High Holidays 2025/5786: Calling out for Justice

Days of Awe: Rosh Hashanah, Tashlich, Yom Kippur

September 22 – October 2 • 1-10 Tishrei 5786 

From JVP Havurah Network, JVP BIJOCSM Network (Black, Indigenous, Jews of Color, Sephardi, Mizrahi), JVP Rabbinical Council, JVP Chapters, Members and Friends

This sacred time of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur demands that we recommit to the work of tikkun olam, repairing the world. That means doing everything in our power to end the Israeli government’s genocide of Palestinians and build a future of freedom and safety for Palestinians and all people.

This is a moment of collective atonement. As you read this, the Israeli military is starving over two million Palestinians in Gaza to death. We call on the U.S. government to end its support for the Israeli government’s genocide, and we call on all people of conscience to divest from death and speak out in defense of life.

Judaism teaches us pikuach nefesh, that there is nothing more important than saving a life. We call on our fellow Jews and on all Jewish institutions to stop supporting the Israeli military as it commits genocide in Gaza, and to stop supporting Jewish supremacy and worshiping the false idol that is ethno-nationalism. 

May the shofar be a wake-up call for all.

JVP High Holiday Offerings and Resources

Rosh Hashanah Sephardi Seder for BIJOCSM Communities | Online | September 21

Join us for our 5th annual Sephardi-led Rosh Hashanah Virtual Seder! We will honor our radical ancestress, hear about the Sephardi simanim from the haggadah, feel the strength of our communities, and let our Jewishness beyond Zionism be strengthened in community! Hosted by JVP’s BIJOCSM Network. **Note: for BIJOCSM communities only ** Registration

Egal Sephardi Mizrahi Kehilla of NYC | Brooklyn, NY | September 9 – October 2

Our community offers a space where folks who are often marginalized from traditional Sephardi spaces can be their full selves. We honor our ancestors’ Sephardi religious traditions while centering women and queer and trans leaders and embracing collective liberation through feminist, anti-racist, decolonial and anti-Zionist perspectives. We will be holding Selichot, RH Arvit, YK Kol Nidre and YK Neilah services all at Urbane Arts Club, 1016 Beverley Rd, Brooklyn, NY.

Led by Laura Elkeslassy and Rinat Abastado and friends in Moroccan Nusach. *Our services prioritize space for JSWANA and BIJOCSM folks* Check out this Online Nusach Workshop to prepare for the holidays.

Yizkor 5786/2025

Rosh Hashanah Ritual Guide

JVP formations may use this guide as fits each unique circumstance. Traditional liturgies are based on time of day, but formations may do this ritual at any time during the Days of Awe, the ten days starting with Rosh Hashanah and ending with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

Tips for Having Productive Conversations During the High Holidays

As we move into the holidays, we may struggle to talk to our family members and loved ones about Israeli genocide. We want to have these conversations in the most productive way possible. This toolkit offers skills and approaches.

JVP-Denver/Boulder Chapter

We are SO excited to offer anti-Zionist High Holiday services again this year. Join us for:

• Rosh Hashanah Service on Tuesday, 9/23 at 10:30am
• Kol Nidre Service on Wednesday, 10/1 at 7pm

RSVP here. For more info, follow @denverboulderjvp on Instagram, or email [email protected]

Elul Offerings: (Aug 25-Sept 21)

The month before Rosh Hashanah is a time of deep reflection and preparation for the work of Teshuvah that takes place during the Days of Awe season. Along with sacred reflection, it is also a time for organizing, building Judaism beyond Zionism, and fighting the ongoing genocide of Palestinians.

Community Safety Campaign Actualized! | Online | September 11

Hosted by JVP’s Havurah and BIJOCSM Networks. Community Safety Campaign (CSC) was launched in 2022 by Jewish organizers, political educators, cultural workers, and spiritual leaders (including several active JVP members) to create a coordinated, long-term strategy for actualizing the “Safety through Solidarity” framework to address the growing threats of white and Christian nationalism. This workshop will be an opportunity to prepare for the High Holidays with safety planning and discuss the strategies we believe will create material shifts in Jewish communities, moving from a reliance on policing and surveillance to durable relationships and practices of community safety.

