One of the challenges of Livestream High Holy Days is that we will be “missing” the most important element of all – You! However, it is a sacrifice worth making, as health is indeed a key ingredient to joy and success in life!
But! We still want you “there” (or "here") with us and that is the focus for a great deal of our invitations to you. We really hope you will take us up on them:
- High Holy Day English reading: If you would like to be a reader for one of the many inspirational readings from the liturgy, just click HERE to let us know.
- Torah Blessings: We invite everyone to video themselves chanting the Torah blessings before and after the reading of Torah. We will then use your recordings to create a tapestry of individuals and families who are chanting the blessings “together.”
Welcome to Torah blessings 101. We are trying to collect as many videos as possible from throughout our community of individuals and families chanting the blessings for the reading of Torah. I know that many of you are familiar with these blessings, even if you've never had the opportunity to learn them or to chant them during a Shabbat or holiday service. Watch
They are not difficult to learn and the text is in transliteration, in case your Hebrew is a little bit Rusty. Here's what I'm hoping you will do:
1. Practice the blessings until you feel comfortable with them.
2. Prepare to video yourself and or your family chanting the blessings, ideally in two different videos – one for the opening blessing and another for the closing blessing.
3. In order for everybody in the videos to be chanting at a similar pace as everybody else, I am hoping that you can set up a phone camera to do the video while you play the practice video on your computer so that you can follow along with the “bouncing cursor” but with the sound off.
4. Practice video for you. Click Here
5. Once you have completed your video, please upload it to this Dropbox link:
https://www.dropbox.com/request/MVNPIwYIKupc33wAvBRo
Thanks, and if you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to contact Rabbi Scott at Rabbishw@cskhouston.com.
- Healing Service Blessing Under a Tallit: Our Yom Kippur afternoon Healing service (“A Warm Blanket”) incorporates a very special Healing blessing. Each year, we invite up leaders of our community to hold up our giant Shma Koleinu tallit to create a healing shelter under which people stand as we sing the Mi Shebeirach prayer. Since we cannot stand together this year, but we are nonetheless all the more so in need of healing, we ask that you video yourself and/or your family standing beneath a tallit that we can incorporate into our Healing service.
- Havdalah: As we conclude Yom Kippur on Monday, September 28 at 6pm, we will celebrate this conclusion with Havdalah. We ask that you and/or your family video yourselves holding up the symbols of Havdalah (Kiddush cup of wine or juice, Spices and a twisted candle). For a video tutorial on the prayers, click Here. Once you have completed your video of you holding up the symbols, please upload it to this Dropbox link:https://www.dropbox.com/request/MVNPIwYIKupc33wAvBRo
