As much as the JCC is back to our post-High Holidays ‘normal’, we find ourselves blessed with the unusual, extraordinary, and increasingly rare opportunity to learn with a Holocaust survivor and educator this coming Saturday night on 10/29. You can find a blurb about the speaker, Hedy Bohm, her fascinating presentation, and registration details on...
While normally the busiest time of year in a synagogue revolves around Rosh Hashana/Yom Kippur, the JCC was rocking and rolling over Sukkot. We were fortunate to test just how many people could comfortably gather in our Sukkah on more than a few occasions. We hosted Sukkah decorating, multiple meals and a touching visit by...
Although the Torah was not written in chronological order, the newsletter usually is. So before we get to Simchat Torah, please help make the minyan this Shabbat morning at 10am if for no other reason than it is the only time all year that Kiddush will take place in the Sukkah. Simchat Torah, literally translated...
Two Ambassadors and a Member of the Knesset walk into a Tokyo synagogue for Kol Nidre. No, that’s not the start to a terrible rabbi joke. It really happened! The JCC was honored to host everyone who passed through our doors for the first Yom Kippur with Chazzan Yoni Roth since 2019 capping off an...
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...