Welcome

Song: HEENAY MA TOV

Hee-nay ma tov oo-ma-nye-yeem
She-vet a-kheem gam ya-khad.
Repeat

Behold how good and pleasant it is
When people live together in peace.

Reader 1:
As evening casts its shadows over the earth,
ushering in the most solemn day of the year,
our thoughts join with those of other Jews throughout the world.

Reader 2:
We put aside petty concerns and vain desires.
We ask ourselves important questions.
What is our life and of what avail is our strength?

Reader 3:
What is our wealth and to what purpose our power?
How can we control the course of our lives?
What is our future?

Reader 4:
On this Kol Nidre night, sanctified in the long memories of our people,
we stand united with generations past.
Recalling the lives of our forebears,
we are stripped of pretense and revealed in all our weakness.

Reader 1:
Amid the uncertainties of life, we seek peace within ourselves and with other people.

---

Candle Lighting

Reader 2:
Na-eh zeev Yom ha-Kippureem.
Lights candles one and seven.

Congregation:
Na-eh zeev Yom ha-Kippureem.
How wonderful is the glory of Yom Kippur.

Reader 3:
Na-eh zeev ha-olam.
Lights candles two and six

Congregation:
Na-eh zeev ha-olam.
We praise the beauty of the world.

Reader 4:
Na-eh tif-eret ha-adam.
Light candles three and five

Congregation:
Na-eh tif-eret ha-adam.
How radiant is the glory of humankind.

Reader 1:
Na-eh tif-eret ha-khayeem.
Light candle four

Congregation:
Na-eh tif-eret ha-khayeem.
How beautiful is the glory of life.

In the year to come, may we succeed
in examining our lives
and in living with our realities.

Reader 2:
Or za-roo-ah la-tsa-deek-eem,
v'simkha l'yeesh-ray layv.

Congregation:
Or za-roo-ah la-tsa-deek-eem,
v'simkha l'yeesh-ray layv.
Light is sown for the righteous
and joy for the just in heart.

Reader 3:
Let us celebrate the light of the candles.

Congregation:
They burn for us.
They reflect the hope in our hearts.
May they light our way in the years to come.

---

Cantor:
Traditional Kol Nidre

Kol Nidre veh-eh-sa-ray va-ha-ra-may, v'-ko-na-may, v'khee-noo-yay, v'-kee-noo-say oo-sh'-voo-oht, deen'-dar-nah ood'-eesh'-ta ba'-nah, ood'-ah-kha-rehm'-nah v'-dee-ah-sar'-nah ahl naf'-sha-ta- nah, mee-yohm kee-poo-reem zeh ahd yohm kee-poo-reem ha-bah ah-lay-noo l'-to-vah, kool'-hohn ee-kha-raht'-nah v'-hohn. Kool'-hohn y'-hohn sha-rahn, sh'-vee-keen sh'-vee-teen, b'-teh-leen oom'-voo-ta-leen, lahsh'-ree-reen v'-lah ka-ya-meen. Need'-ra-nah lah need'-ray, veh-eh-sa-ra-nah lah eh-sa-ray, oosh'-voo-ah-ta-nah lah sh'-voo-oht.

Reader 3:
All personal vows we may make,
All personal oaths and pledges we may take
Between this Yom Kippur and the Yom Kippur to come,
We publicly renounce.
May they all be relinquished and abandoned,
Null and void, neither firm nor established.
Let our personal vows, pledges and oaths
Be considered neither vows nor pledges nor oaths.

Reader 1:
Kol Nidre is a chant of self-forgiveness.

Reader 2:
No taskmaster is as strict as our conscience.
We exhaust ourselves in defense against the tyranny of self accusation.

Reader 3:
We are responsible for ourselves,
for each other, and for the world we live in.

Congregation:
Yet we corrupt the earth and devour the land.
We have despoiled Eden.
The flowers fade and the birds are silent.

Reader 4:
How valiant we are, how glorious our deeds.

Congregation:
Yet we find poverty in the midst of wealth, injustice in the shadow of privilege.

