High Holy Days 2025 Leadership Message

Interim Senior Rabbi Arthur Nemitoff (left) and Beth Am President Debby Radin (right)

Dear Friends,

We welcome you to 5786 here at Congregation Beth Am. From S’lichot through Atzeret-Simchat Torah, we look forward to observing our fall festival moments with each of you. We have many wonderful opportunities to discover our Jewish connections, as we gather as a congregational family. 

This Guide contains most of the details of this year’s observance. While admission to High Holy Day services is for members, guests, and those who have purchased tickets, our congregation is open to all who wish to join us, regardless of one’s financial situation. Just let us know if there is a family member or friend whom you would like us to invite to join our congregation for the holidays.

This year, both members and guests are required to register for High Holy Days. New Beth Am name badges have been mailed (the week of August 18), and will serve as your identification for entrance to all our High Holy Day services. It is very important that you bring them with you and wear them for our services. We have two major changes that we wish to highlight: 

First: After asking you — our community — what you wanted, it was clear that an overwhelming majority wanted to be on our beloved Beth Am campus for the High Holy Days. So, our services (with three exceptions) will be at Beth Am. (The three exceptions are: our Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur morning Family Services to be held at Mitchell Park; and our Tashlich service on Rosh Hashanah afternoon held at Baylands Sailing Station in Palo Alto.) 

Second: We also heard that you want to be together as one community. To accommodate this and be on our campus, we will provide overflow seating in two locations: outside on the Social Hall Patio under a tent and in the Beit Kehillah. We are confident this will provide options for those who want to be in person, but prefer some more space from large crowds. Of course, we will continue to livestream all our High Holy Day main services for those who are more comfortable tuning in remotely. With these three options — in addition to our Sanctuary/Social Hall seating — we look forward to being together as one Beth Am.

As we embark on this new year, we are grateful for the healing our community has experienced and anticipate our growth in the coming year. We pray that each of our households, our families, our friends, and our world, experience a year filled with blessings.

We are excited to enter into this new year of Jewish living with you!

Learn more about High Holy Days 2025 with Beth Am.