Spend the High Holy Days with CST

Get Your Kicks in 5786

Reflect. Renew. Reimagine.
    • This schedule and its details are subject to change.
    • Services that take place in our sanctuary will be livestreamed to our streaming page.
    • We are happy to loan out copies of Machzor Lev Shalem to those who cannot attend in person and want to follow along with the livestreamed services. Please contact the shul office to arrange pick up and drop off: cst@shaarietorah.org.

Adult Education: Elul

Join us for one of the following programs this Elul.

Unlocking the Machzor
  • Prepare for the High Holidays by exploring the textual roots of this special liturgy. We will delve into the biblical and rabbinic sources of key High Holiday prayers, with an eye toward unlocking meaning and connection to the larger themes of the holidays.
  • Class Meets at CST, 6:30 – 8:30pm. September 3: Avinu Malkenu, September 10: Untaneh Tokef, September 17: Ashamnu
  • Learn more and RSVP.
 
The Teshuvah Journey: Experience the 10 days Awe Anew
  • Step into the Oracolor Wheel™—a 20-foot circular walking meditation inspired by Jewish wisdom. Through twelve colorful pathways and 48 soul qualities, pause, reflect, and consider what you’re ready to carry forward. Walk at your own pace—come as you are, and leave with a word, intention, or prayer to guide your return to your true self in 5786.
  • Program is at 4:30pm, October 5 at Congregation Shaarie Torah
  • Learn more and RSVP.

Selichot​

Selichot services are communal prayers for Divine forgiveness, said during the High Holiday season and on Jewish fast days.

Saturday, September 13, 2025

  • Services: 8pm on Zoom only
  • Havdalah 8:09pm

Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. To make sure you have a sweet new year, it’s traditional to eat honey and apples. Rosh Hashanah is a time to begin introspection, looking back at the mistakes of the past year and planning the changes to make in the new year, continuing through the Days of Awe and Yom Kippur.

Erev Rosh Hashanah

    • Monday, September 22
    • Candles: 6:49pm
    • Erev Rosh Hashanah Services: 7pm

Rosh Hashanah: Day 1

    • Tuesday, September 23
    • Services: 9am, in our sanctuary and streaming HERE
    • Family Experience: 10am
    • Candles for Day 2: 7:49pm

Rosh Hashanah: Day 2

    • Wednesday, September 24
    • Services: 9am
    • Havdalah: 7:47pm

Shabbat Shuva

The Shabbat that falls between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is called Shabbat Shuvah, or the Sabbath of return. If the word reminds you of teshuvah, that’s not a coincidence; they share a common root.

Teshuvah, or repentance, is a core concept of the High Holidays. The word means “return”. Services on Shabbat Shuvah are typically solemn and focused. The Haftarah portion deals with themes of repentance and forgiveness.

    • Candles: Friday, September 26 at 6:54pm
    • Services: Saturday, September 27 at 9:15am
    • Havdalah: Saturday, September 27 at 7:41pm

Kever Avot v’Imahot and Tashlich

Kever Avot v’Imahot (honoring our beloved departed). During the Days of Awe, it is traditional to visit the resting places of our loved ones and reflect on their lives. Your presence at this brief but moving ceremony at the Shaarie Torah cemetery will support those who mourn, honor those whose work we continue to enjoy, and remember those who have been left behind. You need not be a mourner or have anyone buried there to participate.

In addition, we will attend to the accumulated sacred texts of the past year, burying them with love and respect. In this manner, we learn cemetery etiquette and come to see the lives of those who have gone before us as beautiful and as holy as the text of the Torah.

During the Rosh Hashanah holiday, many individuals and synagogues observe a fun outdoor holiday whose origins go back to the Middle Ages. It’s called tashlich, which is the hebrew word for “casting off / throwing off.” We will gather at the edge of the river for the symbolic ritual of casting out our sins.

Sunday, September 28

    • Kever Avot & Imahot Personal Blessing Graveside: 10:30am-12pm
    • Taslich: 1pm at Westmoreland Park

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur, also referred to as The Day of Atonement, is a holiday observed with fasting and prayer on the 10th day of Tishri.

While fasting on Yom Kippur is traditional and expected of adults, some people are unable to fast due to health reasons. Take care of yourself.

Kol Nidre

    • Wednesday, October 1
    • Erev Yom Kippur candles at 6:31pm
    • Kol Nidre: 6pm

Yom Kippur

    • Saturday, October 2
    • Services: 9am, in our sanctuary and streaming HERE
    • Yizkor following Torah Service
    • Family Experience: 10am, in our chapel
    • Minchah: 5pm
    • Divrei Tapenu: 6pm
    • Neilah: 6:30pm
    • Havdalah: 7:32pm with Break Fast sponsored by the CST Sisterhood in the social hall immediately after Havdalah

Sukkot

Sukkot begins five days after Yom Kippur and is named after the booths or huts (sukkot in Hebrew) in which Jews are supposed to dwell during this week-long celebration. According to rabbinic tradition, these flimsy sukkot represent the huts in which the Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of wandering the desert after escaping from slavery in Egypt. The festival of Sukkot is one of the three great pilgrimage festivals (chaggim or regalim) of the Jewish year.

Erev Sukkot

    • Monday, October 6
    • Candles: 6:22pm

Sukkot Day 1

    • Tuesday, October 7
    • Services: 9:15am in Sukkah and online
    • Candles for Day 2: 7:22pm

Sukkot Day 2

    • Wednesday, October 8
    • Services: 9:15am in Sukkah and online
    • Havdalah: 7:21pm

HoShana Rabah – Simchat Torah

The last days of the week-long festival is marked by a day known as HoShana Rabah, which has more in common with the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The next day is a separate holiday altogether, Shmini Atzeret. Also known as Simchat Torah focuses on the Torah, as a new cycle of reading the Five Books Of The Torah begins.

HoShana Rabah

    • Monday, October 13
    • Services: 9:15am in Sukkah and online

Shemini Atzeret

    • October 14
    • Services/Yizkor: 9:15am in the sanctuary and streaming HERE
    • Simach Torah candles: 7:10pm
    • Simchat Torah Party: 6pm, in Social Hall

Simchat Torah

    • Wednesday, October 15
    • Services: 9:15am on Zoom only
    • Havdalah: 7:08pm