Welcome the new year, celebrate the birthday of the world, and gather with our community as we face this moment together, and begin to draw on the practices of this season to sustain us and uplift us in difficult times.

Sermons by Victoria Alcoset and Avi Brooks. Service led by Rabbi Dev Noily, Fresh Lev White, and Hazzan Shulamit Wise Fairman with Musical Prayer Leaders Beth Dickinson and Debbie Fier, joined by Julie Nesnansky and Avi Rose.  

Gather for the virtual service (optional): Candles to light with us at the beginning of service, challah and wine or juice for Kiddush and Motzi after services.

Led by R. David Cooper and Hazzan Shulamit Wise Fairman, with an offering by Aurora Levins Morales, and musical prayer leaders Julie Nesnansky and Debbie Fier. Torah Service with Avi Rose and Torah chanters Max Roston-Saul and Rebekkah Scharf.

Bring (optional): Tallit/prayer shawl and challah, wine or juice for Kiddush and Motzi after services, plus shofar, kazoo or horn!

Join Jen Miriam and Alon Altman at the Lake Temescal North picnic area!  Enjoy a Rosh Hashanah experience with puppets, music and lots of fun for our youngest celebrants and the grown-ups who love them.

Join Musical Prayer Leaders Beth Dickinson and Wren Ganin-Pinto with Rabbi Gray Myrseth at the Lake Temescal North picnic area for a fun, kid-centered experience that includes songs, Shofar sounding, a Torah story, and other Rosh Hashanah traditions. Designed for children in grades 1 to 6, and open to all ages.

Bring a blanket or camp chairs to sit on and, if you want, bring your own picnic for Rosh Hashanah lunch following the service. About 30 minutes after our service ends, join us for a family tashlich at the edge of the lake. 

Gathering, chanting and settling in begins at 9:15 am. We invite you to a morning of sacred song and teachings, mindfulness, prayer, healing, and shared community experience. Led by Rabbi Chaya Gusfield and Musician-Educator Jen Myzel.

Bring (optional): Tallit or prayer shawl, challah, wine or fruit juice

We will engage together in prayer, practice, and Torah study within the power of this single Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur – the Shabbat of Turning. Service led by Howard Hamburger and Julie Nesnansky.

Join us for a HavurTot* Shabbat Picnic at Alameda Beach near the Sand Castle Picnic Area.

HavurTot is a Kehilla community space for families with tots ages 0 – 4 ish. BYO picnic blanket and snacks. Contact R’SAM with questions and to rsvp: rabbisam@kehillasynagogue.org

*Havurah means “a friend.” Havurot means “friends.” So HavurTot means “friends with tots” (0 to 4 ish year olds)

Gather at 10:30am at the West Berkeley Shellmound at 1920 Fourth Street in Berkeley. See the location on Google Maps.

Join Jews On Ohlone Land and Kehilla Community Synagogue for an outdoor, family-friendly community Tashlich ritual. Tashlich is the tradition of casting into the water the mistakes we’ve made over the last year, and cleansing ourselves to begin anew.

We’ll gather at the West Berkeley Shellmound at 1900 Fourth Street for a short program and then we’ll walk together to the Berkeley Marina for the Tashlich ceremony and a picnic.

Check out the Facebook event page here.

Jen Miriam and Alon Altman bring their warm, loving and puppet-filled world to a musical Kol Nidre experience for little ones up to age 5 and their grown-ups.

Designed for children in grades 1 to 6; everyone is welcome!

Join Kehilla’s Rabbi Educator, Rabbi Gray Myrseth, and Musical Prayer Leader Wren Ganin-Pinto for a special family experience of Kol Nidre. Enter into the holiness of Yom Kippur with stories, songs and family activities on the theme of teshuvah (literally “turning,” but also means “relationship repair”). Are there things we want to say sorry for? Are there ways we want to try again in the new year? Together we’ll explore these questions and others.

Sermon by Rabbi Dev Noily. Services led by Avi Rose and Hazzan Shulamit Wise Fairman with an offering from Ruthie Levin, our POC Organizer, and musical prayer leaders Beth Dickinson and Debbie Fier. 