Teshuvah Teachings on Power Half-Hour | Online | August 28 – September 18 at 3pm ET

Join us for 4-10 minute teaching installments on the following dates:

• August 28: A radical revision of a teshuvah system of repair for the long haul.  Based on Maimonides five steps, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb will provide a Shomeret Shalom framework for grief, education, accountability, reparations and structural change. 
  
• Sept 4: Rinat Abastado will guide us through imagining what teshuvah means for each of us in this period of unforgivable crimes against the humanity of Palestinians. Lynn Gottlieb will tell a story of healing for the long horizon and the world we want to see. 
  
• Sept 10: Reparations/RAWA; and Aisha, BIJOCSM Network, will speak on the connections between Islam and Judaism.
  
• Sept 18: R’ Andy Kahn will lead the community through a guided meditation to feel into the practice of teshuvah, realigning with our highest selves.

Look Palestinians in the Eye Campaign | Online | September 16 during Power Half-Hour

This high holidays we are partnering with I Witness Silwan as a reminder to not look away from the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Look Palestinians in the Eye is I Witness Silwan’s art resistance action campaign and will be threaded throughout the High Holy Days. Let us bear witness: All eyes on Gaza, all eyes on Palestine.

High Holy Day Services that welcome JVP Members 

At JVP, we are Jews of many different ritual traditions and approaches, united by a commitment to bringing our strongest possible contribution to the movement for Palestinian liberation and ending this genocide. This sacred time of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur demands that we recommit to stopping the genocide and towards a future of freedom and safety for Palestinians.

In this time, people will mark these holy days in many different ways, and many JVP members approach synagogues and spaces of worship in many different ways as well — whether working to shift and move them towards anti-Zionism from within, seeking alternate spaces and building anti-Zionist congregations and havurot, or marking them by taking to the streets in action.

For those seeking services, this resource lists synagogues and havurot that explicitly welcome JVP members and have self-identified as non or anti-Zionist in their orientation as a congregation and/or in their practice. This means that it is absolutely understood that all people are equally valued: No nation state prayers are practiced, and no Israeli flag is present. 

Please contact them directly for specific information about where and when services will be offered, language access (ASL interpretation and Closed Captioning for virtual services), ADA compliance, COVID awareness and guidelines, and any other questions regarding how the group will observe the High Holy Days.

American Council for Judaism | Cobble Hill, Brooklyn

Join the ACJ for Erev Rosh Hashanah on Monday, September 22 at 6:30 PM at Christ Church in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. This songful, lay-led gathering will feature accessible liturgy in Hebrew and English and music drawn from Reform and Reconstructionist traditions. A light nosh will follow. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Register: https://givebutter.com/m7Voe7

Beyt Tikkun, Bay Area, CA | A Bold Jewish Renewal Community Growing Judaism Beyond Zionism | In Person (Oakland) + Online

Beyt Tikkun is a spiritually-rooted, politically-courageous community for Jews, allies, and beloveds opposing Israel’s genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and Jewish supremacist ideology—whether anti-Zionist, non-Zionist, or questioning Zionism. We stand in solidarity with Palestinian liberation and all oppressed peoples, rooted in Jewish values of love, truth, courage, and care. We are a safe haven for people whose views, questions, and grief are not welcomed in mainstream synagogues or Jewish spaces. This Year’s Theme: Growing Judaism Beyond Zionism. We gather in a time of grief, injustice, and suffering. See full details and register here: https://beyttikkun.org/5786hhd/ 

B’Sefer HaChaim | Bay Area, North Oakland (location emailed after registration)

An autonomous group of AntiZionists are coming together to offer a liturgically traditional Rosh Hashanah program filled with rigorous song, Torah, and politics. Please join us for Erev (traditional egal service followed by Mizrahi/Sephardi-led Rosh Hashanah seder and full meal) and/or first day davening (full service). Space is limited, so register today! https://www.community-shabbat.org/hhd5786

