High Holidays at Temple Israel 2020 – An Overview While this will certainly be an unconventional High Holiday season, we are excited about the opportunities it presents to be creative and try new things. Our worship experiences will blend the traditional and the innovative in speaking to the particular spiritual challenges and realities of this unique moment in our history. Each service will bet theme-based, interactive, and shorter than usual (approximately 60 minutes) in order to provide a meaningful prayer experience while also avoiding “Zoom fatigue.” With the help of a local production team, the clergy will lead services from various places in our building, incorporate pre-recorded music and videos, and provide a rich, textured audio and visual experience for our community.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will online services be like? Our worship experiences this year will be different than usual; we will not simply be broadcasting conventional High Holiday services online. Instead, we have designed creative, interactive, theme-based worship experiences tailored to the particular realities of our unique times. By blending the traditional and the innovative to make services engaging, relevant, and well-suited to the online format, this year’s High Holidays will showcase Temple Israel’s imaginative and energetic spirit.

What are we doing for music? Will we hear the choir this year? Music is a hallmark of our worship at Temple Israel, and our services this year will feature beautiful music performed by Cantor Alexander and other congregant singers, instrumentalists, and our Kol Rina choir. Although health guidelines restricting communal singing prevent our choir from singing together in person, Cantor Alexander is working with choir members to produce several pre-recorded videos that will draw their voices together in song – each from their own home!

What are we doing about the shofar this year? Temple Israel’s star shofar-blowers will be blowing the shofar from their homes during services.

Can non-members participate in our services?

Yes! As in previous years, High Holiday services at Temple Israel are open to anyone who would like to come – whether they are members of our congregation or not. In addition, one exciting upside of online High Holidays is that you do not need to be in Omaha in order to come to services; people can participate from anywhere around the world! We encourage you to invite your family members and friends both locally and outside of Omaha to join us!

What is Temple Israel doing to keep our services secure and avoid “Zoom Bombing”? We are taking significant precautions to secure our online services. Each congregant and anyone else who would like to attend our services will be asked to register online in advance so that our staff can review their names and guard against bad actors seeking to disrupt our holidays. Once our office has approved your registration, the Zoom link will be emailed to you. If you know anyone who is not a Temple member who would like to participate in our services, please send us their names (or encourage them to call us) in advance so we will recognize them when they register.

S’lichot Study Session with Rabbi StollerContemplating Repentance:A Personal Journey of Writing and ReflectionSaturday, September 12, 7-7:45 p.m.

S’lichot ServiceSaturday, September 12, 8-8:45 p.m.

Erev Rosh Hashanah ServiceL’Dor Va-Dor: Celebrating 150 Years of Blessing and CommunityFriday, September 18, 7:30 p.m.

Tot Shabbat Rosh HashanahSaturday, September 19, 9-9:30 a.m.

Rosh Hashanah Morning ServiceAnswering the Call of the ShofarSaturday, September 19, 10:15-11:15 a.m.

Shabbat Shuvah & Tashlich ServiceFriday, September 25, 6-7 p.m.

Kol Nidre ServiceA Reflection on Integrity and JusticeSunday, September 27, 7:30-8:30 p.m.

Tot Shabbat Yom Kippur Monday, September 28, 9-9:30 a.m.

Yom Kippur Morning ServicePowerlessness and Power in the Age of COVIDMonday, September 28, 10:15-11:15 a.m.

Yom Kippur Torah Study“Lo Bashamayim Hi”: God is Closer than We KnowMonday, September 28, 1:30-2:30 p.m.

Yom Kippur Yizkor ServiceMonday, September 28, 3:45-4:30 p.m.

Yom Kippur Concluding Study and Service“As the Gates Begin to Close”:Affirming the Good, Promising to Be BetterMonday, September 28, 5-6 p.m.

High Holiday Service Schedule