Rabbi Olivier’s Focus for This Year’s High Holy Days:
A Time of Self-Renewal
These High Holy Days offer us a profound opportunity for self-renewal, a time to look inward with honesty and compassion, to reconnect with our deepest values, and to realign our lives with our highest aspirations.
Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of this journey, a time to renew our commitment to growth, to envision the person we wish to become, and to set forth on the path of transformation. It is a time to celebrate the possibilities of a new year, to gather strength from our community, and to feel the hope that comes with a fresh start.
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, deepens this process of renewal. It is a time for sincere introspection, for seeking forgiveness from others and from ourselves, and for releasing the burdens of guilt and regret. In this sacred space, we are given the chance to let go of what no longer serves us, and to emerge with a renewed sense of purpose and clarity.
This year, let the High Holy Days be more than a ritual—let them be a transformative experience. Embrace the opportunity for self-renewal, to turn inward and rediscover the strength, wisdom, and compassion within you. As we gather together as a community, may we support one another in this journey of reflection, forgiveness, and renewal, and step into the new year with open hearts and a renewed spirit.
Schedule of Services
S'lichot - Saturday, September 28th, 8 PM
Don’t miss this year’s S’lichot service as Rabbi Olivier will not only set the theme of our High Holy Days, but also invite us to take our first step in a three-step journey beyond fears.
S’lichot services will, as always, be free and open to everyone and will also be live-streamed for all on our website, our App, Roku and Apple TV, as well as on our Facebook and YouTube channels.
Rosh HaShanah ~ The New Year
Erev Rosh HaShanah - Wednesday, October 2nd, 7 PM
Enter into the energies of the New Year by stepping into a holy space of transition away from the hurried busy-ness of the world.
Our Rosh HaShanah service is our gateway into the transformative energies of the High Holy Days. We gather in community to step more fully into sacred time, our retreating into the recess of the reflective silence of the soul.
Rosh HaShanah - Thursday, October 3rd
How should we start a New Year? What kind of energies do we want to immerse ourselves into on the first morning of a renewed spiritual cycle? Our sages equate Rosh HaShanah with the first day of Creation in Genesis. What individual life-Creation or personal re-Creation could such a day invite us into as the blasts of the Shofar wake us up to writing ourselves in the Book of Life?
10:30 AM – Morning Service
1 PM – Community Potluck
3 PM – Tashlich (meet at the Sanctuary to walk to Green Lake)
Yom Kippur
the Day of at-One-Ment
Kol Nidrei - Friday, October 11th, 7 PM
Yom Kippur - Saturday, October 12th, 10:30 AM – 7 PM
Yom Kippur will start with a morning service that will include Torah chanting, our favorite High Holy Days songs and prayers, and sharing the Priestly Blessing with one another. Early afternoon will transition to the study of the Book of Jonah, our Yizkor and Neilah services will meet us early evening, and all will be interspersed by three meditation sessions, one of which will be dedicated to healing.
Break-Fast - Saturday, October 12th, 7 PM
Join us as we break our fast in community with a delicious menu prepared by our amazing caterer Mangia Bene. Registration is a separate line item on our High Holy Days in person registration. If you plan to eat, please ensure to reserve your meal!
Registration
We are excited to be able to offer our High Holy Days services both in-person and via live streaming to all our registered participants. Our in-person services will be capped at 160 people so please be sure to register early if you wish to attend in-person.
Online registration and streaming will happen almost identically to our process from last year, and registration for members opens on August 15th. If you are contemplating becoming a sustaining member, we encourage you to consider joining now for the in-person ticket discounts and more.
As always, we do not want anyone to miss out on High Holy Days for financial reasons. If you require confidential financial assistance, have any difficulty logging into your account, or have any questions about our registration process, please email our office at administrator@betalef.org.
Registration for in-person services is NOW OPEN to members
In Person Service Pricing
You must log in to your member account in order to receive member discounts.
