Elul Programming – A Month of Connection, Reflection and Action

The month of Elul, leading up to the High Holydays, is a time for inner awakening, spiritual accounting and turning toward our deepest individual and collective calls to action for justice and compassion. Practices include sounding the shofar every morning to wake us up!, reciting Psalm 27 daily, focused reflection on the past year and engaging in the challenging and beautiful work of repairing harm and making amends.

• Sept. 13 @ 4:30pm: Pre-High Holyday Family Meet-and-Greet

  • Kid-friendly community meet-up on Zoom! Visit with friends new and old and get to know your community before we celebrate the High Holydays together. Icebreakers and facilitated opportunities to connect.

• Justice-Focused Self-Guided Walking Tours

  • Take time during Elul to learn about various social justice issues and history by going for a walk:

    • Queerstory: Explore the sites and sounds of Toronto’s vibrant and storied queer history with Queerstory, a free locative app. This walking tour app will lead you to more than 30 points of interest where significant events occurred. 

    • Lady Action: Toronto’s Trailblazing Women: Follow this map to explore stories of the suffragists, doctors, artists, and others who faced adversity and challenged the status quo, changing the course of Toronto’s history.

    • Indigenous Roots: A Living History: Discover Toronto’s Indigenous heritage, from the comfort of home or as a self-guided walk on a mobile device.

    • Accessible Spaces: These guided audio tours from the City of Toronto highlight safety, accessibility and active transport in public spaces, and the “Complete Streets” approach to streetscape design. 

• Sept. 11 @ 6pm: Welcoming Shabbat, Welcoming Each Other: A Zoom Shabbat Picnic

  • See familiar faces, meet new people.  Let’s get to know each other in new ways and build a sense of community, despite being in our separate homes.  Spread out your picnic blanket inside or outdoors. Get out candles, wine or grape juice and challah and make a delicious dinner.  We’ll sing, bless and dance, connect in small groups and enjoy Shabbat dinner together, all on-line.  See you there.

• August 27, 31, Sept. 7, 14 @8:30am: Shofar Mondays – You will be BLOWN AWAY

  • Each Monday morning, we will gather on line for some singing together, live shofar blowing, a brief teaching and a prompt for reflection and practice for the coming week. The gathering will end with a prayer for healing and mourner’s kaddish.

• “Shana Tova” Digtial Tapestry

  • Over the next few weeks, we invite you to create and photograph your very own “Shana Tova” greeting card that we can include in an on-going DJC loop of High Holiday good wishes. Let the creative juices flow! 

• The Torah of Honey Podcast

  • Stay tuned for details!