Sukkot begins five days after Yom Kippur and is named after the booths or huts (sukkot in Hebrew) in which Jews are supposed to dwell during this week-long celebration. It is one of the three major pilgrimage festivals of ancient Israel.

Sukkot is a very exciting time at Kol Ami. Our teenagers are available to assist families in building their own sukkah while our younger children decorate the Congregation’s sukkah. Young and old join together on Erev Sukkot for a fun filled evening of more sukkah decorating, crafts, music, dinner and services

Learn how to build your own Sukkah

Simchat Torah, which means “Rejoicing in Torah,” occurs on the last day of Sukkot. It is a celebration marking the conclusion of one and the beginning of another annual cycle of reading from the Torah.

On Erev Simchat Torah we mark the Consecration of students who are beginning their religious school education, as we welcome them into Jewish learning. Then in celebration of our completing and beginning anew the reading of the torah we dance around the sanctuary and social hall with our Torah scrolls to the music of our congregation’s own band.

Join us again on Simchat Torah morning as we read the concluding chapter of Deuteronomy and immediately start again with Genesis as a sign of the continuous reading of Torah. The service concludes with Yizkor, a service of remembrance for our loved ones.

Hanukkah, or the Festival of Rededication, celebrates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in 164 BCE.

We celebrate by lighting one more candle on the chanukiah after each day of Hanukkah. We eat foods cooked in oil, such as latkes and jelly doughnuts; and we sing songs and play dreidel games.

Be sure to check the Kol Ami calendar for our various Hanukkah celebrations for adults, children and families.

Hanukkah Resources For You To Enjoy

May your holiday be bright with the celebration of the Festival of Lights!

Tu BiSh’vat, also called the New Year of the Trees, is observed on the 15th (tu) day of Sh’vat. Scholars believe that Tu BiSh’vat was originally an agricultural festival, marking the emergence of spring. After the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.C.E. this holiday was a way for Jews to symbolically bind themselves to their former homeland by eating foods that could be found in Israel.

In the seventeenth century Kabbalists created a ritual for Tu BiSh’vat similar to the Passover seder. We eat an assortment of fruits and nuts and drink several varieties of wine, symbolizing different seasons or ways of being in the world. Tu BiSh’vat has also become a tree planting festival in Israel, where both Israelis and Jews around the world plant trees in honor or in memory of a loved one.

Purim, or the Feast of Lots, is a joyous holiday that is recounted in the Book of Esther. It tells of the saving of the Jews during the Persian Period (539-330BCE).

Purim is celebrated by the reading of the Scroll of Esther, known in Hebrew as the Megillat Esther, which relates the basic story of Purim. Under the rule of King Ahashuerus, Haman, the King’s prime minister, plots to exterminate all of the Jews of Persia. His plan is foiled by Queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai, who ultimately save the Jews of the land from destruction. The reading of the megillah is typically a rowdy affair, punctuated by booing and noise-making when Haman’s name is read aloud.
Purim is an unusual holiday in many respects. First, Esther is the only book of the Bible in which God is not mentioned. Second, Purim, like Hanukkah, is viewed traditionally as a minor festival, but is elevated to a major holiday as a result of the Jewish historical experience. Over the centuries, Haman became the embodiment of every anti-Semite in every land where Jews were oppressed. The significance in Purim lies not so much in how it began, but in what it has become – a thankful and joyous affirmation of Jewish survival against all odds.

Adults and children come dressed in costume to enjoy our annual Purim spiel and celebrate with the reading of the Megillah. The celebrations continue with our Purim Carnival run by our youth group.

The Haggadah transforms us into storytellers; we are the feeders of history. We enlighten, impart, lead, and illuminate one another with lively discussions and creative Seders.

Passover is an exquisite opportunity to tell the stories of our people, to remind ourselves that the journey to freedom is ongoing and to inspire each other to acts of courage.

We can do all this with joy and song! We are pleased to share these resources for your Passover Seder. Chag Sameach! .

Passover resources to enjoy . . . 

Children and adults join together in the sacred task of memory and hope as we remember together the destruction of European Jewry. Survivors of the Shoah, together with our students, witness together the possibilities of courage, goodness and hope. Check the calendar for the date of this very special service.

The period between Pesach and Shavuot is called the “Counting of the Omer” (sefirat ha’omer), after the ancient rite of the bringing of the first sheaf (omer) of the barley harvest to the priest (Lev. 23:9-14). Lag Ba’Omer is the shorthand way of saying the thirty-third day of the omer. It is celebrated to commemorate the day a plague ended in which thousands of students of Rabbi Akiba, a Talmudic scholar, died during the Counting of the Omer. The period of counting is traditionally observed as a period of mourning. The mourning, however, is set aside on Lag Ba’Omer, making it a day of special joy and festivity.

Lag Ba’Omer is not mentioned in the Torah and only hinted at in the Talmud. Consequently, there is no formal ritual, but rather a series of customs that the people found attractive and meaningful.

Many weddings take place on Lag Ba’Omer. In the Israeli traditional community, it has become a day when three-year-old children get their first haircuts. Parties and picnics abound, and at least in Israel, hundreds of people attend midnight bonfires and many children carry little bows and arrows.

Shavuot is one of the three major pilgrimage festivals of ancient Israel and occurs seven weeks after Passover.  Shavuot marks the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Like so many other Jewish holidays, Shavuot began as an ancient agricultural festival, marking the end of the spring barley harvest and the beginning of the summer wheat harvest. Shavuot was distinguished in ancient times by bringing crop offerings to the Temple in Jerusalem.

The Torah tells us it took forty-nine days for our ancestors to travel from Egypt to the foot of Mount Sinai (the same number of days as the Counting of the Omer ) where they were to receive the Torah. Thus, Leviticus 23:21 commands: “And you shall proclaim that day (the fiftieth day) to be a holy convocation!” The name Shavuot (“Weeks”) then symbolizes the completion of a seven-week journey.

Special customs on Shavuot include the reading of the Book of Ruth, which reminds us that we too can find a continual source of blessing in our tradition. Another tradition includes staying up all night to study Torah and Mishnah, a custom called Tikkun Leil Shavuot, which symbolizes our commitment to the Torah, and that we are always ready and awake to receive the Torah. Traditionally, dairy dishes are served on this holiday to symbolize the sweetness of the Torah, as well as the “land of milk and honey”.

On Erev Shavuot, we celebrate the giving of the Torah to Israel at Mt. Sinai with a Confirmation service led by our tenth-grade class. At this point in their on-going Jewish education, our tenth-graders celebrate a public affirmation of their commitment to live as Jews. On Shavuot morning, our worship service includes Yizkor, a service of remembrance for our loved ones.