Unique Community Rosh Hashanah Service at Har Sinai

HOPEWELL TWP. - When Har Sinai Temple celebrates the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, its festivities will include a pair of distinctly different services, one of which is open to the public in the spirit of community outreach.

          All services, with the exception of the 2 p.m. Rosh Hashanah service, will be held at the Performing Arts Center at Pennington High School, 259 Pennington-Titusville Rd., to accommodate the large number of attendees expected.

          The High Holidays begin with a Congregational Service on Rosh Hashanah Eve at the high school, Sept. 4, at 8 p.m.

          In the main auditorium beginning at 10 a.m. on Sept. 5, Rosh Hashanah Day, a formal Reform service will be conducted by Har Sinai's spiritual leaders, Rabbi Stuart Pollack and Cantor Leon Sher, known for his composition "Heal Us Now". They will be joined by pianist Mark Sobol and the full Har Sinai Choir to welcome the new year in a traditional fashion.

          A contemporary combination of prayer and celebration will characterize the Junior Congregation Service that begins at 11 a.m. and will be open to the community on the same morning. A 90-minute family service especially designed from 3rd to 6th grades, but open to all ages, it will be led by Susan Sacks, who serves as musical director of Har Sinai, and multi-instrumentalist congregant Greg Rapport, along with Magda Reyes, the temple's educational director, who will serve as percussionist.

          "We hope everyone in the Jewish and Interfaith communities will find something that touches them spiritually this High Holiday season," Pollack said of the services. "We want everyone to know that the door is open at Har Sinai."

          Sacks described the service a "inspiring and participatory, providing congregants with an understanding of the prayers and observances of the holiday in an accessible, upbeat manner."