Jewish Holidays

JEWISH HOLIDAYS

Holiday celebrations and moments of prayer with MakomNY are joyful and meaningful. Our style reflects the ideals of the progressive Jewish community, honoring our tradition and heritage, while embracing new and innovative ways to interact with Judaism and one another. Being part of a community can be very powerful, joyous and even life-changing for those who participate.

Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. It is both a time of rejoicing and of serious introspection, a time to celebrate the completion of another year while also taking stock of one’s life. The days of Rosh Hashanah usher in the Ten Days of Repentance, also known as the Days of Awe, which culminate in the major fast day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

All are invited to celebrate ROSH HASHANAH with MakomNY, including a festive community dinner, services and Tashlich at the water.

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur means "Day of Atonement" and is considered the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. It is the moment in Jewish time when we dedicate our mind, body, and soul to reconciliation with God, our fellow human beings, and ourselves. We are commanded to turn to those whom we have wronged first, acknowledging our sins and the pain we might have caused. At the same time, we must be willing to forgive and to let go of certain offenses and the feelings of resentment they provoked in us. On this journey we are both seekers and givers of pardon.

Join us at MakomNY for YOM KIPPUR including: Kol Nidre, Morning, Afternoon and Yizkor Services, and ending with a community break-fast. We even give the option, on our most important fast day, for MakomNY friends to help feed others and take to heart the fast by putting together thousands of meals for those in need.

Sukkot

Sukkot, a Hebrew word meaning "booths" or "huts," refers to the Jewish festival of giving thanks for the fall harvest. It also commemorates the 40 years of Jewish wandering in the desert after the giving of the Torah atop Mt. Sinai. Jews build sukkot to remember what is what like to be wandering, without a permanent home.

Celebrate Sukkot with MakomNY as Rabbi Bravo invites the community to experience a beautiful service and share a meal inside her Sukkah.

Simchat Torah

Simchat Torah celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of the Torah readings and the beginning of a new cycle. In one evening, we read from the end of Deuteronomy and the beginning of the Book of Genesis.

Join in a festive Simchat Torah celebration at MakomNY of eating, singing, dancing, praying and more as we open our Torah all the way from beginning to end.

Chanukah

Chanukah, the Jewish eight-day “festival of lights,” is celebrated with a nightly menorah lighting, special prayers and fried foods. Chanukah celebrates two things: a miracle in which one day’s worth of oil burned for eight days, and the victory of the Jewish freedom fighters over the Syrian-Greek forces that tried to wipe out Judaism in the second century B.C.E.
At MakomNY, we always promise lively and joy-filled musical Chanukah Celebrations, including a special dinner and Shabbat service and a Chanukah open house at Rabbi Bravo's home.

Tu'Bishvat

Tu'Bishvat marks the beginning of a “new year” for trees, the season which the earliest trees begin to bloom in Israel and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle. It is celebrated often by planting trees and by eating fruit, particularly from the kinds that are singled out by the Torah such as grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates.

At MakomNY, we celebrate Tu'Bishvat through learning activities for children, families and adults including, crafts, baking and a Tu'Bishvat Seder.

Purim

Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, who was planning to kill all the Jews. On a simplistic level, Purim involves food, costumes, gifts and more. Yet on a deeper level, Purim celebrates and rejoices in the strength, heroism, faith and power of one person to overcome seemingly impossible challenges. It reminds us of religious freedom, the importance of Jewish identity, the power of women and so much more.

At Purim we join together in community, share in the Megilah reading and much more. It is always a joyous and fun celebration.

Passover

In celebrating Passover, we celebrate our freedom as Jews. As the Spring festival that commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, we honor our heritage as a Jewish people, and each year we remember to tell and retell the Passover story.

At MakomNY, we honor the Passover Holiday in various ways from the traditional to the more modern. Together we share in community activities and celebrations, and interpretations of freedom, such as Holiday Cooking, MakomNY Women's Seder, and a 2nd Night Community Seder.

Shavuot

The festival of Shavuot, meaning, the “Feast of Weeks,” is celebrated seven weeks after Passover and commemorates the first harvest and the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.

Often celebrated by enjoying dairy foods, at MakomNY we offer many opportunities for engagement, from community cooking and dairy dinners together at Rabbi Bravo's home to sacred moments in prayer, and the traditional Yizkor service.