High Holidays

All are welcome at the Tikkun v’Or Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services either in person or on Zoom. While membership is never required, we do ask that all attendees register, to ensure we have enough capacity and for enhanced security.

We never charge for attendance at services at Tikkun v’Or, but we do depend on High Holiday donations to pay for our expenses. We ask that you please support us as you are able.

The full guide to the High Holidays 2025 is available HERE.

Children (and their caregivers) are welcome at our services at Tikkun v’Or. Children learn about Jewish community and worship by participating in services. We believe it is the joy, privilege, and responsibility of every person in our community to guide and nurture our children.

Services for Rosh Hashanah include an evening service, a morning Torah service with a story and shofar for young families, a picnic and tashlich, and a youth service. On Yom Kippur, we offer a Kol Nidre service, a morning service with a simultaneous youth service, and afternoon activities that include meditation, yoga, and avodah, yizkor, and Neilah/Havdalah services followed by a break-the-fast celebration. Singing will be led by Azameira.

Contact highholidays@tikkunvor.org for the full schedule, registration, zoom links and more information.

The TvO machzor (high holiday prayerbook) can be found HERE along with supplements for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Click HERE for a video recording of Michael Margolin’s 5786 Yom Kippur D’Var Torah.

Click HERE for a video recording Fran Markover’s 5786 Rosh Hashanah poem.

Tikkun v’Or members can log in to the members-only section of the website to find additional recordings from High Holiday services.

The Isaiah Challenge

A highlight of our Yom Kippur services is the Isaiah Challenge, a lecture by a social justice leader who is devoting their life to justice. In the prophetic portion (haftarah) that is read on Yom Kippur, Isaiah calls on us to make our fast a fast for justice: “to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and let the oppressed go free.”

Previous Isaiah Challenge speakers include:

  • Dr Peyi Soyinka-Airewele, Chair of the Tompkins County Human Rights Commission, Professor of African and Comparative / International Politics at Ithaca College
  • Anke Wessels, Executive Director of the Center for Transformative Action at Cornell University
  • Casey Verderosa, Executive Director of Ithaca Welcomes Refugees
  • Luis Aguirre-Torres, Director of Sustainability for the City of Ithaca and co-chair of the NY State Climate Impact Assessment, Society and Economy Technical Working Group
  • Christa Núñez , founder and director at The Learning Farm. and its non-profit sister organization Khuba International
  • Mahmud Burton, President, Al-Huda Islamic Center; Co-founder, Islamic Community Outreach Services
  • Dr. Nia Michelle Nunn, Assistant Professor in the Department of Education at Ithaca College and Board of Directors President of Southside Community Center
  • Simone Thornton and Wendy Gonyea, Onondaga Nation leaders, and students of the Onondaga Nation School