High Holy Days Intro Schedule Register online!

5771 HH Days

Rosh Hashanah 5771 begins Wednesday evening, September 8, 2010 and Kol Nidre is Friday evening, September 17. All services at Chochmat HaLev Building (CHL), 2215 Prince Street at Fulton, Berkeley 94705, EXCEPT Second Morning Rosh Hashanah which is at Redwood Gardens Co-op, 2951 Derby St, Berkeley, CA 94705

Services are co-created and led by members and friends of the Aquarian Minyan community, together with our rabbinic fellow, Rabbi Diane Elliot. The services will combine innovative and traditional approaches, including participatory liturgy, music, chanting, meditation, and movement. We will be reading from our two 400+ year old Sefer Torahs.

THE HIGH HOLY DAYS

The shofar we blow daily in this month of Elul, is a “Min Hamatzar Karati Yah,” call from our depths to our highest selves to come back and engage, come out and be with community, go inside and be with ourselves: find a path to that which is our unique call-out to The One. Va’ani tefilati: I am my prayer, we are our prayers, we are all in this together and we each have our own way.

Mystical Judaism gives us four “worlds,” four paths to connection:

The world of “I want to do for you, ” the path of ASSIYAH, the physical: breath and awareness; embodied prayers, danced prayers; instigation of “right action” to make the world a better place.

The world of “I want to feel for you, ” the path of YETZIRAH, the emotional: from negative to positive: resentment to gratitude; frustration to appreciation; vindictiveness to empathy, humility and joy.

The world of “I want to know for you,” the path of BRIYAH, the intellectual: prose and poetry; symbols, dreams; visualization, contemplation, pattern and meaning.

The world of “I want to be for you,” the path of ATZILUT, the deep intuition: the letting go and being with the great mystery some call G!d; being breathed, being the prayer.

Va’ani tefilati: I am my prayer. Come pray your way with us this High Holy Days. Draw strength from the power of our communal davenning field. Let doing, feeling, knowing and being be, for you in your own way, a fourfold path to renewal and rededication.

OUR WELCOME: FAMILY FRIENDLY, GAY FRIENDLY, CHILD FRIENDLY, SINGLE FRIENDLY

This is the essence of the Aquarian Minyan, “renewing tradition, sanctifying the new,” to paraphrase Rav Kook. Our warm and welcoming community is family-friendly, gay-friendly, child-friendly, single-friendly—all-around friendly and progressive.

REGISTRATION

To register, click here. You may also register at the door. Free to full time students with ID.

A TRANSFORMATIVE TIME

The High Holy Days are sometimes called the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe, because of the special energies of this time when vision is clear and possibility lives in every breath. During this time, as Rav Kook wrote, “Sudden change comes about as a result of a certain spiritual lightning bolt that enters the soul. At once the person…is transformed into a new being; already he experiences inside himself a complete transformation for the better. This form of change dawns on a person through the grace of some inner spiritual force, whose trace points to the depths of the mysterious.”

Comments about Aquarian Minyan High Holy Days

"The Minyan was there for me when I needed a place to be wild."
Rabbi Shefa Gold, the internationally renowned rebbe who is leading the way to a 21st Century Judaism that is a pure expression of love.


"I was looking for a community to be reborn in, and I was reborn."
Mark Korchin


"I didn’t know you could have an experience like this in a Jewish context."
Eileen Hammer


"The Minyan is the torch-holder in the Bay Area for Jewish Renewal and for the possibilities of a sacred Jewish life in a secular society."
Gerry Abrams

"It is essential that there be a community that provides the sense of intimacy that the Minyan does…it changes “going to services” to participating in a community spiritual experience."
Elizabeth Hirshfeld

Important High Holy Days Information

Donations: No one turned away because of limited resources.
Students: Full-time students get into services free with valid I.D.
Accessibility: All of our High Holy Days Services are wheelchair accessible.
Chemical Sensitivities: Please do not wear or wash with scented products, including "natural" products so that services can remain accessible to people with chemical sensitivities.
Food Drive: We will be conducting our annual Tzedakah Food Drive on Yom Kippur. Please bring canned food donations for the Alameda County Food Bank. Do not bring any food in glass containers. Specifically requested food items are: canned meats, fish, chili, soups, vegetables and fruit. Also: fruit juices, beans, rice, pasta, instant baby formula and powdered milk.
Percussion and Rhythm Instruments: You are welcome to bring them.