The Shofar Project Resources
This year’s High Holidays have begun unlike any most of us have known. We have woken up to our deep interconnection to all people and our own fragility. We have seen more clearly the deep injustice of systems and power structures in our country. We have heard voices pleading for life. Perhaps we are awake in a way we have not been before. How can we maintain and even deepen this awareness as we enter a new year?
The Shofar Project was designed to support people of all backgrounds who want to make this a year of continued awakening, responsiveness, renewal, and transformation. This free program took place during the Hebrew month of Elul, the month preceding the Jewish High Holy Days, a traditional period for intensive spiritual reflection, introspection, and moral accounting (August 21 – September 18, 2020).
Session recordings and resources:
Week 1: Awakening and Opening the Heart
August 23 – 28
The sound of the shofar is a “spiritual alarm” intended to awaken us from denial and delusion, softening our defenses and opening our minds and hearts to what is real. Our practice this week will be devoted to opening more fully to the incredible opportunity to live our fullest and most meaningful life right now, as well as to hard, painful truths about ourselves and our world, developing our capacity to maintain an open heart.
Week 1 Session Recordings:
Monday, August 24
11:00 AM – 11:45 AM ET
Click to Watch Yoga with Cantor Elizabeth Shammash, IJS
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Click to Watch Daily Sit with Hazzan Sabrina Sojourner, Charles E. Smith Life Communities, Bethesda, MD
Tuesday, August 25
11:45 AM – 12:15 PM ET
Click to Watch Torah Study to Sustain the Soul with Rabbi Jonathan Slater, IJS
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Click to Watch Daily Sit with Cantor Elizabeth Shammash, IJS
Wednesday, August 26
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Click to Watch Daily Sit with Rabbi Andrea London, Beth Emet, Evanston, IL
Thursday, August 27
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Click to Watch Daily Sit with Rabbi Jonathan Slater, IJS
4:00 PM – 4:45 PM ET
Click to Watch Yoga with Rabbi Myriam Klotz, IJS
Friday, August 28
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Click to Watch Daily Sit with Rabbi Myriam Klotz, IJS
Week 2: Hearing the Pain of the World
August 30 – September 4
The sound of the shofar expresses the pain and grief of all beings and our planet, commanding our attention. Our practice this week will focus on attending to that which calls out for healing and repair, within ourselves and our personal relationships, as well as our implication in the suffering of others and our capacity to respond.
Week 2 Session Recordings:
Monday, August 31
11:00 AM – 11:45 AM ET
Click to Watch Yoga with Cantor Elizabeth Shammash, IJS
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Click to Watch Daily Sit with Rabbi David Jaffe, Torat Hayyim and Inside Out Wisdom and Action
Tuesday, September 1
11:45 AM – 12:15 PM ET
Click to Watch Torah Study to Sustain the Soul with Rabbi Jonathan Slater, IJS
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Click to Watch Daily Sit with Cantor Julie Newman, Tiferet – a Jewish Spirituality Project, Pittsburgh, PA
Wednesday, September 2
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Click to Watch Daily Sit with Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, Central Synagogue, New York, NY
Thursday, September 3
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Click to Watch Daily Sit with Rabbi Dan Liben, Temple Israel, Natick, MA
4:00 PM – 4:45 PM ET
Click to Watch Yoga with Rabbi Myriam Klotz, IJS
Friday, September 4
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Click to Watch Daily Sit with Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, Boulder, CO
Week 3: Returning to Compassion
September 6 – September 11
The sound of the shofar is an invitation to move from judgment to compassion. It represents the “still small voice” of God inviting us to accept Divine love, and allow it to heal ourselves, each other, and the world. This week, we will devote ourselves to attuning to the inner voice of compassion, and cultivating our capacity to be instruments of love.
Week 3 Session Recordings:
Monday, September 7
There will be no sessions today as our office is closed for Labor Day
Tuesday, September 8
11:45 AM – 12:15 PM ET
Click to Watch Torah Study to Sustain the Soul with Rabbi Jonathan Slater, IJS
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Click to Watch Daily Sit with Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari, Kol Tzedek Synagogue, West Philadelphia, PA
Wednesday, September 9
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Click to Watch Daily Sit with Rabbi Sam Feinsmith, IJS
Thursday, September 10
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Click to Watch Daily Sit with Rabbi Dorothy Richman, Makor Or, San Francisco, CA
4:00 PM – 4:45 PM ET
Click to Watch Yoga with Rabbi Myriam Klotz, IJS
Friday, September 11
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Click to Watch Daily Sit with Cantor Kerith Spencer-Shapiro, University Synagogue, Los Angeles, CA
Week 4: Transforming into an Instrument of Justice
September 13 – September 18
The sound of the shofar is a rallying cry, urging us to lift our own voices to cry out and mobilize on behalf of the vulnerable among us. This week, we will devote ourselves to transforming ourselves into shofars, becoming instruments through which the healing and restorative power of the Divine might flow.
Week 4 Session Recordings:
Monday, September 14
11:00 AM – 11:45 AM ET
Click to Watch Yoga with Cantor Elizabeth Shammash, IJS
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Click to Watch Daily Sit with Rabbi Jenny Solomon, Beth Meyer Synagogue, Raleigh, NC
Tuesday, September 15
11:45 AM – 12:15 PM ET
Click to Watch Torah Study to Sustain the Soul with Rabbi Jonathan Slater, IJS
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Click to Watch Daily Sit with Rabbi Susan Leider, Kol Shofar, Tiburon, CA
Wednesday, September 16
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Click to Watch Daily Sit with Toba Spitzer, Dorshei Tzedek, Newton, MA
Thursday, September 17
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Click to Watch Daily Sit with Rabbi Elliott Tepperman, B’nai Keshet, Montclair, NJ
4:00 PM – 4:45 PM ET
Click to Watch Yoga with Rabbi Myriam Klotz, IJS
Friday, September 18
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Click to Watch Daily Sit with Rabbi Eva Sax-Bolder, The Shul of New York, NY