Children may attend services free of charge; This year we are excited to include Family Programming during our Yom Kippur services
If you require confidential financial assistance, have any difficulty logging into your account or have any questions about our registration process, please email our office at administrator@betalef.org.
Member Pricing
Individual Full Series – $195
Young Adult Full Series (ages 18-30) – $135
Youth Full Series (ages 13-18) – $105
Individual Single Service – $95 each
Young Adult Single Service (ages 18-30) – $65 each
Youth Single Service (ages 13-18) – $55 each
You must login to the member portal to receive member discounts!
Non-Member Pricing
Individual Full Series – $275
Young Adult Full Series (ages 18-30) – $145
Youth Full Series (ages 13-18) – $125
Individual Single Service – $135 each
Young Adult Single Service (ages 18-30) – $75 each
Youth Single Service (ages 13-18) – $65 each
Online Service Pricing
Individual Full Series (1 Person, 1 Screen) – $165
Young Adult Individual Full Series (1 Person, 1 Screen, ages 18-30) – $105
Household Full Series (1 household, shared screen) – $250
Individual Single Service (1 Person, 1 Screen) – $85 each
Young Adult Individual Single Service (1 Person, 1 Screen, ages 18-30) – $55 each
Household Single Service (1 household, shared screen) – $150 each
You must login to the member portal to receive member discounts!
Live Stream Troubleshooting Tips
It also seems that the Chrome, Edge, and Firefox browsers have the best stream performance. We know that some of you have experienced issues with viewing the stream on older iPads. We recommend, if possible, making sure you are updated to the most current version of your operating system and browser app or trying a different browser for this experience. Also minimizing the other applications in use can be incredibly helpful for your Live Stream health.
The Stream is soooooo slow!
- Try to connect directly to your router using an ethernet cable. If you have never done this before, you can normally get both the cable and a USB adapter for your device at Office Depot or another office/computer supply store.
- Try closing all other applications. Often having too many browser windows open or other applications like Office or Adobe can take up a great deal of your system’s resources. Shutting them down temporarily will allow your computer to perform better.
- If you are using your phone data or wifi, please note that your internet quality or speed may not be ideal. Feel free to try using a site like https://www.speedtest.net/ to verify your speed. Most streaming services recommend a speed of at least 15-25 MBps (megabytes per second) for HD video (which our services currently are). If your speed is slower than this, you also can click on the GEAR icon in the lower corner of the Vimeo player and force it to play the video at a lower resolution to improve the stream flow.
I want to watch the service on my Smart TV!
- If you wish to watch the stream on your smart tv, the App is available on Roku or we are streaming live on YouTube. If you’d like to use a large monitor, please use your laptop and an HDMI cable to connect the two. You can click on the arrows in the bottom right-hand corner in order to maximize the screen to full-screen.
- We will not be streaming the Rosh HaShanah or Yom Kippur services via our YouTube channel in order to respect our registration process and keep participation available exclusively to those who have registered. If you would like to register now for those services, use the buttons above or below to take you to our registration page.
- You can also read more about how to create a sacred space at home for services by re-reading Rabbi Olivier’s email from before Rosh HaShanah here:
https://mailchi.mp/betalef/get-the-most-out-of-vitrual-high-holy-days-1328923
Why am I seeing an old service and not the Live Stream?
We are so grateful for all of the friends and family who joined us for last year’s High Holy Days services.
One of the silver linings of virtual services is that we can relive some of those moments. All of the videos from the High Holy Days are now up on our App: High Holy Days Music – Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue (subsplash.com). Please use the power of these songs whenever you feel the need for inspiration, contemplation, meditation.
Our spiritual teachers have long taught us that the world we see on the outside is but a reflection of the world we encounter on the inside. Today more than ever is the work of introspection, of taking responsibility and making amends, of healing and whole-ing — in short, the work of Teshuvah — required of us. These High Holy Days, Rabbi Olivier is inviting us to take a step back and a deep breath, to expand our consciousness beyond the constricting addictions of the conditioned mind; to mourn and release what has been and can no longer be, that we might transform ourselves into the beings this moment is inviting us to become.