YAMIM NORA'IM (HIGH HOLY DAYS) 5786/2025
See below for details of our High Holy Day services and learning sessions.
Non-members are very welcome to all of our services and study sessions. There is no charge to attend any of our services. Please contact admin@kolnefesh.org.uk for venues, and to let us know you're coming for security purposes.
Note: One of our sessions during the Ten Days requires purchasing a theatre ticket in advance. Please see below under "Bridging the Yamim Norai'm: Ten Days of Learning and Reflection." The theatre outing and discussion will be on Tuesday September 30th.
The full details of our High Holy Day programme can be found here
Synagogue Services
Erev Rosh Hashanah
Monday, Sept 22nd. Ma'ariv at 6:30 pm.
A communal meal will follow the service. Please contact KNM by email if you would like to attend (admin@kolnefesh.org.uk).
1st day Rosh Hashanah
Tuesday Sept 23rd, 9:00 am.
Alternative session after the drasha will be 'Nurturing Hopefulness', with Rachel Sklan.
Tashlich 4:30pm. Please contact KNM by email if you would like to attend (admin@kolnefesh.org.uk).
2nd day Rosh Hashanah
Wednesday Sept 24th, 9:00 am.
Shabbat Shuvah
Kabbalat Shabbat service and potluck evening meal at 6:30pm - contact admin@kolnefesh.org.uk for location
Sept 27th: Morning service at 9:30am
Kol Nidrei
Wednesday, October 1st 6:00pm.
Yom Kippur
Thursday, October 2nd 9:30 am.
Alternative session after the drasha will be 'Hopeless Jonah - a Suitable case for Treatment' with Nahum Gordon.
Everyone is invited to break the fast after the service. (Fast ends at 7:25pm.)
All services apart from erev Shabbat are at the Shema building, Stream Lane, Edgware
HA8 7YA
Bridging the Yamim Norai'm:
Our unique Ten Days of Learning and Reflection
This year, our Ten Day programme will be on the theme of Hope. Rabbi Joel's drashot overt his period will. all relate to this theme. Most sessions this year will be in person, with a few on Zoom. The full details of our High Holy Day programme can be found here.
Please contact admin@kolnefesh.org.uk for location details.
Thursday, September 25th 8pm
Simon Eder: “Hope for Israel” A few weeks after the 7th October 2023 Attacks, Simon commissioned a series of essays from leading rabbis and academics from across the Jewish world. The result was the short book, Voices of Hope.
Reflecting on some of these writings 2 years on, he assesses how even in these dark days we might draw on a sense of Hope for the future. He will also personally share some of the core learnings of his time living in the UAE and also dwell on just how a liberal Zionist ethic could steer us on a course to hope!
Motzei Shabbat, September 27th, 8:15pm
Film viewing and discussion. The film on the theme of Hope is 'Ed Wood', a 1994 movie. Tim Burton and Johnny Depp team up to fete the life and work of cult hero Ed Wood, with typically strange and wonderful results.
Sunday, September 28th
Morning:
8:30am Shacharit
9:15 Hineini - The next stage in our Hineini Conversations journey. At the Shema building, Edgware.
Evening 8:15pm; Panel discussion with Jonathan Freedland, Emily Kasriel, Rabbi Joel Levy and Rabbi Jonathan Wittenburg. ‘Schver zu sein a Yid’ -It's hard to be a Yid. At New North London Synagogue.
Monday September 29th, 8pm on Zoom
Richard Sarsby - Governor at Pentonville Prison. Freedom to Jail and back again. The butterfly effect in action
Tuesday, September 30th
Theatre outing and discussion with Rabbi Joel following the play.
Soho Place Theatre, 7.30pm. Please book your own tickets in advance.
The play is "Every Brilliant Thing", and a discussion led by Rabbi Joel will follow the performance.
High Holy Day Resources Available Online
In 2020, we created a set of resources for those unable to attend services in person. These can be accessed as follows:
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Rabbi Joel put together a series of texts and ideas for celebrating Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur at home. To learn how to ‘Take the Yamim Nora'im Home’, click here.
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Click here for a virtual Rosh Hashanah service, including sections of the liturgy, recordings of the leyening, and Rabbi Joel's dvar torah for Rosh Hashanah 2020.
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For a virtual Yom Kippur service, click here. This includes Rabbi Joel's drashah from our pre-Yom Kippur 2020 Zoom as well as his drashah on Yom Kippur, and Chazan Jacky's Kol Nidrei.
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For those wishing to recite prayers for those departed, a copy of our Yizkor booklet can be found here.
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Finally, click here to access a set of video and audiofiles we put together last year, including a series of videos from Rabbi Joel, podcasts by Jay Schlesinger about the High Holy Day liturgy, recordings of highlights from the liturgy by our Shlichei Tsibbur (prayer leaders), and more.
Blow Your Own Shofar!!
Daily Shofar-Blowing and Thought for the Day
During the last week of Ellul 2020 we came together on Zoom to hear the blasts of the shofar, together with a short piece of music from the Yamim Noraim, and an inspirational ‘Thought for the Day’.
All of the weekday Ellul zooms from 2020 were recorded and can be heard again here.
If you missed our ‘Blow your own Shofar’ teaching session, you can watch the recording from 2020 here: