Tifereth Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C., mixes a spirit of innovation and creativity with several longstanding traditions that make its High Holiday season one to remember with reflective services and a spirit of volunteering.
Like many synagogues, Tifereth Israel maintains a tradition of visiting departed loved ones at the cemetery during the High Holiday season, and the synagogue holds a group gathering where people come together to share who they’re visiting and do memorial prayers before the rabbi will go to individual graves.
“The idea is that this is an appropriate time for families to go and visit the graves of loved ones. In general, there’s an openness to prayer at this time and so offering more prayers at the graveside fits in with the themes of the holiday. Just as we are asking God to remember us, it’s a time for us to remember those in our past,” said Tifereth Israel Rabbi Michael Werbow.
Werbow said these group and individual graveside visits are powerful experiences and fit into the spirit of the High Holy Days of renewal, repentance and reflection.
The event was something the congregation did even throughout the pandemic using Zoom. Now it’s fully in-person, and Werbow said there are people you can expect to see at the event each year.
“It certainly means a lot to me, and I believe it means a lot to them [congregants] as well. I’ve had very positive reactions and feedback from people that they have an opportunity to share memories and connect between their loved ones and myself,” Werbow said.
And the High Holidays also bring out a volunteer effort from the community in honor of late former Tifereth Israel members and presidents Marcia and Jeremy Goldberg, a married couple.
The Goldberg family is extremely important to the congregation, with two generations at the synagogue who have “the same generosity of spirit and willingness to go the extra mile to see that TI flourishes,” according to Jevera Temsky, executive director at Tifereth Israel.
Each year, the synagogue holds a Goldberg Day in preparation for the High Holidays which serves as a “spiritual housecleaning” for the congregation in time for the new year.
The volunteers are given a list of tasks that includes removing bibles from the sanctuary and replacing them with machzors, assembling personalized packets for each family attending services, scrubbing down railings and chairs that are used for weekly kiddush, weeding, sweeping and planting flowers in the garden.
Both the cemetery service and Goldberg Day took place on the same day, Sept. 29, this year, right before the High Holidays.
“It certainly is a time when people enjoy one another and build or deepen relationships in the process of doing meaningful work together, and, of course, noshing. I think there is a spiritual element to spending time, especially in the sanctuary, paving the way for us to enter this holy season together,” Temsky said.
Werbow has been with the congregation since 2020, and has already picked up on the bright and unique atmosphere that the High Holidays create at Tifereth Israel.
He said that it’s a time when togetherness is emphasized and gives a more holistic representation of the congregation than would normally be seen most other times of the year.
“It’s a time where we really see the breadth of our community in a way that we don’t see the rest of the year, and we’re able to connect with people. And there’s a joy that comes from being together with everybody else,” Werbow said.
