Worship-Additional

The fragile huts that are the center of the Sukkot festival are our symbolic homes for seven days reminiscent of the years our ancestors spent wandering in the desert.  Exposed enough to the elements to remind us of our dependence on divine providence, we eat and perhaps sleep in a sukkah, and shake the arba minem (four species): lulav (palm), hadas (myrtle), arava (willow) and etrog (citron), symbolic of parts of our bodies, celebrating the good fortune of the fall harvest.

Reluctant to end the festival, we add an eighth day, Shemini Atzeret, that creates a break before returning to the work-a-day routine world.  Shemini Atzeret includes yizkor prayers for the departed and the geshem prayers for rain.  The day is followed by the conclusion and immediate beginning of the annual cycle of Torah reading on Simchat Torah, filled with song and dance and special honors for two congregants called to the last and first aliyot of the cycle, the Hatan (groom) or Kallah (bride) of the Torah and of Bereishit (Genesis).  

Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret & Simchat Torah 5785 - Schedule & Programs

The celebratory memory of the triumph of Mordechai, Esther and the Jews against the conspiracy of Hamam in the Persian royal court in the Fourth Century B.C.E. includes dressing in costume, giving of gifts of food, reading of the Book of Esther, eating of tri-cornered hamantashen cakes, and general merriment.  The satirical Purim Shpiel play, near to the holiday in time, is a treasured Shearith Israel tradition. 

Purim 5785 - Full Details

A harvest festival in ancient Palestine, the two-day Shavuot holiday begins 49 omer days after the start of Pesach and is celebrated as the anniversary of the receiving of the Torah at Sinai with (for some: all-night) learning.  As the Israelites refrained from eating meat in the days prior to receiving the law, we favor dairy foods on Shavuot.  As if at Sinai, we stand in synagogue when the Aseret ha’Dibrot (Ten Statements or Commandments) are read aloud; Yizkor prayers are recited on the second day of the festival.

Shavuot 5785 will be observed Sunday night, June 1st - Tuesday night, June 3rd, 2025. Yizkor will be recited during Yom Tov morning services on Tuesday, June 3rd at approximately 11 am.  

We look forward to learning from Shearith Israelites and the greater Atlanta Jewish community members on topics related to the evening's theme. The program will include a panel discussion moderated by Samara Minkin, Executive Director, The Spring, featuring Dov Wilker, Regional Director, AJC Atlanta/Southeast and Eytan Davidson, Regional Director, ADL, and Emily Kaiman, Deputy Director of Jewish Communal Engagement, J Street; Deputy Director J Street Georgia, as well as moderated text study, break-out learning sessions with teen leaders, Paul Root Wolpe, Marshall Duke, and Ori Salzberg, and a closing session facilitated by Rabbi Kaiman, Rabbi David, and Ori Salzberg.

Learn more and register for Shavuot Dinner and our Tikkun Leyl Shavuot night of learning on the theme "Visions of the Jewish Future" via the button below.

Shavuot 5785 - Dinner, Learning & Services

View the Tikkun Leyl Shavuot Schedule