00–8:30 PM on Zoom
With Rabbi Eliana Jacobowitz

Join Rabbi Eliana for conversation, learning, and reflection on the mitzvah “Love your neighbor as yourself.” We’ll explore what this teaching means for our own lives as we prepare for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur: mending relationships, making amends, and opening our hearts for a new year. No homework, no pressure—just a warm space to think, share, and get ready for the Days of Awe.

Register for High Holiday Reflections!