NB: Kol Nidre has been rescheduled to 6:00pm to maximize access for people coming from work and those with small children. Candle lighting and the fast begin at 5:03pm. While the High Holiday season is simultaneously fulfilling and frenetic, what follows just a week afterward is positively delightful. You may recall last year’s ode to...
Our beloved High Holidays Chazzan, holiest of the holy and sweetest of the sweet, Yoni Roth has not only arrived on Japanese soil but is already comfortably ensconced with his son Yoav in the newly remodeled guestroom of your JCC. Combine their dulcet tones with the musical stylings of the JCJ’s own Aaron Kleiman blowing...
Four months ago, the photo accompanying the newsletter for Parshat Behar consisted of a dog wearing a bowler cap in a room on fire expressing relief at how despite a tanking market and a weak yen, Shabbat morning Kiddush at the JCC remained free. No reservations necessary. Everyone loves Kiddush especially when the noshing and...
Avinu Malkenu. Our Father, Our King. Our Mother, Our Queen. The composition, first recorded in the Talmud and most associated with the Days of Awe, was described by former Chief Rabbi of the British Empire Joseph H. Hertz as “the oldest and most moving of all the litanies of the Jewish Year”. As the Hebrew...
The Hebrew month of Elul, immediately preceding Rosh HaShana, represents a time of repentance, introspection and other subjects you most likely won’t hear preached about the rest of the year. Communities have the tradition of blowing the shofar each morning to rouse us from our spiritual slumber. So if you’re up early enough on your...
The JCJ welcomes everyone back for what promises to be an exciting year of events, activities and initiatives. Please continue checking the much more comprehensive weekly newsletters to follow. Services Kabbalat Shabbat Friday, September 2nd Services: 6:30pm Dinner with Reservation: 7:30pm Shabbat Parshat Shoftim Kiddush open for sponsorship Saturday, September 3rd Services: 10:00am Kiddush: 12:00pm...
***Last Reminder for Friday Night Dinner Reservation by 2:00pm Wednesday 7/6*** The JCC was once described derisively as the ‘American Synagogue in Japan’, a play on the name of the institution which hoovers up an inordinately large percentage of members’ income known as ASIJ. But I think that characterization is a bit unfair. We are...
“For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens…May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the...
Since we celebrated Mother’s Day a Shabbat late, it only makes sense that the dads of our community should receive the same honor. Who is the greatest ABBA ever? No, I am not referring to ‘Dancing Queen’ and its eponymous nod to Shulamit, the first century daughter of Israeli King Herod. Greatest Abba means who...
BLUF*: Sign up for Family Shabbat on 6/24. It’s the last chance for Sunday School students to eat for free! And now back to our regularly scheduled programming. Rambam/Maimonides in his Mishneh Torah teaches that the highest level of tzedakah/charity is helping somebody become self-sufficient. Commitment to this lofty ideal may be a reason why...