Congregation T’chiyah | Ferndale, MI
A Reconstructionist congregation of ~200 members. Very intergenerational and queer; predominantly white Ashkenazi space with anti-racist values. Services will be very musical (including musical instruments) and spiritual, with lots of Hebrew with translation and transliteration provided. Day two Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur afternoon feature lay-led learning workshop.
Schedule and Registration: www.tchiyah.org/hiho2025

Doykayt Kansas City (Doykayt KC) | Kansas City, MO

A pluralist, queer & disabled-led, anti-Zionist synagogue of 45+ members in Kansas City Metro and across the country, offering in-person Hebrew classes, Torah study, holiday observances, and Shabbat dinners, with plans for Shabbat services and Yiddish classes coming soon. The congregation is dedicated to nourishing and growing our diasporic and diverse local Jewish community. Learn more about how to get involved here: https://www.doykaytkc.org/about

Dror Yikra Congregation | Toronto, Canada

Our emergent congregation, D’ror Yikra, is organizing a service on the morning of Day One of Rosh Hashanah (September 23rd), as well as a Neilah evening service at the end of Yom Kippur (October 2nd, location TBD). Reach out to [email protected] or visit: https://pci.jotform.com/form/252176913290054

Egal Sephardi Mizrahi Kehilla of NYC | Brooklyn, NY

Our community offers a space where folks who are often marginalized from traditional Sephardi spaces can be their full selves. We honor our ancestors’ Sephardi religious traditions while centering women and queer & trans leaders and embracing collective liberation through feminist, anti-racist, decolonial and anti-zionist perspectives. We will be holding Selichot, RH Arvit, YK Kol Nidre and YK Neilah services all at Urbane Arts Club, Brooklyn Led by Laura Elkeslassy and Rinat Abastado and friends in Moroccan Nusach. Online Nusach workshop to prepare for the holidays on Wednesday, September 3 at 1:00 pm. *Our services prioritize space for JSWANA and BIJOCSM folks* Register here!

Eilah Atah, TradEgal Antizionist Yom Kippur 5786 | Brooklyn, NY

Yom Kippur services for anti-Zionist community. We will gather for Shacharit through Mincha using the full traditional liturgy according to Ashkenazi custom. Our vision is for this space to be a songful and spiritually grounding experience without zionism. Register tinyurl.com/AZYK25 or contact [email protected]

Fringes | Philadelphia, PA

Fringes has always been gender-inclusive and opposed to all violence militarism, racism, and nationalism. Our services are participatory and lyrical with use of original liturgy and newly adapted liturgy. 

• Saturday September 27, Shabbat Shuvah: We will be doing an extended Shabbat service on September 27 for Shabbat  Shuvah. Register for Zoom Link here.
  
• Saturday October 11, Sukkot/Sh’mini Atzeret: We will be doing a water/natural cycles-themed shabbat morning service on Saturday, October 11. We’ll be sending out directions to encourage participants to make their own lulavs from local, indigenous plants. Start time is 10 am ET / 9 am CT / 7 am PT. Register for Zoom link here.

Hinenu Baltimore | Baltimore, MD

Hinenu is unaffiliated but uses Reconstructionist Kol HaNeshamah. Services are heavy on the Hebrew with English poetry and teaching from the rabbi and members. Lots of song! A loving and casual congregation. Hinenu Baltimore is committed to making High Holidays services physically, spiritually, and financially accessible for everyone who wishes to join us. No one turned away for lack of funds. See: https://hinenu.breezechms.com/form/highholydays5786 // Registration by suggested donation.

Kadima Reconstructionist Community | Seattle, WA

Building a progressive community of inclusion, social justice, and Jewish tradition for Jews and our allies. Committed to racial, economic and gender justice, we bridge spirituality and social justice through Shabbat and holiday celebration, inter-generational learning, and solidarity work with #blacklivesmatter, immigration justice organizations, and movements to end the Israeli occupation.
See: https://www.kadima.org/high-holidays.html

Kehillat Sankofa | in-person in Washington DC | Exact location shared closer to the holidays 

