Blessings from the Rabbi
Sign up for a 15 minute one-on-one with me Rabbi Isabel!
We can’t schmooze at services, but Rabbi Isabel is still excited to meet all of our students, alumni, faculty and friends and offer personal blessings for the new year! Spend the time getting to know Rabbi Isabel, catching up, or talking through High Holiday reflections. Dates available 9/17, 9/18, 9/20, 9/21
Rosh Hashanah &
Yom Kippur Schedule
Services & Gatherings Friday 9/18 – Sunday 9/20 and Sunday 9/27 – Monday 9/28
Drexel Hillel will be partnering with Hillel International’s Higher Holidays project to offer expertly produced, spiritually evocative virtual High Holiday services that feature Hillel staff and students from around the globe. Additionally, we will be offering a Drexel specific “Zoom into Rosh Hashanah” on Friday 9/18 before the holiday begins, outdoor in person (masks required) Shofar blowing and Tashlich Sunday 9/20 and a special Drexel community Yizkor and Healing Service at 1pm on 9/28. See the drop downs for schedules and more information
Schedule for Drexel Community Online & In-Person Experiences
Drexel community virtual opportunities are open to all! In person opportunities are restricted to Drexel students and other Drexel ID holders.
**Please register here to receive Zoom links
EREV ROSH HASHANAH (Friday September 18th)
Zoom into Rosh Hashanah: 4:30pm ET //1:30pm PT
a short community gathering featuring music, meditation, a message from Rabbi Isabel and lots of opportunity for conversation and connection (45mins – 1hr)
ROSH HASHANAH DAY 1 (Saturday September 19th)
Virtual Kiddush on Zoom: Approximately 11:30am (following the Hillel Higher Holidays morning service)
Join Rabbi Isabel to toast the new year! Bring a glass of wine or grape juice for kiddush and join us for a short l’chayim and shmooze after services.
ROSH HASHANAH DAY 2(Sunday September 20th)
Outdoors, in-person. Masks and Registration Required (students & Drexel ID holders only)
Shofar Blowing on the Perelman Center Terrace: 11:30am ET
Come share your hopes for the new year and hear the shofar (30mins)
Tashlich Walk + Shofar: 2:00pm ET
Meet at the Perelman Center and Walk to the banks of the Schuylkill River to participate in the annual ritual of casting sins. Will include an opportunity to hear the shofar. BRING YOUR OWN BREAD / CRACKERS.
YOM KIPPUR (Monday September 28th)
Virtual Yizkor & Healing Service: 1pm ET //10am PT
Join us to remember and mourn loved ones lost and to find a time for healing of body, mind and spirit (approximately 30-45mins). Click here to submit names and/or photos for our Yizkor montage.
Schedule for Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur Services with Hillel International
Services will be streamed in their entirety twice on the day of the Holiday, following these showings, the services will be available “on demand.” The service times are:
Rosh Hashanah Day 1 (September 19th):
Early Service: 10:00am ET // 7:00am PT
Late Service: 1:30pm ET // 10:30am PT
Kol Nidre:
Early Service: 5:30pm ET // 2:30pm PT
Late Service: 8:30pm ET // 5:30pm PT
Yom Kippur Morning:
Early Service: 10am ET // 7:00am PT
Late Service: 1:00pm ET // 10:00am PT
Yom Kippur Closing (Neilah):
Early Service: 6:00pm ET // 3:00pm PT
Late Service: 9:00pm // 6:00pm PT
Make sure to register to receive link information, and information about Drexel-specific chats during the live streams (must indicate Drexel as your campus to receive this information)
What can I expect from Hillel International Higher Holidays Services?
Higher Holidays is a partnership between Hillel International and Reboot. Hillel International is leading production for “In the Book” Services (a live streamed, synchronous experience) and Reboot is leading production for “Beyond the Book” The times posted in our schedule are for “In the Book” services, as “Beyond the Book” can be viewed at any time once it goes live.
“In the Book” Overview:
Reform-style Services for Rosh Hashanah Day I Morning & Yom Kippur Morning
Led by master prayer weaver Rabbi Nikki DeBlosi, PhD (formerly of NYU Hillel) with music by noted Bay Area musician Maya Elise. In the Book services will provide engaging, relevant, & spiritual Reform-style services that flow from the most recently-published machzor, including contemporary poetry & hip melodies, appealing to students from secular to religious from egalitarian backgrounds.
Format: 5 Episodes per holiday based on the machzor (pared-down for attention span and realistic expectations of attendance) played in a livestream with interactive breaks between episodes that will include polls, “talkback” chat options, & interviews. Episodes will “drop” on the morning of each holiday and be will also be available for viewing after the initial live experience.
