High Holiday 

Information Guide

Warm, Welcoming Downtown Toronto
Jewish High Holidays Services & Programs
at the Miles Nadal jcc and The First Narayever 
 

Tickets

Tickets for our services at the MNjcc are available for purchase in advance by downloading and completing this form, through the shul office (info below), and at the MNjcc Information Desk. Tickets for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Services are also included as one of the benefits of Narayever membership, and we welcome members of the wider Toronto Jewish community to consider affiliating with our warm and welcoming shul. Ticket sales help us to pay for the service itself as well as supporting the work of the First Narayever Congregation, and the amount paid can be applied toward the cost of a shul membership. With this support, we can continue to be a vibrant traditional egalitarian synagogue for Jews of all ages in downtown Toronto.

We look forward to welcoming both shul members and the wider Toronto Jewish community to worship and celebrate with us on the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur as we do throughout the year.

To purchase High Holiday tickets, please download and complete this form. To learn more please email us at info@narayever.ca or call the synagogue office at 416-927-0546.

High Holidays: Kids, Teens and Families

The First Narayever offers a variety of high quality services and programming for children, youth and their families on the High Holidays. Click to take a look at the High Holidays: Kids, Teens and Families page for extensive descriptions and logistical information. We've crafted this schedule of programs at the MNjcc for those 18 years of age + under so that you and your family can enjoy an age-appropriate High Holiday experience!

High Holy Day Transportation and Parking
The MNjcc is located at 750 Spadina Ave., across Bloor St. from Spadina subway station. It is most easily reached on foot or by public transportation, but there are several parking lots nearby as well as free on-street parking.

Maps and directions can be found at http://www.mnjcc.org/about-us/getting-to-us.

If you do park on a side street, we would recommend one of the following:

 - Lowther Ave from Spadina Rd to Bedford Rd
 - Major St from College Ave to Bloor St W
 - Borden St from College Ave to Bloor St W
 - Washington Ave from Spadina Ave to Huron St

We have received parking consideration from Toronto Police Services for those streets at all times that services are happening, per this page. You may wish to print the page out and display it on your dashboard to remind parking enforcement staff of its existence. Note that the First Narayever Congregation will not be responsible if you correctly or incorrectly incur a parking ticket.

A Commitment to Inclusion and Accessibility
Those of you participating in services in either location, but especially at the MNjcc, will observe the current results of our ongoing commitment to increased accessibility of our services. We continue to work to design prayer spaces where everyone can participate. If you require braille or large print materials, ASL interpretation, or any other accommodation to attend the High Holy Day Services, then please contact the Narayever office by September 8 at 416-927-0546 or info@narayever.ca and we will make every effort to assist you.

Services

We offer a variety of services, programs and alternative ritual approaches for the community's High Holiday experience. As an unaffiliated, egalitarian synagogue, men and women can participate equally in all aspects of our services. Our warm and welcoming community encourages people to participate in the proceedings according to their own comfort levels. Led by Rabbi David Weiss, our main service at the Miles Nadal JCC utilizes the Conservative Harlow Machzor that follows the format of a traditional High Holy Day service.

**Service times above apply to main services at MNjcc and services at The First Narayever
*Mincha/Maariv Services on Erev RH and RH Day 1 only take place at the First Narayever, all ticket holders welcome

Alternative Programs 
We offer two immersive and moving alternative approaches to prayer and learning. Attendees are given the chance to experience and share the High Holidays in new ways.

Chanting in Sacred Community with Alon Nashman
Rosh Hashanah (both days) and Yom Kippur, 9:00 - 10:00 am | Chapel, 3rd floor, MNjcc

Chanting is a way of tuning the soul in preparation for the High Hoy Days. We will sit in song and silence as a spiritual ablution, to open our portals to the divine, and to compose ourselves spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. Participants are asked to arrive on time, as we can build more energy when we share the entire experience in sacred community.

Alon Nashman is an actor and creator of theatre. His work has toured across Canada and internationally, and includes Kafka and Son, Scorched, Snow Queen, Alphonse, and Hirsch. Alon is also a student of Rabbi Shefa Gold and Reb Zalman Schacter-Shalomi, zt”l, who have guided him in the ways of Jewish chant. 

The Days of Awe: Meaning and Understanding in Tradition and Contemporary Texts
with Ruth Rohn
Rosh Hashanah (both days) and Yom Kippur, 10:00 - 11:15 am | Chapel, 3rd floor, MNjcc

In these sessions we will engage with traditional and contemporary texts on themes relating to the Days of Awe. We will seek to deepen our understanding, find new meaning and enrich our experience of these holy days.

Ruth Rohn is a lifelong Jewish educator who has worked with children, adolescents and adults. A long-time member of the Narayever, Ruth has been active as Torah reader, prayer leader, teacher of liturgy, and in adult education at the shul. Ruth is fluent in Hebrew and conversant with classical Hebrew texts and Hebrew literature. She currently works as a counselor with Jewish day school students. 

Tashlikh
with Rabbi Ed Elkin
Thursday September 21 (Rosh Hashanah Day 1), 4pm | Heath Street entrance of the St. Clair West subway station

Tashlikh is a ceremony which traditionally takes place on the afternoon of the first day of Rosh Hashanah. It consists of casting bread crumbs into water, symbolically casting away our sins of the previous year. We will be meeting next to the entrance to the St. Clair West subway station on Heath St and we will walk together down into the ravine for tashlikh. All are welcome. BYOB (Bring your own bread!).

Afternoon Shiur (Learning Circle) 
Priests and Prophets: Two Very Different Religious Leaders, Two Very Different Yom Kippurs 
with Rabbi Ed Elkin
Saturday September 30 (Yom Kippur) afternoon, 3:30 pm | At the shul

Prophets and priests were very different kinds of religious leaders in ancient Israel. They served God in different ways. What was appropriate to one was inappropriate, even forbidden, to the other. Their views of atonement and sin are radically different. Each religious sensibility receives eloquent expression on Yom Kippur. Join Rabbi Elkin for a Yom Kippur afternoon shiur in which we will explore the differences between kohanim and neviim, and consider how these two very distinct ways of thinking were fused by the ancient rabbis to create the Yom Kippur we observe to this day.

A Focus on Tikkun Olam

Shul fundraising drive
Thursday, September 21 (Rosh Hashanah Day 1)
Shul and Miles Nadal JCC
If we are not for ourselves, who will be for us? Like many shuls do at this time of year, on Rosh Hashanah we will be asking for contributions to support the Narayever annual campaign. The funds raised last year have allowed us to limit our adult membership fee increase to the cost of living and to keep our High Holy Days ticket prices the same as last year. Your contributions will help us to remain accessible to people in the community regardless of their circumstances, as well as enhance our programming for children and adults, for the High Holy Days and throughout the year.

Community fundraising drive
Kol Nidre, Friday September 29 (Erev Yom Kippur)
Shul and Miles Nadal JCC
If we are only for ourselves, what are we? On Kol Nidre night, we will be holding our annual drive for funds to support the Narayever community’s commitment to tikkun olam. Money from the Yom Kippur appeal is provided to organizations, selected each year by our congregation, because they are making things better in Israel and in Toronto. The charities advance social justice in Israel, combating discrimination, and serve the downtown Jewish community.

Food drive
Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
Shul and Miles Nadal JCC
If not now, when? We continue as well with our annual food drive, Project Fast Food, in aid of the Daily Bread Food Bank. Please pick up a bag at either the shul or the Miles Nadal JCC on Rosh Hashanah and return it full on Kol Nidre.