Preparing for the High Holy Days
On Sunday, October 2nd, we gather again for Erev Rosh Hashanah, the first of our Yamim Noraim — Days of Awe — our High Holy Days. These days of prayer and meditation are meant to be a time of reflection and renewal.
Our tradition teaches us that the key to realizing the potential of these sacred moments is to take the time to prepare for them. This year, the beginning of the month of Elul, the month preceding the High Holy Days, falls on the 4th of September. The Jewish spiritual path directs us to utilize this month of Elul to do the things that will help us ready ourselves for this yearly experience of confronting the most important questions in our lives.
We warmly invite you to join us, both in these days of preparation, and at our services at the High Holy Days. Click here for more information. L’Shanah Tovah.
About Beth Chaim
Beth Chaim Congregation is Contra Costa County’s vital Jewish community, providing a vibrant, embracing, enriching environment for over 500 residents in the Tri-Valley.
We are a community that offers worship, celebration, youth education, community service, continuing adult education, and a portfolio of enriching events and programs.
But we are also more than merely a synagogue, and even more than a religious school and a center for life-cycle events. We are a community — one in which our members make a real difference, and one that in return makes a real difference in the lives of our members.
A Personal Welcome to Beth Chaim
The traditional words of welcome in the Jewish tradition are “Baruch Habah B’Shem Adonai” which is usually translated as, “Blessed Are You in the Name of God.” I prefer the translation, “It is a blessing that you have come, to make us all aware that it is through relationship that we are brought into the presence of God.” Our people have always known that one of the most vital spiritual avenues – ways we can experience the mystery that is God -- is through relationship.