On this holiest night of the Jewish year it’s our custom to wear white, to avoid leather, to fast, and to pray wearing a tallit/prayer shawl – the only time in the year that a tallit is worn at night. This service, beginning with the chanting of Kol Nidre, initiates a practice period that will last for the next 25 hours.

Aimed at children and their grown-ups, led by Kehilla’s Rabbi Educator, Rabbi Gray Myrseth.

Main Services begin with a 10 minute “Mikvah in Sound” with Debbie Fier on handpan. 

Morning Sermon by Max Schlossberg.  Service led by Rabbi Dev Noily and Hazzan Shulamit Wise Fairman with musical prayer leaders Julie Nesnansky and Debbie Fier. Torah service with Rabbi Gray Myrseth.

Gather in Kehilla’s courtyard (accessed on Fairview Street).

This workshop, facilitated by Natalie Boskin (she/her), will be an opportunity for Kehilla high school students to gather and ground in some creative reflection this Yom Kippur. Our time together will be a combination of discussion and solo creative reflection on the theme of missing the mark- with ourselves, each other, and our greater communities. The goal of the workshop is for teens to have an opportunity to gather in community to do personal reflection. There will be opportunities (and no expectations) to share. RSVP here. 

On Yom Kippur we need to engage in t’shuvah for the wrongdoings being done to Palestinians by our fellow Jews in Israel. Face-to-Face is a new Kehilla project meant to help oppressed Palestinians suffering under Israeli political and military subjugation. We have initiated a relationship with Umm al-Khair, a Palestinian village in the West Bank. This workshop will include a report on our efforts, hear from two activists in Umm al-Khair, and discuss ways others can join us in supporting the village.

In this one-hour session, we will explore gentle movements to support our mind-body-spirit so that we can absorb the experience of Yom Kippur with our whole being. The practice will include standing, seated and reclined positions drawn from Modern Postural Yoga and Restorative Exercise. Please bring a pillow/cushion so that you can sit and recline comfortably as well as a strap or long scarf.

You’re warmly invited to an hour of trauma-informed meditation / Qigong practice intended to deepen self-connected restful resilience during challenging times. We’ll combine gentle movements with alive stillness.

Suitable for beginners; come as you are.  All are welcome to adapt any movements to fit your own needs.

As Jews of Color — after the trauma of the last 3 years, from Covid to Buffalo — let’s take a pause. Where have we missed the mark? What does our liberation look like?

Mutuality is Not A Zero-Sum Act

To act in a spirit of reciprocity and mutuality does not necessarily mean an equal exchange. I argue that it cannot never be based that. We’ll look at some compelling texts from the Talmud and Jewish philosophy. If it isn’t an equal exchange, what is it?

Led by Victoria Alcoset with Wren Ganin-Pinto, Hazzan Shulamit Wise Fairman and Debbie Fier. Yizkor is our prayer service of remembrance for those who have died in years past. 

The Healing service will be led by Rabbi Elliot Kukla and Beth Dickinson. We will mark the many losses of the past year including losses of: people, places, community, world change, body changes, and losses from ableism, as well as praying for healing for our bodies, communities, and the planet. This service will use a Disability Justice approach, which is intersectional and sees racial justice as inextricably tied to healing.

Everyone (from all backgrounds, and all abilities) is welcome! This will be a multi-access service offered over zoom and in person. The prayers will be interpreted into ASL and closed captioned. There will also be small group discussions over Zoom with options to participate using chat, ASL, or by voice; the in person discussion groups will be by voice only. Please be in touch with elle@kehillasynagogue.org (for virtual access) and tadish@kehillasynagogue.org (for in-person access) with other access questions.

Led by Rabbi Dev Noily, Hazzan Shulamit Wise Fairman, Debbie Fier, Julie Nesnansky, Beth Dickinson, and Wren Ganin–Pinto. Before Yom Kippur ends and the gates of teshuvah swing shut, we gather our strength and courage to delve deeply inward, to pour out our prayers like water, and to raise our voices in song and lift the roof!