Reader 1:
Great is the work of humanity.
Great our cities and nations.

Congregation:
And yet the dead on distant battlefields do not speak of glory.

Reader 2:
We are powerful.
We rule earth and space.
But we look upon our works with sorrow.

Reader 3:
We acknowledge our imperfections.
Although we aim toward lofty heights, temptation binds us to earth.
Greed and vanity blind our eyes, envy and arrogance control our thoughts,
false ambition too often determines our path.

Congregation:
Let us learn from the errors of yesterday in order to fulfill the tasks of tomorrow.

Reader 4:
Kol Nidre--chant of ages,
Chant of Israel, chant of sorrow,
Chant of human imperfection
Measuring the throbbing heart beats
Of a people bowed in anguish,
Who in far and diverse lands
Poured their souls into their music.
We can hear the lamentations,
We can see revealed before us
Heroes, martyrs, saints, and scholars.
Through the plaintive chant of Kol Nidre,
Weaves a song of understanding,
Lies the dawn of peace and freedom,
When all hearts are purged of hatred
And all people stand together.

Reader 1:
Kol Nidre is concerned with the importance of vows, oaths, and promises of human behavior.
In the fifth chapter of Ecclesiastes, the author says,
"It is better not to vow at all than to vow and not fulfill."

Reader 2:
But our forebears understood the need for escape clauses in human intentions.
For despite good intentions, all of us make promises we cannot keep.

Congregation:
How many of us have fulfilled all that we have vowed?
Who among us has not broken a heartfelt promise?

Reader 3:
Therefore, let us say together:

Congregation:
I hereby forgive those who have hurt me,
Whether deliberately or by accident.
As I forgive and pardon fully
Those who have wronged me,
May those whom I have harmed in any way
Also forgive and pardon me.
And may I not willfully repeat
The wrongs I have committed in the past.
May tolerance and justice light our days.
May tolerance and justice light the world.

---

Kol Nidre

Reader 4:
We began this year, as all years,
with promises and good intentions for improving our lives.
Too many promises have been forgotten,
too many hopes not realized.

Reader 1:
Who will hear our regrets?
Who will open our prison and set us free?
To whom can we raise our voices?

Reader 2:
As the promises were ours, forgiveness must be ours.

Reader 3:
As we accept our imperfections and confirm our hopes,
we grow in ethical and moral strength.
With a sense for life's potential,
we move beyond finding fault to seeking new opportunities for growth.

Reader 4:
What can we learn from the Kol Nidre?

Congregation:
We must avoid making empty vows.
We must commit ourselves to deeds rather than words.
We will strip away old habits.
We will be open to change.
I affirm all vows, promises and resolutions
That I made for love and honor.

Reader 1:
For people of ancient days, sacrifice was real.
They burdened sacrificial animals with their sins
and sent them off into the wilderness.

Reader 2:
For us too, sacrifice must be real,
forcing us to relinquish the comfort of our illusions.

---

Cantor: Humanistic Kol Nidre

Kol Nidre veh-eh-sa-ray va-ha-ra-may, v'-ko-na-may, v'-khee-noo-yay, v'-kee-noo-say oo-sh'-voo-oht, deen'-dar-nah ood'-eesh'-ta-ba'-nah, ood'-ah-kha-rehm'-nah v'-dee-ah-sar'-nah l'ma-an a-ha-va oo-ts'-da-ka yee-h'-yoo kie-ya-meem.

Congregation:
All personal vows we may make,
All personal oaths and pledges we may take
Between this Yom Kippur and the Yom Kippur to come,
That are made for love and for righteousness,
We affirm and accept.

Reader 3:
Yom Kippur, by Ben Sochachevsky

Fear not!
Softly on tiptoe come.
Break not the solemn silence
In which our breath is hushed.

Hark!
Earth shudders,
Worlds tremble.
Something is born and dies,
And again is born.
The sun radiates burning fire.
On the bowed neck of the earth
A light is burning.
Soaked in blood,
The flame is red.
The light beckons.

