KA CC Archive Aug 2025

We are well into our countdown and preparation toward the High Holy Days. Emails have been sent. Honors are being assigned. We’ve discussed security and logistics and I’ve been poring over outlines and prayers with Nachum for weeks. We’ve put out a call for our choir and began singing the melodies that we will use throughout the Yamim Nora’im. We’ve begun to blow shofar and read Psalm 27 - a Psalm for the Season of Repentance during our daily minyan.

In a few short weeks we will begin to recite Selichot, the penitential prayers and poems where we recite the 13 Attributes of God and ask for God’s mercy and forgiveness. It is during this time that we begin to do the work of cheshbon hanefesh, literally translated as an accounting of our soul.

We also use this time to explore the themes of the High Holy Days and prepare ourselves so that we are ready to attend services with a full and open heart.

With this in mind, I want to share with you a few different ways you can do that here with your Kol Ami family:

Study Psalm 27: We recite Psalm 27, the Psalm for the Season of Repentance, beginning an entire month before Rosh Hashanah and continue all the way through Sukkot to the end of Shmini Atzeret. Why does this Psalm carry such weight in our calendar? What is it about and how does it connect to our High Holy Days? Bring a dairy or parve lunch to enjoy while we study this ancient psalm.

Tuesday, Sept. 9 at 12:00 noon in the Board Room

Attend Selichot Services: This soulful service will take place this year at Rodeph Sholom beginning with Hor D’oeuvres and drinks beginning at 8:15pm and the service accompanied by music will begin at 9pm on Saturday, September 13th.  Additionally Selichot will be added to our service on Sunday mornings September 14th and 21st.

Explore life after death: We ask God throughout the Yamim Nora’im, the days of awe, to write us in the book of life and we ask on Yom Kippur who will life and who will die. What happens after we die though?Discuss with Rabbi Marc Blatt what happens to our souls after we die and what the Jewish afterlife looks like.

Sunday, September 14th after minyan

(Re)familiarize yourself with the melodies:  Sing through the traditional High Holy Day melodies, learn some of the songs Nachum has written, and get your soul ready for the Yamim Nora'im, the Days of Awe. Join us in a group or look for a link coming with Nachum’s High Holy Day playlist.

Wednesday, September 17th at 6pm in the Chapel

If you are looking for other ways to prepare for the High Holy Days, visit Exploring Judaism: The Digital Home for Conservative Judaism or reach out to me for one on one conversations.