{"id":21243,"date":"2016-09-23T00:44:01","date_gmt":"2016-09-23T07:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=21243"},"modified":"2016-09-21T12:18:19","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T19:18:19","slug":"making-your-own-traditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/09\/23\/making-your-own-traditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Making your own traditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

As an alternative or addition to synagogue services, you could find a nice place outside in which to pray or reflect. (photo by Jan Lieberman via Wikimedia Commons)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

There is a lot of beauty to the traditional synagogue experience. However, a traditional High Holidays service just does not speak to some, especially many young adults.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuying seats for the High Holidays is super-expensive,\u201d said Rachel Moses, a marketer for a Jewish nonprofit from Mt. Washington, Md. \u201cIt also just doesn\u2019t feel like it\u2019s my place.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you think like Moses, consider skipping the tickets, and celebrating Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur outside the traditional four walls of your family synagogue. Here are nine alternative ways to connect to the High Holidays without stepping foot in a shul.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Build community<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Thomas Arnold, who works in Homeland Security and is from Pikesville, Md., says people often interpret Yom Kippur as a heavy day of repentance. In contrast, the day\u2019s prohibitions \u2013 things like fasting, not wearing leather footwear, not making love to your partner, refraining from taking a bath \u2013 are intended to help us think less about our own needs and more about those of others.<\/p>\n

    \u201cThe point is to understand there are people that don\u2019t have food, that don\u2019t have water, that don\u2019t have shoes to wear,\u201d said Arnold, citing the 18th-century ethical Jewish book Mesillat Yesharim: The Path of the Upright<\/em> by Italian rabbi and philosopher Moshe Hayyim Luzzatto. \u201cWe don\u2019t have sex because there are people in the world who don\u2019t have partners and cannot connect in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Arnold looks for people who are in need, lacking something or are lonely, and makes a point of giving to them during the High Holiday season. Sometimes, he invites them over for a meal, and other times he just lends them a helping hand.<\/p>\n

    \u201cOn Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, make it about other people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Host a meal<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Rabbi Jessy Gross, named by the Forward as one of the most inspiring rabbis of 2016, said some of her best holiday memories are not from the synagogue, but from places where people came together, like at her holiday table.<\/p>\n

      \u201cHaving meals with other people, especially if the person hosting can serve traditional Jewish foods, creates an opportunity … to celebrate Jewish food and culture,\u201d said Gross.<\/p>\n

      Shari Seidman Klein of Beit Shemesh in Israel agrees. She cooks a holiday meal for her family, as well as for her children, a few of whom choose not to attend traditional activities. Apples and honey, round raisin challah and other sweet things bring the kids and their friends back to her dining room each year.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Change something<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Klein said she often instructs her Hebrew school students, many of whom are products of intermarriage, to use the High Holidays as a time to better themselves. She tells them, \u201cTake on one thing for one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

        For example, rather than fasting on Yom Kippur, she recommended giving up candy, soda or something else they like to eat. Older individuals might decide to give up the personal comfort of watching TV, or they might make the higher commitment of refraining from talking badly about others.<\/p>\n

        \u201cIt\u2019s the idea of tikkun olam, bettering the world,\u201d said Klein. \u201cThat one thing on that one day can take you back to the basics of being \u2013 and thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Do Tashlich<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          One of Gross\u2019 favorite rituals is Tashlich, for which all a person needs is access to a body of natural water such as a creek, pond or river. She recommends taking some bread or crackers and spending some time by the water meditating or journaling.<\/p>\n

          \u201cI like to think about where I have missed the mark or haven\u2019t reached my potential and cast this out,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is great opportunity to … think about what you want as we evolve into the coming year. It\u2019s a process of spiritual cleansing and preparedness.\u201d<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. Form a minyan<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            The Israeli organization Tzohar has been working to bring together the religious and secular Jewish communities in the Jewish state. In the central city of Lod, Tzohar\u2019s executive vice-president, Yakov Gaon, said his organization found that many secular Israelis refrain from going to synagogue, not because they don\u2019t want to pray, but because the service is too fast, politicized, costly or uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

