There are so many creative holiday options and useful resources out there to make this most unusual Rosh Hashanah meaningful.

Last year, I wrote about Bowl Hashanah in a Jerusalem Post article.  Thanks to the generosity of Brooklyn Bowl owner and mensch extraordinaire, Peter Shapiro, a creative musical Rosh Hashanah takes place in this musical venue every year.   This year, they will expand, hosting 4 free online services from the Brooklyn Bowl.

Four events—on the first night and first day of Rosh Hashanah (Sept 18 at 7:30 pm ET and Sept 19 at 10 am ET), Kol Nidre (Sept 27 at 7 pm ET)) and Yom Kippur Day (Sept 28 at 10 am ET) will be led by Rabbi Daniel Brenner and musical director and Antibalas co-founder, Jordan McClean.  Jeremiah Lockwood, who was a member of Balkan Beat Box and Piedmont Blues musician Carolina Slim's Fraternal Order and has collaborated extensively with Antibalas, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Brian Chase and many others, will serve as musical and spiritual supervisor remotely.   Info on the free livestream on Fans.com is available here:

Synagogues are doing all kinds of creative things to bring Rosh Hashanah to the people. Most (especially Reform and Conservative) are offering Zoom only services, while some are offering shortened or blended options including morning services outdoors, or morning services on Zoom with afternoon/evening/tashlich and shofar outside.

Last week, I explored some creative options for Orthodox synagogues, which are not able to use technology on Shabbat and holidays

Earlier this week, I wrote about shuls from all denominations getting together in New York City for “Shofar in the Streets.   A wonderful model.

Just today, I came across resources which will surely be useful for families wishing to make Rosh Hashanah meaningful for their children.  One is from PJ library with their “High Holidays at Home Guide for Families”—a free download.

My Jewish Learning is offering a similar sounding resource:  “How To Celebrate the High Holidays at Home.”

They are also offering “Nine Things You Didn’t Know About Rosh Hashanah.”

Finally for today, I just discovered a very nice, recently released resource which is useful for families of children with disabilities, and for all children!  It is a social story from jkidaccess in Philadelphia! 

More to come….

Imagine “Dancin in the Street” but with Shofars!

The catchy, upbeat song, first sung by Martha and the Vandellas in 1964, has been performed by the Grateful Dead (some versions are 16 minutes long!), the Mamas and the Papas, Van Halen—even David Bowie and Mick Jagger!   The song brings people together, and they can’t help but dance!

The Upper East Side of Manhattan will come together on the 2^nd day of Rosh Hashanah (4 pm on Sunday Sept 20) for “Shofar in the Streets.”  As the flyer says, “Hear the shofar on the second day of Rosh HaShanah from your windows and balconies, or, meet us on the streets! WEAR YOUR MASKS AND MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCE as shofars are sounded by East Side Jewish synagogues.” For safety reasons, it is probably best not to dance this year!

There are many reasons for blowing the shofar, nicely spelled out in the My Jewish Learning article, “10 Things the Shofar Symbolizes.”  Many of us are familiar with the shofar “waking us up” at this time of year, reminding us it is Judgement Day, and recalling both the Revelation at Sinai, and the Binding of Isaac.  Perhaps a lesser known reason is that the shofar foreshadows the coming of the Messiah.

When 15 shuls from all the various movements get together to enable whole Jewish world to experience and fulfill the mitzvah of hearing the shofar—especially in a year when so many will venture in to a synagogue, then the coming of the Messiah is surely a bit closer!

Nice job, Upper East Side!  May you be an inspiration for Jewish communities around the world!

Every year in the weeks leading up to Rosh Hashanah, I challenge my students to think of things we do to prepare for the holiday.  The list starts with “we buy apples and honey,” and progresses to round challah and pomegranates.  We then discuss spiritual preparations which include looking back on the whole year and identifying areas in need of improvement and people we need to approach to seek forgiveness.  Only then do we think of more playful things like putting aside some bread to throw in to a river for tashlich, or assembling reading material for synagogue to get us through the hours and hours spent sitting.   

This year is different.  Rosh Hashanah services will not be the same as usual this year.  For some, it will mean watching a service over Zoom.  For others, it will mean attending a much shorter, socially distanced service.  For many, Rosh Hashanah will be spent at home.  Many synagogues have provided links for ordering mahzors, the special prayer books we use on the holiday—while all shuls have them, safety concerns mean they are not lending them out.   The assumption is that many will be praying alone at home, or tuning in over Zoom.  However, I have heard very few people addressing the most important mitzvah of the holiday—hearing the shofar.  Enter Chabad!

