Online Jewish Community Services
How to Find Synagogues and Programs for Jewish Holidays and Events
© Jan Lee
Sep 11, 2009
All of the major Jewish movements provide online programs and information about Jewish community services for Jewish holy days. Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, Renewal and Humanistic organizations offer either automated resources for finding religious services throughout the country, or educational programs and support for religious holidays according to the Jewish calendar.
Orthodox Jewish Community Services
Chabad-Lubavitch, an Orthodox Judaism movement, operates an online resource for Jews who are looking for religious services or support. Individuals can locate services by inputting their country, zip code or postal code. For those individuals who live more than 50 miles from a major city, the service can extend the search to 100 miles or greater. Chabad also maintains a special link for searching for High Holy Day services through its High Holy Day program link and similar links for other holidays.
The Orthodox Union has a nice feature in which it will list not only synagogues in the specified area, but mikvahs (ritual baths for religious purposes). The OU Calendar is located under “Synagogue Network” on the left-hand side. The calendar also has a feature that lists all holidays, their dates for the current year and whether it is permissible to work on that holiday, according to Orthodox Jewish laws.
The OU site also has current information about upcoming holy days and traditions, which are accessible either by clicking on the link in the calendar, or by selecting the information of interest from the home page. The Rosh Hashanah information for example, included a list of audio lessons ranging from basic to advanced study.
Torah Study at Home
The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, otherwise known as the Masorti movement, maintains a search feature on its website for individuals who are looking for a Conservative synagogue. It also features “Two-minute Torah” podcasts that are accessible through its Koach page, as well as "Kabbalat Shabbat" lessons that can be accessed from the same page.
The Union for Reform Judaism website includes an overview of all major and minor holidays. Its "Learning" link at the top of the Home Page provides a link to "Ten minutes of Torah" email service, as well as weekly Torah commentary podcasts in English.
Listings of Jewish Synagogues and Holidays
The Jewish Reconstructionist Federation website includes a pull-down menu of its congregations in the United States, Czech Republic and Netherlands Antilles. It does not appear to offer easy-to-find listings of holy day services, but searching its website will provide reading material for the holidays.
The Alliance for Jewish Renewal (ALEPH) provides a link for affiliated communities, under which one can search for a community in his or her area. Additional information about special holy day services is available by contacting the nearest listed synagogue.
The Society for Humanistic Judaism maintains a search function for congregations in North America and other parts of the world. Its front page features links to information about seasonal events and holy days that are celebrated by its congregations.
The following websites provide an overview of the holiday in accordance with Humanistic perspectives, which generally do not accept the existence of God. Sources and listing of websites for the above Jewish religious movements include:
- Chabad-Lubavitch - Chabad.org
- Orthodox Union - OU.org
- United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism - USCJ.org
- Union of Reform Judaism - URJ.org
- Jewish Reconstructionist Federation - JRF.org
- Alliance for Jewish Renewal - Aleph.org
- Society for Humanistic Judaism - SHJ.org
Additional sources:
- JewFAQ.org
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