Some 40,000 secular Jews are expected to take part in secular-friendly Yom Kippur services organized by the B'yachad (Together) and Tzohar (Window) rabbis organizations.
The services, which generally take up most of the day, will be held in some 250 locations around the country, buttressed by the participation of religious youths and families from near and far. Many of the services will be held in "neutral" locations such as community centers, in the hope of easing the way for those who do not feel at home in the synagogue. Words of explanation will be added at various points in the service, and the pace will be regulated according to the participants' needs. During the breaks, the visitors and locals will talk and get to know each other.
Among the locations where special Yom Kippur services will be held are the Community Center in Ramle, Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, Kibbutz Givat HaShloshah, Pink House in Hod HaSharon, Students House in Kfar Saba, the Old Age home in Katzrin in the Golan, and many more. Some cities will feature several different services, and even kibbutzim and moshavim with no synagogue will host prayers. A full list (in Hebrew) can be seen here.
Avi, in Moshav Lachish, southeast of Kiryat Gat and just north of the Negev, excitedly told Arutz-7 of the Yom Kippur plans in his town: "We are over 100 families here, and Tzohar is sending 7 young men, 4 young women, and four couples, just as they did last year. It's a communal event that many people get involved in; it will be held not in our small synagogue, but in the large community center, where there is a lot of room for everyone. Before Yom Kippur, we all eat together, and after the service we dance together, and they give out explanatory material, and the like. It's a real highlight - a chance to cement our ties, and to emphasize the ways in which we are the same and not different..."
"I personally don't like being called 'secular,'" Avi volunteered. "I and another friend of mine started getting interested in Judaism a while ago, and we were the ones who pushed to have a synagogue built here; it's just two years old. In the meanwhile, he has become completely religious, while I am still sort of half-and-half..."
In Herzliya, families of a Gar'in Torani - a group of religious families - will lead one of the services. One woman who helped found the Gar'in five years ago explained, "I see our purpose as simply being here, so that there should not be this separation amongst us of religious families in one community and secular families in another... At present, I don't see a dramatic 'thirst' for spirituality; of course we feel that we would like to set the tone, which requires very thorough work, but even if that doesn't work, we want to be able to see the totality of the Nation of Israel... Simply by meeting our neighbors at the nurseries and in school and on the street, we feel that we are having an effect."
Jason, a resident of the secular community of Kfar Galim, south of Haifa, told Arutz-7: "This will be our fifth year of having such a service, and we are excited to have it again. We are a boarding-school community of about 40 families, and I feel that people here are crying out for more spirituality." A prayer leader for part of the services in Kfar Galim is still being sought.
The services, which generally take up most of the day, will be held in some 250 locations around the country, buttressed by the participation of religious youths and families from near and far. Many of the services will be held in "neutral" locations such as community centers, in the hope of easing the way for those who do not feel at home in the synagogue. Words of explanation will be added at various points in the service, and the pace will be regulated according to the participants' needs. During the breaks, the visitors and locals will talk and get to know each other.
Among the locations where special Yom Kippur services will be held are the Community Center in Ramle, Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, Kibbutz Givat HaShloshah, Pink House in Hod HaSharon, Students House in Kfar Saba, the Old Age home in Katzrin in the Golan, and many more. Some cities will feature several different services, and even kibbutzim and moshavim with no synagogue will host prayers. A full list (in Hebrew) can be seen here.
Avi, in Moshav Lachish, southeast of Kiryat Gat and just north of the Negev, excitedly told Arutz-7 of the Yom Kippur plans in his town: "We are over 100 families here, and Tzohar is sending 7 young men, 4 young women, and four couples, just as they did last year. It's a communal event that many people get involved in; it will be held not in our small synagogue, but in the large community center, where there is a lot of room for everyone. Before Yom Kippur, we all eat together, and after the service we dance together, and they give out explanatory material, and the like. It's a real highlight - a chance to cement our ties, and to emphasize the ways in which we are the same and not different..."
"I personally don't like being called 'secular,'" Avi volunteered. "I and another friend of mine started getting interested in Judaism a while ago, and we were the ones who pushed to have a synagogue built here; it's just two years old. In the meanwhile, he has become completely religious, while I am still sort of half-and-half..."
In Herzliya, families of a Gar'in Torani - a group of religious families - will lead one of the services. One woman who helped found the Gar'in five years ago explained, "I see our purpose as simply being here, so that there should not be this separation amongst us of religious families in one community and secular families in another... At present, I don't see a dramatic 'thirst' for spirituality; of course we feel that we would like to set the tone, which requires very thorough work, but even if that doesn't work, we want to be able to see the totality of the Nation of Israel... Simply by meeting our neighbors at the nurseries and in school and on the street, we feel that we are having an effect."
Jason, a resident of the secular community of Kfar Galim, south of Haifa, told Arutz-7: "This will be our fifth year of having such a service, and we are excited to have it again. We are a boarding-school community of about 40 families, and I feel that people here are crying out for more spirituality." A prayer leader for part of the services in Kfar Galim is still being sought.