Singing Our Way Into 5786. Join Kehillat Sankofa this High Holiday season as we welcome the new year in community, in song, and in spirit. Led by Rabbi Koach Baruch Frazier & Kohenet Shoshana Akua Brown (@shotimelive), our services center Black Jewish leadership, healing, and justice. Together, we’ll pray, sing, reflect, and dream the world we long for. All are welcome to join us in lifting our voices and spirits as we enter 5786 together. For schedule and to register: bit.ly/5786sankofa

Kehilla Community Synagogue | Oakland/Piedmont – Lisjan territory of Huchiun, CA

Kehilla is a Jewish Renewal congregation with a Renewal/Reconstructionist feel. Our davening/prayer is musically stirring and oriented to supporting participants’ spiritual practice, community building and justice making. Our bima team includes queer, trans and BIPOC spiritual leaders. Kehilla’s liturgy includes prayers for Yishmael alongside Yisrael (the person/family) and recognizes Hagar as our ancestor/family. We welcome antizionist Jews, alongside others. Non-member tickets are available here. Make your way through the form to access the pay-what-you-can option.

Kol Tzedek Synagogue | Philadelphia, PA

Kol Tzedek is a multiracial and intergenerational community. We understand that change takes generations. The Days of Awe offer a rare and powerful gift — time to sing, reflect, learn, and connect across generations. Our services are a celebration of Jewish traditions from across our history and diaspora. We are a Reconstructionist synagogue that follows a traditional Hebrew service, lots of liturgy, full of participatory singing, three part harmonies, and contemporary poetry. There will be dedicated time to grieve the horrific war on Gaza and ongoing genocide. Registration: https://www.kol-tzedek.org/high-holidays.html 

Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives | Brooklyn, NY

Holydays services are open to all but do require registration for our planning and to help with welcoming folks into services. Donations are requested from all attendees to support this independent, progressive, lively, joyful community, where doubt can be an act of faith. One thousand or more attend Holydays services, which are being held at Cornerstone Baptist Church this year. See full details and register here.

Makom | Durham, NC

Makom is an anti-Zionist, queer and trans led Jewish community on Occaneechi land in Durham, NC. All are welcome to join in creating spaces for ritual and practice, joy and celebration, mutual support, and learning. Our high holiday offerings are in-person with masking required, full of heart, and a songful blend of liturgy, ritual, singing, poetry, and reflection. We will gather for services on Leil Selichot, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur; a Rosh Hashanah kids program; Yom Kippur afternoon including a grief ritual space and community-led workshops; tashlich; a days of awe mikveh; a Sukkah-build, and a Simchat Torah gathering. As we gather this year facing so much — we are here to grieve, build, grow, challenge, change, defend, and care together. For more info, visit @makomtriangle on Instagram

Mending Minyan | New Haven, CT

Mending Minyan practices joy based Jewish ritual decoupled from zionism and in service of collective liberation. Mending Minyan is an explicitly anti-Zionist congregation that works closely with JVP New Haven. Our services are communally-led, songful, and egalitarian. Expect a mix of Hebrew & English prayers, with full transliteration and translation. See full details and register

Nahalat Shalom | Albuquerque, NM

Nahalat Shalom is an innovative Jewish community grounded in the arts, activism and the spirit of convivencia. Centro de Estudias Sefarditas, the Nahalat Shalom community Band, and the New Mexico spirit are part of our spiritual & cultural lives. Services for Selichot, Erev RH, day 1 Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur. Shabbat shuva, in Ladino on September 27 from 10 –  noon MT, with R’Lynn Gottlieb and Members of Centro Estudias Sefarditas. Contact our exec director Esteban Rael @ 505.343.8227

Nehar Shalom | Boston, MA

Nehar Shalom is a small, intimate community.  We connect to and express our Judaism in many different ways, including through study, prayer, working for social justice, food, history, music, and art. Our community includes and is led by queer and trans Jews; Jews of color, mixed-race, and white Jews; Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi Jews; people from all different class backgrounds and access to money; and folks who are disabled and chronically ill. Our community includes interfaith families and households. We work to build a community that reflects our anti-oppression values, a place where all know and feel that they belong. See full details and register here.

New Synagogue Project | Washington, D.C.

