High Holy Days

Please use this form to register for 2024/5785 High Holy Day services.

Our services will be led by our spiritual leader, Rabbi Cynthia Minster and visiting Cantor Carl Jacobs. 

Our Early Childhood Service (Yom Kippur only) will be led by Melita Silberstein. Our Youth Services will be led by our School Director, Dr. Jenn Levine. See our schedule below and bios about each of these service leaders.

There is no charge to attend our services, however, a donation of your choosing greatly helps us cover these enhanced expenses. We welcome your participation in person or online.

Our services are streamlined. We use the Mishkan HaNefesh machzorim (prayer books).

Submissions for the 2024 Book of Remembrance will be accepted until Tuesday, October 7th. You do not need to be a member of Temple Israel to submit names in this book.

High Holy Day Leaders

Rabbi Cynthia Minster

Rabbi Minster earned a BA in Peace & Justice Studies from Wellesley College (2000), and an MA in Rabbinical Studies from the Academy for Jewish Religion, California, where she was also ordained (2022). Her thesis title was “Internal Growth, Human Relationships, and Reaching Towards God: The Concurrent Development of Ethics & Mysticism in Early Modern Jewish Texts.” Her work breaks new ground in explaining how mysticism forms the philosophical basis for the development of ethics. This exploration creates a clear basis for a modern, progressive approach to Judaism.

Cantor Carl David Jacobs, Soloist

Carl David Jacobs entered AJRCA to study for the cantorate while winding up a career as an strategic organizational psychologist.  Building on several years of experience as a chorister and soloist with both Jewish choirs and master chorales, he graduated with a Masters Degree in Jewish Studies, where his thesis was titled "Kol Nidre, The Power of The Music, The Problem of the Text''.  Since then he has acted as both a "kolbo" services leader and Cantor, while also continuing to perform secular music both as soloist and chorale member.  

Dr. Jenn Levine, Ed.D.  Director of Education

Jenn has been a Jewish Educator for 20 years. She began her career in family education in Ann Arbor, MI. She moved with her family to California in 2008 and continued working in Jewish education focusing on Hebrew, and Judaics from grades kindergarten through twelfth grade. Ms. Jenn, as she is also known, has been one of our Hebrew teachers for the last 10 years. For the last 8 years, her children Jacob and/or Miriam Levine joined her on Thursdays to teach Hebrew. She is passionate about Jewish education and creates an inclusive, engaging, and unconventional classroom environment for her students.

Melita Silberstein, Early Childhood Service Leader

Melita Silberstein is a singer/songwriter, folk musician, children’s performer, and ceremonial song leader based out of Berkeley, CA. She is the founding member of Octopretzel, a popular Bay Area band for kids, and has also recorded and/or co-produced a number of CDs in the realms of both singer-songwriter contemporary folk as well as children’s music.

PARKING

Parking is free in the lot in front of the temple. Give yourself extra time to park and stop by our welcome table. Parking passes will be sent to Temple Israel members.