Throughout the year, Machar members gather to celebrate many events. We observe Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Passover, Purim, and Hanukkah, as well as Shabbat and other holidays. We also share major life events together, including births, weddings, funerals, and B Mitzvah ceremonies.
Machar’s Shabbat celebrations inspire, educate, and bring us together as a community. We participate as Humanistic Jews, focused on the power of people to affect and change our world. Our Shabbat celebrations focus on shared beliefs about what is right, so everyone can find these services deeply meaningful.
Machar’s holiday celebrations bring our community together, as well as others from the DC Metro area, to celebrate major Jewish festivals like the High Holidays, Passover, Hanukkah, and Purim. Our celebrations focus on the themes that are special to each holiday, always asking the question, “How can we find inspiration to change our world for the better?”
Machar honors major events in our members’ lives. B Mitzvah (sometimes called bar/bat mitzvah) mark the completion of our students’ first steps in lifelong learning as Humanistic Jews. We celebrate together at weddings and baby naming ceremonies, and we mourn together at funerals.
All these events are integral to Machar’s community life. For each, we apply Humanistic Jewish values that focus on the importance of this one life we know we have in this one world in which we live.