Yom Kippur 5784

The Yom Kippur Main Service and Ne’ilah Service will have both an in-person and online option to join.

View the High Holydays Machzor

View the Yom Kippur Service Supplement (or access the plain text version here)

We are so looking forward to this year’s High Holy Days together, celebrating a New Year in deep gratitude and joy, reflection and learning, support and warm connection with each other.  

*Please note, we do not accept money transactions at the door during High Holydays for tickets or membership purchases. If you have any questions, please contact info@djctoronto.com

Already a member? Renew your membership here
New to the DJC? Learn about becoming a member and register here
Looking for single-service tickets? Purchase tickets here

Family Service
8:30 – 9:15 AM

We will lead families with children in creative and interactive song, prayer, teachings and stories.

Yom Kippur Youth Programming 

10 – 12:45 AM

Accommodations: if you think your child needs one-to-one support to have an enjoyable experience in the Youth Program, please note that we can’t provide that support in the context of this program and we would encourage you to send someone to support your child. 

Yom Kippur Youth Service 

10 – 10:45 AM

Teen Discussion
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Step out of our main service to join other teenagers in the DJC community on Zoom for a thought-provoking and interactive session to celebrate Yom Kippur!

Yom Kippur Service + Yizkor Service
10 AM – 1 PM

Join us for our community Yom Kippur service, followed by our Yizkor service for memorial and prayer.

Community-Led Afternoon Sessions 

2 PM

Music and Meditations

4 -6 PM

** ASL accommodation available upon request**

Ne’ilah 👫 🖥️
6 – 7 PM

Ne’ilah means the ‘Closing of the Gates.’ This creative service, lifting us to the end of Yom Kippur, will include melody and prayer, and a great final blast of the shofar. If you have a shofar, get ready to blast it!

Yom Kippur Community-Led Afternoon Sessions

Blog Workshop Description

TIME BLOCK #1: 2:00-2:45 PM

1. Black Skin as Social Trouble: The Canadian Refugee Crisis with DJC’s Social Justice Committee

This is an in-person program. ASL interpretation will be provided for this session.

Location: Jackman Room

Dr. Wesley Crichlow is a Critical Race Scholar and Professor in the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at the Ontario Tech University. He is an expert and Board Lead on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion on behalf of the Humanities and Social Sciences department. And he is part of the City of Toronto Partnership and Accountability Circle entitled Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit.

The JEDI working group (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Identity) of the Social Justice Committee has committed to actively addressing the prevalence of racism in the DJC and our city specifically. Racism was clearly demonstrated by the treatment of the Black African Refugees and Asylum Seekers who landed in Toronto this summer hoping to be welcomed and supported. Instead, they were relegated to living outside with no shelter on Peter Street exposed to the rain, heat and cold. JEDI group members went to Peter Street and engaged with the group and we listened. Subsequently, we provided sleeping mats, sanitary supplies and food. We also advocated on their behalf with Shelter staff.  The treatment and neglect of these folks by our city has been unconscionable.

In this workshop we will have an opportunity to participate in moving the equity needle forward at the DJC. We have invited Dr. Wesley Crichlow who lives out of town, to engage with us via zoom.

For more background information about our position on this issue please refer to the following link which was in a previous newsletter. https://djctoronto.com/no-place-to-go-none-is-too-many/ 

2.Through the Unknown: A Creative Writing Workshop with Susan Rich

This is an in-person program

Location: 2 Playter Crescent

Join us to explore the discomfort of not knowing – and the magic that emerges when we let ourselves move through it. Together we will engage in creative writing exercises that invite personal reflection about uncertainty and growth. Writers aged 12 and up are welcome.

Weather permitting, we will meet in the backyard of 2 Playter Crescent (Please enter through the back gate on Ellerbeck Street.)

Bio: Susan Rich is Editor-at-Large for Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. She has published the work of Michaela Goade, Sophie Blackall, Lemony Snicket, Thomas King, Maira Kalman, and Phoebe Wahl. Susan earned a Masters Degree in Children’s Literature from Simmons College, began her publishing career in New York, and now lives and works in Toronto

3. Journey into Yourself with Company: Chanting and Kavannot with Kohenet Annie Matan

This is an in-person program

Location: Rafos Hall

Participatory. Songful. Contemplative.

Please note: This workshop will span both time blocks and participants must attend the full length of this workshop. 

Bio: Kohenet Annie Matan, is a trailblazing leader in the Jewish community, combining ancestral traditions, contemporary feminist values, and a soulful voice through her spiritual engagement through music and prayer. As one of the first ordained Hebrew Priestesses in 2,500 years, Annie earned her BA in Humanities from York University, a Certificate in Experiential Education at Pardes, and studied in the ALEPH Rabbinic Ordination Program. She brings diversity to her work, embracing ancient and global Jewish music, and identifies as a Jewish, Queer, Polyam single Mama. Annie is dedicated to fostering inclusivity, ensuring everyone feels seen and heard, and recently graced DJC’s Earth Hour Coffee House with her musical brilliance.

TIME BLOCK #2: 3:00-3:45 PM

1.Reading Ourselves In Torah with Michelle Brownstein Horowitz

2. Creating Language and Culture Portaits with Rabbi Ilyse Glickman

This is an online event 

Location: Zoom – tinyurl.com/54tswe9k

Where does language and culture “live” on your person? What stories can we tell through an examination of this mapping? Through the use of paper and markers/crayons/pencil crayons, each participant will create a visualization of their linguistic and cultural identity. There will be time to share and present, explore and discuss.

Please log onto this workshop with a blank white paper and different coloured writing utensils. No artistic skills required!

Rabbi Ilyse Glickman is the spiritual leader of the Danforth Jewish Circle and is looking forward to exploring this topic with you.

2. Journey into Yourself with Company: Chanting and Kavannot with Kohenet Annie Matan (continued)

This is an in-person program

Location: Rafos Hall

Participatory. Songful. Contemplative.

Please note: This workshop will span both time blocks and participants must attend the full length of this workshop.