NSP is a welcoming, multiracial Jewish community committed to building a world of justice, equity, and liberation. Our services are soulful, songful, and aim to be accessible to all. We join in community, in the presence of one another and the Divine, finding grounding and calm through the High Holidays.

Full High Holidays theme and schedule: https://newsynagogueproject.org/high-holidays-5786/

Registration: https://newsynagogueproject.org/hh5786registration/ by suggested donation

Or Haneshamah: Ottawa’s Reconstructionist Community | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Our services are highly participatory, filled with music, followed by delicious food (Rosh Hashanah morning and break-fast potlucks), attended by folks at all ages and stages of life, supportive of a deep openness to questions about God/Torah/Israel-the-people. Fixed ticket price registration

Temenos Center for the Arts | Brooklyn/Hudson Valley, NY

Our ceremonies are woven with transportive music, philosophical depth, breathing and meditative quiet, playfulness, tenderness, moments for healing, mourning, vulnerability and transformation. Everyone is welcome — Jewish, not Jewish and everything in between — to celebrate the ceremonies of the New Year (in-person or live-streamed). We include the highlights of the tradition, our hearts attending to the repair of the personal and the collective. We will be joined by musicians from Palestine Zafer Tawil (violin) and Mali, Yacouba Sissoko (kora), and Rabbi Zachi Asher (oud), and Max ZT (hammered dulcimer), as well as guest teachers and poets. ​​https://temenosnyc.com/

Tikkun Olam Chavurah | Philadelphia

We are a radically welcoming community that is both deeply spiritual and solidly political. We have been working with Jewish Voice for Peace for years. We are open to all, are warm and low key, and are glad to welcome everyone. Our services are a blend of music, traditional liturgy, and thoughtful divrei Torah. Our leadership is queer and our community is open and diverse. We love having folks with us in person and on Zoom! Join the Rosh Hashanah service: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83584280204?pwd=4Imb2Ubg76Aam8TSSW0hbr7SgDPKol.1#success

Triangle Chavurah Minyan | Durham, NC

We are traditional egalitarian and gender inclusive. We use the Lev Shalem machzor and all of the prayers are in Hebrew. We do a complete avodah service on Yom Kippur and have lots of singing. During the Torah service, we say a prayer for peace and a misheberach for *all* who are in captivity. We do not say communal prayers for countries or militaries. Members have a range of views on Israel/Palestine. Our minyan is lay-led.Contact [email protected] with questions. Registration is required by our host synagogue at the following link: https://www.betheldurham.org/form/hh-5786/2025-service-registration.html

Tzedek Chicago | Chicago

Now celebrating its 10th year, the anti-Zionist congregation Tzedek Chicago will once again be welcoming the New Year with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services that combine traditional prayers with newly created liturgy, songs and readings that express our core values of personal/political transformation, solidarity and a Judaism beyond Zionism. Register here.

V’ahavtah: A Judaism Beyond Zionism Synagogue | Cambridge, MA

Join us in Harvard Square, Cambridge or on Zoom for the High Holiday launch of V’ahavtah: A Judaism Beyond Zionism Synagogue. Together, we’ll create sacred space for prayer, music, reflection, and renewal – a spiritual home where love of humanity and love of Judaism intertwine. Hybrid services will be held on Saturdays, Sept. 27th and Oct. 4th from 3-5pm, followed by a potluck picnic. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Registration forms can be found here or you can contact [email protected] for more information.

Washington Heights Mask Minyan | Manhattan, NY

Traditional-egalitarian. Our minyan is non-Zionist and pro-liberation. Full liturgy, Lay-led. Organized by Kennedy Carlick, Eta Feuerman, Avi Garelick, and Dassi Karp.Registration by suggested donation, visit whmaskminyan.wordpress.com

World to Come | Twin Cities, Minneapolis | St. Paul, MN

Each day of High Holidays are led by different members of our community and will have slightly different flavors. All of them will be songful, heymish, and politically grounded. Different services will have different ratios of Hebrew ~ English, traditional to creative liturgy. We are Twin Cities Jews who identify as leftist, anti-racist, feminist, anti-Zionist queers and those who love us. Schedule and Registration: wtctc.org