Look!
The sun smiles
through gleaming fire.
Does she mean to kiss the earth?
The sun goes down.
Shadows creep upon the earth.

Reader 4:
As we scan the human map, we are tempted to despair.
But Yom Kippur is a day of forgiveness, as well as atonement.

Reader 1:
This season offers us an opportunity to look inward.
The regeneration of Kol Nidre is accomplished
by making amends where that is possible,
and by changing habits and activities
that are harmful to ourselves and to others.

Reader 2:
Kol Nidre is a call to assess ourselves and our lives.
We alone bear responsibility for our deeds.

Reader 3:
In the 12th century, Maimonides said, "Free will is granted each of us.
If we desire to incline toward the good and righteous,
we have the power to do so...
It is the pillar of the law and the commandments."

Congregation:
We assume responsibility for ourselves.
We forgive the errors of others.

Song: KA-MA-YEEM

Ka-ma-yeem, ha-pa-neem, la-pa-neem--
Ka-ma-yeem, ha-pa-neem, la-pa-neem--
Ken-lev ha-ah-dahm, la-ah-dahm
Ken-lev ha-ah-dahm, la-ah-dahm.

As the face of one person mirrors the face of another,
The heart of one person reflects the heart of another.

---

Speaker

---

Reader 4:
We are shaped in the mold of the generations who lived before us.

The ethical system cherished by our people for thousands of years became the standard for the civilized world.
Many ancient laws and values still ring with truth.

Reader 1:
But the sages of old cannot serve as our only guides.
As our forebears created, so can we.

Congregation:
When old laws no longer apply, we write new ones.
When ancient ceremonies lose their meaning, we create our own. vThis is part of the renewal, the regeneration,
the message of Kol Nidre.

SONG: Imagine, by John Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try,
No hell below us, above us only sky.
Imagine all the people living for today.

Imagine there's no countries,
it isn't hard to do Nothing to kill or die for,
and no religions too.
Imagine all the people living life in peace.
You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.
I hope someday you'll join us and the whole world will live as one.

Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can,
No need for greed nor hunger nor folk with empty hands.
Imagine all the people sharing all the world/ You...

Reader 2:
Open up and speak from the heart.
A voice rushes through you
Startling the air.
A fresh wind
Opens the door to a deserted mountain cabin.

Lift your voice
Like a horn to your lips,
Calling to the people--
They are guilty,
They are wounded.

Hiding the wounds
Inflicted on each other.
Indifference, self-righteousness
Jar the doors and windows
Of the House of Israel.

A mountain spring, always running
Under a clear blue sky,
And many walk out
To build on the ruins--

Firming the ancient doors and windows,
Reaffirming the ancient foundations
Of our ancestors
On this earth.

Song: AY FOH OR-EE

Ay foh or-ee? Or-ee-bee.
Ay foh teek-va tee? Teek-va tee bee.
Ay foh koh khee? Koh khee-bee,
V'-gam bakh.

Where is my light? My light is in me.
Where is my hope? My hope is in me.
Where is my strength? My strength is in me,
And in you.

Reader 3:
As humanistic Jews, we are guided by a code of ethics,
by a sense of social responsibility.

Reader 4:
We know the ways in which we diminish ourselves.

Reader 1:
By lying for personal advantage.

Congregation:
By despoiling the land so we cannot pass it on to future generations.

Reader 2:
By manipulating the people we claim to love.

Reader 3:
By pretending emotions we do not feel.

Congregation:
By remaining silent in the face of evil.

Reader 1:
Poem by Yevgeny Yevtushenko

Telling lies to the young is wrong.
Proving to them that lies are true.
Telling them that God's in his heaven
And all's well with the world is wrong.

The young understand what you mean.
Tell them the difficulties.
Tell them the obstacles.
Tell them sorrow happens.
And to hell with it.
Who never knew the price of happiness
Will not be happy.

Forgive no error you recognize.
It will repeat itself.
And in time to come our children
Will not forgive us what we forgave.

Reader 2:
Our tradition acknowledges that evil and sorrow exist,
but forbids us to let it grow in silence.
It is our simple obligation to clothe the naked,
feed the hungry, nurse the sick, and comfort those who mourn.