As we all know, Chabad and Chabad shluchim are everywhere in the world—from Anchorage to Bangkok to Brisbane.  Jews know they can just show up at a Chabad House and their needs for a Shabbat meal, a Passover Seder, a listening ear and so much more will be there. But what about shofar blowing?   What will Chabad rabbis do to meet the needs of those unable to go to shul?  I assume Chabad rabbis around the world will go to homes and apartment buildings and town squares and blow shofar from outside (this year, only on the 2^nd day of Rosh Hashanah as the first day is Shabbat).  But that may require complex coordination and timing.  

Imagine my delight when I came across an email with the subject line “Learn to blow the shofar @home.”  Against a dark blue background is a blue man with an orange kipa—and an orange shofar with the words, “This year, blowing shofar is in your hands.”   And there is a link to register for a 3 session course—which I just took today!

I have been blowing shofar each day of Elul and am a more than passable amateur—for Elul mornings. But Rosh Hashanah is different.  The stakes are higher. Enter Rabbi Chanoch Kaplan and three videos—about 15 minutes each, on The ABCs of Shofar Blowing, Kosher Shofar Blowing and the Kabalah of Shofar.  Rabbi Kaplan acknowledges that many people will be at home this year and will need to take responsibility for blowing the shofar. He addresses how to select a shofar, where to get it, tricks on how to blow (right side, since that is where Satan resides; use two fingers to support lips), he explains and demonstrates the 3 sounds, addresses who can blow the blessing and shares mystical and spiritual elements.  The course is free but it is worth a donation for learning to fulfill such an important mitzvah for oneself and potentially for a family or a neighborhood.  Highly recommended!   

Go buy honey and get a pre-holiday haircut—but don’t forget about shofar blowing!

Register here!

On extremely rare occasions, a video stops me in my tracks.  Admittedly, I have a greater chance of even looking at a YouTube video if it comes from a trusted Ramah colleague, and features a former Ramah Tikvah camper.   This video is a tribute to the power of camp, families and firefighters across the world.

In 1984, I spent my first summer as a counselor in the Tikvah Program, the disabilities inclusion program at Camp Ramah in New England.  Ramah has proudly been including people with disabilities in its camps since 1970.  That means that Tikvah just turned 50.  So did Aaron Hartman, a camper who I remember fondly from all of my years working with Tikvah.  Aaron was likeable, friendly, and he enjoyed every aspect of camp.   He also loved fire engines and fire fighters.  This love continues until this day. 

Loving brothers, Noah and Josh, family members, Camp Ramah friends, community members and so many others decided that the best gift to give a life-long lover of fire engines and fire fighters, would be a video about…fire engines and fire fighters.

This team didn’t mess around.  As brother Josh wrote on Facebook: “This video is a collaboration of 100s of firefighters in the US and around the world wishing Aaron the happiest of 50th birthdays. Noah and I are very thankful to all the family, friends and strangers alike that helped us get videos from all 50 states and beyond. Your kindness is so greatly appreciated. Happy Birthday, Aaron. We hope you enjoy and wish we could be there celebrating with you in person.”

This 32-minute video is extraordinary!  Not only will it teach you the 50 states in alphabetical order—and include a trip to Israel to such cities as Jerusalem, Bersheva, and Herziliya—it will show the amazing dedication of fire fighters and emergency personnel across the country and around the world.

I am lucky enough to continue to work with Tikvah—36 years after that first Tikvah summer.  We continue to see the impact of Tikvah campers and the Tikvah Program on the camp community, and on the larger world.  Members of the Israeli mishlachat (delegation) return to Israel more sensitive after a summer at a Ramah camp.  I am sure Aaron was a great emissary for disabilities and inclusion during his Tikvah Ramah trip to Israel many years ago.  Brother Noah reports, “Aaron is proud to share that he went to Israel with Ramah whenever it comes up!”

Campers and staff are more comfortable with people with disabilities—and this carries over later in life.  And many make career decisions based on their experience working or just being with Tikvah campers.  Amy Finkelstein, who helped with this project, first met Aaron at Camp Ramah in New England in the early 90s.   She reports, “I'm a very minor figure in Aaron's life, but he had a major impact on me as a camper.  I ended up working in the special needs program at Camp Barney Medintz in Georgia for many years after high school and into my 20's because of my exposure to Tikvah at Palmer.  My connection to Aaron started at Palmer. My first job out of college was as a service coordinator for adults with disabilities in the Atlanta Jewish community….”

We are so pleased that Aaron and so many Tikvah campers and alum have been such amazing ambassadors over the years.  Aaron is blessed to be part of a most loving family.   And the local, national and international firefighting community clearly understood just how much a few minutes of their time would mean to Aaron.

Please enjoy the video and share widely!  And if you’d like to learn even more about Aaron, listen to Aaron and his dad being interviewed in 2014 for NPR’s StoryCorps, shared on William Syndrome Association Facebook page