Worshipers Find New Ways to Mark Age-Old High Holy Days

When Makom Ohr Shalom congregants gather in Van Nuys for two days of Yom Kippur services later this month, they will take a two-hour detour from the traditional. Two hours will be devoted to hands-on healing, in which members take turns lying on massage tables while others circle them, join hands and chant over the person’s body.

“It is not sexual or invasive,” Rabbi Theodore Falcon said. “It is a literal sharing of energy. It’s palpable--all I can tell you is in that room, you can feel it.” When he first introduced it in 1979, “people thought it was freaky and they left, and that was fine,” he said. “Now people clamor for that part of Yom Kippur.”

Makom attracts non-traditional worshipers from as far away as Orange and Riverside counties, and it is one of several groups this year that will be holding High Holy Days services for Jews seeking an alternative to conventional temples.

Rosh Hashanah, which starts Sunday evening, begins the new Jewish religious year, and is followed by Yom Kippur the evening of Sept. 21. The holidays are the most revered on the Jewish calendar, a solemn time for introspection when the fate of each person is said to be inscribed in the Book of Life, and Jews, through self-examination and repentance, may expunge the bad comments.

Most of the alternative services tend to be less formal and structured than those in mainstream temples. The prayers and readings, for the most part, are more contemporary, including poems and songs along with the traditional prayers. Questions during the service are not only allowed, but in some cases encouraged. Dress is more casual, “not a display of furs and diamonds,” as one campus-based rabbi put it.

The cost of tickets--which can run up to $150 per person at some synagogues--range from $10 for students at campus Hillels to $75 at most other alternative temples. The tickets are readily available, but should be purchased in advance.

Makom Ohr Shalom, a Synagogue for Jewish Meditation: Falcon, who is also a practicing psychotherapist, offers an experience that is as mystical as it is religious. At Makom, the spiritual element found in Eastern religions is added to some of the traditional holiday prayers and songs.

Falcon objects to the commonly held view that God is so all-encompassing that there is no way for man to understand his purpose. “In the mystical view, although that unknowable, transcendent aspect also is perceived, God is deeply affected by human consciousness and human action,” he said.

During the holidays, Falcon teaches that forgiveness begins on the human level and is then continued by God. “In terms of traditional theology, that’s radical,” he said.

Falcon, 45, once held more conventional positions as the campus rabbi at USC and Cal State Northridge, but in the 1970s, he said he began to grow disenchanted.

He started Makom Ohr Shalom 12 years ago in the living room of his San Fernando Valley home and it has grown to a congregation of about 300. Some 500 people are expected for the High Holy Days, which are held at the Sanctuary of the Jewish Academy in Van Nuys.

Unlike most temples, where a serious mood pervades, the services at Makom feature a lot of singing, chanting, stories and laughter.

Barry A. Rosenbaum, 29, a deputy city attorney in Santa Monica, had not actively practiced his religion for eight years when, in 1984, he became a member of Makom.

“I found a place that brought Judaism alive and gave it meaning,” he said. “In my upbringing, there was a vast separation between self and God. I said prayers that had been recited for thousands of years, but they didn’t seem to have meaning. I didn’t feel like I had any relationship to God.”

At Makom, he said, the services are more personal and uplifting, and he no longer finds himself a captive of tradition, destined only to relive the spiritual experience of someone years ago.

For information on Makom’s Holy Day services, call (818) 344-3113.

Valley Outreach Synagogue: Janis Andres, 41, said it was that distant element of religion that ultimately led her to the Valley Outreach Synagogue.

“Growing up, I always hated the holidays,” she said. “You had to sit for hours and hours and you didn’t understand what was going on.” At Valley Outreach, “you’re participating. You’re not just there as an observer.”

Rabbi Richard Schachet, also a public school teacher, will stop the service if a member of his congregation has a question. And at the culmination of this year’s service, the congregation will break the Yom Kippur fast together, fostering a sense of community.

