High Holyday Youth Programme

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High Holyday Youth Programme 5785/2024

There is no need to sign up for the Teen activities on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but please sign up for our Dinner in the Succah and our Simchat Torah Tisch.

Rosh hashanah day 1: Thursday 3 OCtober

the art of the public apology with noam

10.30am – 11.15am: Year 7 – 8, Youth Room
11.30am – 12.15pm: Year 9 -10, Youth Room

Does cancel culture lead to real teshuva? As we enter the Ten Days of Repentance, come look at a selection of public apologies from celebrities.

We will discuss the new trend of Notes App apologies:

Are they any good and do they offer any actual accountability?

Or is it all just virtue signaling to keep their fame?

Can we do better than the celebrities?

Rosh hashanah day 2: Friday 4 OCtober

Creative Ritual with Noam

10.30am – 11.15am: Year 7 – 8, Youth Room
11.30am – 12.15pm: Year 9 -10, Youth Room

The High Holy Days are full of traditional structure and services. But does confessing sins really need to involve beating your chest? What new metaphors can we bring into our prayer instead?

Come together to think about how to escape the structure and build our own rituals without losing any of the spiritual richness of our Rosh Hashanah traditions.

Tashlich and Hang Out In The Park

3.30pm: Windsor Open Space

Tashlich is the traditional ceremony where we cast away our sins. If you are in Year 9 or above, come join us to hangout in the Park and take part in the Tashlich ceremony.

YOm Kippur: Shabbat 12 October

Forest Activity with Noam

11.00 am – 11.45pm: Year 7, Akiva Moadon
12.00pm – 12.45pm: Year 8, Akiva Moadon

Take some time to connect with environment around you and think about Yom Kippur in a different way. We think of God as “being in the field” during Elul and in the time of Teshuvah.

We will consider how we can take our relationship with nature into the new year in a fresh way by spending some time outdoors.

The book of demand avoidance: Jonah and neurodiversity

12pm – 1pm: Year 9 - 11, Youth Room

How do we feel when God puts demands on us? The prophet Jonah chose to sit under a tree and be grumpy about it, a particularly relatable mood on a long day of fasting and services. Is Jonah an autistic role model? Is God just a demanding and unfair parent?

This discussion will focus on demand avoidance, our relationship to observance, and how the Yom Kippur readings help us confront the difficult emotional aspects of justice and forgiveness.

Teen-led Minchah

3.30pm: Beit Tefilah

We welcome you to spend your Yom Kippur afternoon watching our teenagers lead the Minchah Service. Enabling our youth to lead this service is an important feature of our High Holy Day programming. We are exceptionally proud of the leadership they demonstrate and the Jewish knowledge, skills and experience they are able to show.