Reader 3:
The Talmud speaks of many ways to build self respect.

Reader 4:
"Let not your wisdom exceed your deeds,
lest you be like a tree with many branches and shallow roots."

Reader 1:
"Accustom yourself to doing good; before long it will become your chief delight."

Reader 2:
"Judge others by their deeds, and you will not be led to false judgment."

Reader 3:
"If others do good through you, their deeds will be accounted as your own."

Congregation:
"Happy are those who are rich in good works, for they shall be honored in life,
and remembered long afterward for their goodness."

Song: B'-MAH-KOM

B'-mah-kom shay-ayn a-na-sheem
Heesh-ta-del lee-yot eesh.
B'-mah-kom shay-ayn a-na-sheem
Heesh-ta-del lee-yot eesh.

Where people are less than human, strive to be human.

---

Memorial Service

Reader 4:
On this solemn evening, we remember the courage of our forebears in their hours of trial,
to strengthen our will and to hearten us in our struggles.

Congregation:
It is good to have the gift of remembrance,
to transmit the story of our people from generation to generation.

Reader 1:
Though they are silent, our ancestors speak with our voices.
Though their hands are still, they labor through us.
They live in us, in our faces and our bodies,
in the energy that moves our muscles, and in our thoughts.
They survive in our memories.

Reader 2:
We are all victims of loss.
Some of us have wept, some of us now weep,
some of us will weep tomorrow.

Reader 3:
Let us honor the martyrs of the holocaust in Europe,
and of all the other holocausts unleashed on the innocent of this world.
In their memory, we reaffirm our commitment to freedom and peace.

Reader 4:
We find these words in the Diary of Ann Frank:

"I hear the approach of thunder.
I can feel the suffering of millions.

"And yet, I think it will come out all right, one of these days.

"That this cruelty will end, and peace and tranquility will return again.

"In the meantime, I must hold on to my ideals,
for perhaps the day will come when I shall be able to carry them out."

Reader 1:
Ann Frank wrote her message of hope during the long months of terror,
as she and her family hid from their enemies.
Through her writings she triumphs over her murderers.
The gentleness and courage of this adolescent girl will echo in human hearts forever.

Congregation:
In memory of those whose lives were sacrificed
only because they were members of the Jewish people...
and in living tribute for those destroyed by hatred...
we are each of us obliged to see ourselves in every generation,
to the end of time, as survivors of the Holocaust.

Reader 2:
There are things in Jewish history too terrible to be believed,
but not too terrible to have happened.

Reader 3:
The Jewish Ghetto at Lodz, by Harold Black

If you choose to die,
leap from the upper floor
of the cold house,
or from the bridge
next to the Church
of the Blessed Virgin.
Or slit your wrists,
or wander to the fence
where a guard will shoot you,
or just lie down on the frozen ground.

Reader 4:
If you choose to live,
there is music
to hide the rumbling
of your empty stomach.
Bronislawa plays her violin
in the House of Culture.
In soup kitchen no. 2
Stajman the tenor sings.

Or you can trade on the black market
your last table cloth or sheet
for a loaf of bread.

Reader 1:
But there are times
when you do not choose.
A notice is tacked to your door.
Fate has chosen you
to ride the train.

Reader 2:
We will remember;
to forget is a crime against memory.

Congregation:
Out of the depths of their despair,
the victims raised the voice of faith in the coming of a better day.

Reader 2:
I believe.

Reader 3:
I believe the light will shine,
even though I do not live to see the end of night.

Congregation:
I believe in love, though hatred surrounds me.

Reader 4:
I believe in the Jewish people united like the fingers of one hand:
a hand that can clench in strength, yet reaches out for peace.

Congregation:
I believe that despite the fury that rises up in every generation to destroy us...
the people of Israel lives.

Am Yisrael khai!

Cantor chants Shema Yisrael, ekhad amenu, adam ekhad!

Congregation:
Shema Yisrael, ekhad amenu, adam ekhad!

