Celebrating its 16th year of the Yom Kippur ‘Praying Together’ program, Tzohar Rabbonim announces this year, it will be hosting over 55,000 people in 295 different locations around the country.

“Going to a religious shul can be an intimidating and sometimes off-putting experience for someone who doesn’t regularly attend or associate with that particular community,” said Rabbi David Stav, co-founder of Tzohar. “We have seen such an outpouring of desire for Jewish connection by the secular community, especially relating the High Holidays, that we knew something had to be done to accommodate them. By moving these important Jewish lifecycle events to a neutral locations – such as community centers or event halls – it becomes more much inviting and accessible for anyone interested in connecting with their Jewish tradition.”

After 15 years of successful and expanding Yom Kippur programs, Tzohar will now also host thousands of families around Israel to hear and learn about the shofar and its importance during the Rosh Hashanah tefilos in 55 locations.

Attendees are all provided with the same siddur or machzor to make it easier to follow along, as well as with explanatory pamphlet written by Tzohar about the minhagim, tefilos, and meaning of the High Holidays to help guide the participant throughout the services.

Over 350 Tzohar volunteers and their families will be placed all around the country to accommodate all those communities who wish to participate.

“Tzohar is continuously adding additional programs to encourage Jewish participation in life cycle events,” said Yakov Gaon, Executive Vice President of Tzohar. “The powerful reaction to the Yom Kippur program and our other holiday activities showed the excitement and connection people feel. Adding Rosh Hashanah programming was a natural next step.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)