The type of service is determined by a committee of the synagogue’s members and is “gender neutral,” Schachet said. God is not referred to as “him” or “her,” but as “God.”

Schachet, 51, said he started the synagogue three years ago at the behest of Jewish people who were unaffiliated with a temple and who felt uncomfortable joining, either because they were single, had married out of their faith or had fallen away.

“There are many congregations that don’t reach out to them, don’t make them feel that a synagogue is a house of prayer for all people,” Schachet said.

Rabbi Paul Dubin, executive vice president of the Southern California Board of Rabbis, disputes Schachet’s contention and said mainstream temples welcome all Jews.

“When I see the word outreach, I cringe,” Dubin said. “I don’t think he has the corner on the market for outreach.”

The group’s High Holy Days service will be at St. Paul’s Methodist Church in Tarzana. For information, call (818) 998-8410.

Hillel houses: More traditional, but still alternative, are the services sponsored by campus Hillel houses throughout the Valley. Hillel is a campus-based Jewish community that derives its name from the Jewish sage in the late 1st Century B.C. who taught that kindness and mercy are at the core of all commandments.

Hillel services are geared to students, but anyone is welcome. The cost for non-students, however, is $75--far above the $10 student rate, but lower than many temples.

“The key is participation and exploration,” said Rabbi Susan Laemmle, the Hillel director for Valley and Pierce colleges.

Hillel services are more explanatory and tend to be smaller than most temples. A newcomer is just as likely as a Hillel member to receive the honor of blessing the Torah, Laemmle said. “There’s no in-group, no cliques.”

Hillel services for Valley and Pierce colleges will be held at the Valley Cities Jewish Community Center in Van Nuys. Hillel services for CSUN will be in the campus Student Union.

For information on services at Valley and Pierce colleges, call (818) 994-7443; at CSUN Hillel, call (818) 886-5101.

L.A. Action: At the Emerson Unitarian Church in Canoga Park--once home to a Jewish temple--a singles group called L.A. Action will co-sponsor holiday services with four mainstream temples. The tradition dates to 1973 when the now-defunct Emet Young Jewish Professionals sought an alternative to the formal and costly Valley temples.

“It is for people who can’t or won’t go to other places,” and includes singles and couples alike, said Michael Klein, a partner in a Century City law firm, who has led the service for the last seven years.

The services--for which tickets cost $20--generally draw between 150 to 200 people, far fewer than the hundreds that show up at most temples. This creates an intimate setting, and people are encouraged to bring songs and poems to share.

Among the more touching contributions in years past came from a Tennessee coal miner who was moved by the spirit of the service and yearned to participate.

Since he was unfamiliar with the group, he had brought nothing to share. So he simply stood and, as best he could, recited the Ten Commandments.

The group is affiliated with Valley Beth Shalom, Hollywood Temple Beth El, Adat Ari El and Temple Ner Maarav. For information on L.A. Action’s High Holy Days, call (818) 780-4809.

Other alternative services: In Arleta, Temple Beth Solomon for the Deaf conducts services for the hearing-impaired. The synagogue, founded in 1960, is a Reform temple. About 175 families belong, and most members of the congregation are deaf. The others can hear, but attend with family members who are hearing-impaired. Services are conducted in sign and voice. High Holy Days tickets are free to temple members and cost $35 for non-members. For information, call (818) 899-2202.

For lesbians and gays, Beth Chayim Chadashim, which means house of new life, offers a comfortable non-judgmental place to worship in Los Angeles. The temple, founded in 1972, is the only one of its kind in Southern California. For information, call (213) 931-7023.

For those seeking a traditional yet imaginative service, there is the Synagogue for the Performing Arts and its offshoot, the Synagogue for the Creative Arts, both in Los Angeles. At these services, the performing and creative arts are highlighted. For information on Creative Arts Temple, call (213) 659-8366; on the Synagogue for the Performing Arts, call (213) 472-3500.