Hear O Israel, our people are one, humanity is one!

Song: SHALOM, SHALOM

Shalom shalom l'yis-ra-el,
Shalom shalom la-ah-dahm,
Shalom shalom l'yis-ra-el,v Shalom shalom la-o-lam.

Simkha simkha l'yis-ra-el,
Simkha simkha la-ah-dahm,v Simkha simkha l'yis-ra-el,
Simkha simkha la-o-lam.

Peace to Israel, to humankind, to all the world.
Joy to Israel, to humankind, to all the world.

Reader 3:
We stand as we think quietly of our loved ones who have died.
Let us reflect silently for a moment.

---

Stand for a Moment of Meditation

---

Please be seated.

Reader 4:
All of us have lost people whose lives were precious to us.
It is fitting to mourn their loss,
to remember with regret the pain, the sorrows
and the disappointments that darkened their lives.

Reader 1:
But we can also remember them with joy.
We honor their strength, their patience and good humor, and their enduring love.
In all that they gave us and taught us,
the values they have passed to us and our families,
our loved ones have achieved a form of immortality.

Reader 2:
Even as we miss them, we know that those we loved live on,
in ourselves, our children, and our memories.

Congregation:
I remember our loved ones who have died.
No longer can I tell them of my love and appreciation for all they have done and all they have meant to me.
By making their lives part of our life, I express my gratitude for their love.
I share with this congregation the love I express.

Reader 3:
The memory of those we loved can help us reaffirm the conviction that life has meaning.

Congregation:
As we remember our loved ones, and as we mourn the victims of the Holocaust,
we affirm our commitment to life, to nourish and protect it.

Song: ZAY-KHEER TSADEEKEEM

Zay-kheer tsa-dee-keem, lee-v'-ra-kha
Zay-kheer tsa-dee-keem, lee-v'-ra-kha
Lee-v'-ra-kha..., Lee-v'-ra-kha...,
Zay-kheer tsa-dee-keem, lee-v'-ra-kha.

May the memory of good people be a blessing for us.

Congregation:
May the memory of those we loved in life sweeten our thoughts and our deeds.
May the grace of their presence reach out to touch our hearts and inspire our days.

Reader 4:
As loved ones live on in our memories,
our only chance of immortality is in the memories of those who follow us.

Reader 1:
Let us also resolve to end the silent deaths, the deaths of hope and spirit,
that sap the richness of life before its time.

Reader 2:
Through our deeds, and our influence on the lives of others,
we survive death and decay to become part of the human dream.

Congregation:
The history of the Jewish people is long, filled with accounts of menace and isolation,
emphasizing our need for connection and peoplehood.

Reader 3:
We cling to each other for affirmation and mutual support.
Even in good times we remember past dangers,
and find comfort in those who share our memories of survival.
The Jewish people lives!

Am Yisrael khai!

Reader 4:
But in this world, all people are equal in adversity.
We are all threatened by common dangers:
nuclear holocaust, hunger, disease, persecution, loneliness.

Congregation:
Even when the suffering of Jews becomes a memory,
we must honor our history of suffering by caring for those who must still suffer.

Reader 1:
We live because our ancestors supported each other,
summoned the strength to live, refused to die.
In every generation, Jews have found new ways to celebrate life.

Congregation:
We believe in the future of the Jewish people.
We believe in the future of humankind.

Reader 2:
We see the Jewish people as our family;
Our Jewishness as our home.

Reader 3:
We see humankind as our family,
And the whole world as our home.

Reader 4:
As we enter the New Year, we carry with us wishes
of peace, health, and prosperity for all.

L'shana tova tikva-taynu!

Congregation:
L'shana tova tikva-taynu!

Song: HEH-VAY-NU SHALOM ALEIKHEM

Heh-vay-nu sha-lom a-lei-khem,
Heh-vay-nu sha-lom a-lei-khem,
Heh-vay-nu sha-lom a-lei-khem,
Heh-vay-nu sha-lom, sha-lom, sha-lom a-lei-khem.

Leader:
May we go in peace until we meet again.