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Shalom. You are cordially invited to spend the High Holidays at Temple Beth Israel of Highland Park and Eagle Rock.
2009 will be our eightieth year of continuous observance in our sanctuary. Come and celebrate the holidays, greet old and new friends, get in touch with the spiritual in company with other Jews.
This year, 2010/5771, we will be celebrating with Rabbinical Student Susan Goldberg and Cantor Ken Rothstein.
It is our honor to welcome as our service leader our Rabbinic Intern Susan Goldberg, a rabbinical student at the Academy for Jewish Religion/California. Susan has been leading our Family Shabbat Friday evening services for some time and has made a name for herself among the children, the parents including the Jewish Studies discussion group, and the Saturday morning minyan. SusanÕs scholarly and spiritual yet happy and helpful style is enjoyed by those who know her here at the temple. We look forward to introducing Susan to our traditional High Holiday crowd.
Susan will be joined on the bimah by Cantor Ken Rothstein, a loved member of our temple family for many years and a graduate of the Cantors Institute affiliated with the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. Cantor Rothstein will lead the congregation in the many sung prayers and melodies of the Holidays. If you want to hear Cantor Rothstein chant the Kol Nidre prayer, arrive on time (7:00 p.m.) on Erev Yom Kippur — the prayer occurs near the beginning of the service.
In order to allow parents with young children to attend the regular (adult) services, free childcare will be provided on the first day of Rosh Hashana and on the morning of Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah childcare will include child-appropriate explanations of the holidays.
Susan Goldberg will lead special services for families with children. These will be fun and inspiring for the kids and, we hope, for the parents as well.
The Yizkor memorial service for the departed occurs on Yom Kippur morning. You may submit names for us to read from the bimah. Please write the names in large block letters and send to tbi@tbila.org or hand to a temple officer or mail to P.O. Box 421186, Los Angeles CA 90042. You will also have an opportunity to announce names from your seat. (Yizkor will be said again in our regular Shabbat morning service during Sukkot on October 10.)
On the two days of Rosh Hashanah, we will have a kiddush provided partly by the congregation and partly by potluck. We can use desserts such as kugels, main dishes, salads, side dishes, and sodas. There will be a potluck break-the-fast for all after sundown on Yom Kippur (about 7:30 p.m.) All potlucks are dairy only, please Ñ no meat, poultry, or shellfish.
We hope that your attendance at our services will make you want to become a member of our congregation. If you attend services and later decide to join, your High Holiday admission fees will be applied to membership. As usual, if these fees constitute a hardship, please contact a temple officer and we can work out confidential arragements to meet your needs.
If you can, please call, email, or send mail in advance, so that we can prepare a list of attendees to use at the door. In particular, please let us know if you plan to use childcare.
If you have questions, please call the temple at (323) 255-5416, and someone will eventually return your call. Or write to us at tbi@tbila.org.
Children: Children are welcome at all of our services. There is a social hall adjacent to the sanctuary, a patio out back, and a front lawn. Child care will be provided on the morning of Yom Kippur and on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. If you plan to use childcare, please try to let us know at tbi@tbila.org so we can plan.
Parking: There are spaces at the curb in the streets surrounding the temple. It's not a perfect solution, but we've been doing it this way for eighty years. In addition, the Metro has three parking lots near the Highland Park Gold Line stop, which is two blocks from the temple. These parking lots are at Avenue 58, Avenue 59, and Avenue 60 at Marmion Way. The cost is about four dollars for an entire day, payable in quarters, so bring lots of quarters if you plan to use these lots.
If someone in your party has trouble walking, you can bring them up the driveway in the back or up the side walkway. Please come early and ask at the front door and we'll show you.
Food: Each afternoon of Rosh Hashanah, we will have a special kiddush lunch partly provided by the congregation and partly by you, as a potluck. We're famous for our Shabbat kiddush lunches, and this is even better. We hope you will stay and meet us. There will not be food on Erev Rosh Hashanah, as it will probably be too late at night when we finish services. To break the fast on Yom Kippur we will have a big potluck meal on Yom Kippur after sundown (approximately 7:30 p.m.). You are invited to bring food to these potlucks, but dairy or vegetarian only, please. This means no meat, poultry, or shellfish. Last year the Young Families service attendees and the religious school families and the Friday night and Saturday morning minyanites joined the High Holiday attendees for quite a party that went on till 10 p.m.
Yizkor: The yizkor memorial prayer for the dead will be recited sometime between 11:30 and 1:00 on Yom Kippur day — probably between 11:30 and noon. Henry Leventon, our president emeritus, will be reading the names from our memorial boards as well as any names that are submitted to us. We will have cards available for this purpose, or you can prepare a list in advance and bring it with you, e-mail it to tbi@tbila.org, or mail it to P.O. Box 421186, Los Angeles, CA 90042. You will have an opportunity to announce your family's names from your seat. If you submit a list or write out a card, please print in large, legible block letters.
SOVA: Each year, we collect canned and packaged foods for the SOVA food pantry of the Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles, which feeds 3,900 needy people a month at three locations. Need is acute this year because of the economic situation. Please buy a few extra cans the next time you go shopping, and bring them with you to High Holy Day services. SOVA requests dry items such as pasta and rice, canned goods such as canned fish and beans, and personal items such as soap, toothpaste, and diapers.
Machzor: As you know, the High Holiday services are conducted using a special prayer book known as the machzor. We use the Mahzor Hadash edited by Rabbi Sidney Greenberg and Rabbi Jonathan D. Levine. The newest edition of this machzor was published in 2005 and includes the traditional service plus many meaningful English readings with reverence for Jewish tradition, concern with contemporary Jewish aspirations, acceptance of diversity in Jewish life and thought, and an emphasis on participation and egalitarianism. Thanks to Brent Sweer in honor of the Sweer family for the machzorim.