            \u201cThey don\u2019t know how to dress, when to stand up or sit down,\u201d Gaon said.<\/p>\n

            About 15 years ago, Tzohar began creating alternative minyans in community centres, schools and gyms. The services bring like-minded people together. Each service is assigned a leader who announces the prayer page numbers to read, and explains what\u2019s happening in the prayers. Today, more than 56,000 people take part in these Yom Kippur services at 300 locations across Israel. An additional 1,500 people attend one of Tzohar\u2019s 60 Rosh Hashanah services.<\/p>\n

              \n
            1. Go to Israel<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              While it may be too late now to book a trip, in general, traveling to Israel on or around the High Holidays is a more special experience than traveling there during nearly any other time of year, said Arnold, whose daughter is studying in Israel for the year.<\/p>\n

              Arnold said Israelis have a reputation for being rude or pushy, but during the Hebrew month of Elul \u2013 this month, which leads up to Rosh Hashanah \u2013 Israelis tend to mellow out.<\/p>\n

              \u201cIt\u2019s like they know it instinctively,\u201d Arnold said with a laugh. \u201cTheir Jewish souls come out and they know it is the Yamim Noraim<\/em> (High Holy Days) and they better get themselves together.\u201d<\/p>\n

              The whole country prepares with holiday festivals, music, delicious holidays foods and smells, he said.<\/p>\n

                \n
              1. Host discussion<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                Skipping the rabbi\u2019s sermon? Write your own, and invite others to hear it. Klein has tapped into several online resources, such as myjewishlearning.com<\/a>, to provide fodder for discussion at the table, or for her son and his friends to discuss in an intimate setting. Gross, too, said that using online content and hosting a discussion group can help you learn about the holiday, and then share those insights with others.<\/p>\n

                  \n
                1. Reflect in Elul<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  There is still time to make an Elul reflection calendar. Create a pie chart divided by the Hebrew months, said Gross. Break each pie down by the number of days in that month. On each slice, record a guided meditation question or something you want to work on. Then, every morning or before bed, read it and reflect.<\/p>\n

                  Here, too, Gross added, there are plenty of online trigger questions if you need guidance.<\/p>\n

                    \n
                  1. Have a picnic<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                    Mt. Washington\u2019s Moses said hosting or attending a holiday picnic brings people together, offering a venue to eat traditional foods and also spend time in nature. While the children are playing, the adults can host the aforementioned discussion group, or meditate under the open sky.<\/p>\n

                      \n
                    1. Pray outside<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                      In general, being outside is a good way to infuse spirituality into your holiday. Transform your backyard, a park or a forest into a synagogue and pray.<\/p>\n

                      Most years, Moses attends Baltimore Hebrew Congregation\u2019s Rosh Hashanah Under the Stars program, which offers an alternative Jewish New Year get-together for members and non-members.<\/p>\n

                      \u201cThere are thousands of people there, right under the stars, with no ceiling above you,\u201d said Moses. \u201cYou feel like you are one with nature, with each other and with God \u2013 whatever sense of God there is.\u201d<\/p>\n

                      On years she cannot make the service, she and her family might travel to Ocean City, Md., instead. \u201cWe\u2019ll just sit there and listen to the ocean,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

                      To read more from JNS.org, click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                      As an alternative or addition to synagogue services, you could find a nice place outside in which to pray or reflect. (photo by Jan Lieberman via Wikimedia Commons) There is a lot of beauty to the traditional synagogue experience. However, a traditional High Holidays service just does not speak to some, especially many young adults. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[781],"tags":[1802,218,665,1801],"class_list":["post-21243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","tag-high-holidays","tag-judaism","tag-prayer","tag-rosh-hashanah"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}