Liturgy & Accessibility: Services will be based on the Reform machzor, Mishkan Hanefesh. Free flipbooks (Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur) are available online from the CCAR Press for anyone who wants to use a second screen to follow along. All services will be Closed
“Beyond the Book” Overview:
Reimagined-style Services for Rosh Hashanah Day I Morning & Yom Kippur Morning
Beyond the Book will provide a reimagined twist to the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur traditions with a program packed with audacious inquiry and meaning. We will bookend the High Holidays with two immersive days of music, learning, comedy and conversation – all presented by some of the greatest thinkers, artists, authors and musicians of today (seriously, some cool people, extraordinary thinkers and even notable celebrities). Together, we will unpack the meaning of the holidays with a contemporary lens and take on the most pressing issues captivating the Jewish world and beyond.
To You, From Hillel: High Holiday Subscription Box
High Holidays at Home, Zoom not Required!
Looking for unique ways to celebrate the holidays when big communal meals and services aren’t possible? Want to add a little fun and inspiration to your holiday observance. Sign up to have a Drexel Hillel Subscription box delivered to your dorm! The box is loaded with holiday themed suprises – some will make you think, others will help you unwind, and some are just fun and tasty!
**This box is for everyone! Students, alumni, faculty, friends! (they cost about $36 to make and ship, we hope our alumni, faculty and friends will consider making a contribution to support this project!)
Sign up by September 10th for home delivery or September 15th for Perelman Center Pick up!
What are Hillel Subscription Boxes?
“To You, From Hillel” is Drexel Hillel’s new Subscription Box program, designed to help bring Hillel home during this period of remote learning and social distancing. We will release several boxes throughout the Fall (and beyond) – each box will respond to at least 3 of our 6 signature categories (Learn, Create, Thrive, Connect, Nourish, Act). Some of the boxes will include opportunities for virtual programming associated with the box content. All of the boxes are designed to enhance your (Jewish) life whether you’re home with family, living with roommates, or just looking for personal enrichment.
Is the box free?
Our boxes are FREE for Drexel community members. Each box costs between $25 and $40 to prepare and ship, we hope that if you are able, you or your family will consider supporting this project with a donation to Hillel.
Who are subscription boxes for?
Our High Holiday box is for EVERYONE (students, faculty, alumni, friends etc!). During the year we’ll have many boxes that are designed just for our Drexel students (and one or two more that will be available to everyone:)
I have an idea for a box...who should I talk to?
We’re thrilled for new ideas for our boxes! Please be in touch with our staff or student board members to discuss your ideas.
What are You Called to Become?
Students, faculty, staff and alumni are encouraged to submit a video response to Hillel’s annual public reflection question!
The last six months have been a time of major disruption to the fabric of our individual lives and the ways that our communities and economies function. The pandemic has dramatically changed how we are able to physically interact with each other, and pushed us to new modes of engagement. We have had to radically re-prioritize who, how and when we connect, and where and how we spend our time and energy. Similarly since the end of May, our country has been pushed again to reckon with our long and complicated history of racism and the ways in which racism still pervades and impacts our institutions, ideologies, interpersonal relationships and individual lives.
To paraphrase Dr. King, we come to this hallowed moment in our year to remind ourselves of the fierce urgency of now. We sound the shofar to announce the new year, but the shofar is also an alarm, a call to action, a call to engagement. The shofar sounds and within that sound is a calling unique to each of us. The shofar is reminding us to ask ourselves “what is this moment calling me to become?” It is inviting each of us to hear in its sounds our own unique calling. Whether that calling is coming from your experiences of the pandemic, whether it is coming from the intensity of the anguish expressed by protests demanding that our society, institutions and ideologies value black lives, or whether that calling is coming from a more individually unique experience, this year Drexel Hillel is inviting our community to share public reflections on how you are being called in this moment, and how you hope to respond to that call.
We encourage you to share your reflections on the theme with us in one or more of the following formats:
- A video (3 minutes or less) sharing your reflection (the video will be shared on Hillel’s YouTube channel and some may be featured during various virtual gatherings or on other social media)
- A reflection (350 – 500 words) to share aloud during a Hillel virtual service, or at a Hillel socially distanced in person gathering
- A written reflection or piece of creative writing (approx 350 words) to be shared digitally and in print with our community
- A piece of visual art, music, or other creative media to be shared digitally and in print with our community
As you craft your piece, please remember the goal is personal reflections – we ask that you avoid generalizations about what “we” experience or “what Jews or Drexel students do / think” and instead share your thoughts and feelings from your personal perspective focusing on “I statements.” If you can, tell a story that helps us get to know you and your perspective in a more relational manner.
You are encouraged but not required to share a photo or image with (or as) your reflection. Please also let us know whether we have permission to share your reflection with attribution or anonymously and whether you would be interested in sharing your reflection during our High Holiday services (or at another time). Questions should be sent to Rabbi Isabel de Koninck, idekoninck@drexelhillel.org.