In preparation for the upcoming High Holy journey, we wish to share some guidance on how we intend to create sacred space for our community and how we invite you to be present with Lab/Shul.

In any given year the High Holy Days are a unique and holy time for deep introspection, contemplation, prayer, and for gathering as a community. In any given year, our preparation for these days is deeply intentional, meticulous, and takes a tremendous amount of effort, time, work and other resources. This year, we are preparing to create sacred space for transformative soul work in the context of the ongoing horrors in Israel, Gaza and the surrounding region amidst deep and painful divides within Jewish communities, families and across generations. The days and months since October 7th have been some of the most difficult many of us have collectively endured, and we are now preparing for these Days of Awe in truly unprecedented times.

Lab/Shul actively acknowledges and appreciates that the fabric of our community – including our Board and staff as well as dozens of our contracted artists and educators and hundreds of Partners around the US and abroad – is woven with diverse threads of perspective, belief, and experience. Since October 7th we have continuously offered facilitated space for constructive, compassionate dialogue, fostering understanding and empathy across our differences. These conversations have enabled us all to embrace and wrestle with complex nuance about the conflict while transcending the toxic binary that too often constrains our communication. It’s helped us to continue being a thriving community, richer for our differences. In line with our Jewish and humanistic values, we aspire to show up for and with each other, in solidarity and support of all who are implicated by this conflict – to widen our circles of compassion, not “either/or” – always “both/and”.

As we embark upon the High Holy Days we are re-committing to our mission as a sacred space for spiritual connection, bridge-building, learning, healing and growth for all. Our theme for these Days of Awe and the year ahead is “L’negdi Tamid – Face to Face, Forever Now”. This mystical mantra’s purpose is for us to see each other in the image of the divine, encountering the sacred within all of us. We stand in solidarity with all who are suffering, mourning, and hurting at this terrible time, and remember that our shared humanity unites us all. We are endeavoring to extend the spirit of holding nuance and prioritizing healing across our differences to our High Holy Day programming and the environment we will be creating, and have spent significant time over the past weeks considering how best to achieve this.

Our commitment this year is to lift up peacemakers and agents of change in Israel and Palestine, and we are excited that guest artists and ritualists will be with us throughout the season to model deep dialogue.

We trust that you will bring your full, authentic self to Lab/Shul, contributing to the spiritual richness of the moment while helping to sustain a mindful, introspective environment. And, we offer this loving guidance rooted in our values and in our discernment process:

1. Our liturgical setlists, Storahtelling scripts and education lesson plans will likely not directly address the current and historic conflict between Israel and Palestine, however, Rabbi Amichai’s sermons will likely address his perspectives. Most importantly, we will likely acknowledge overarching connected themes that aim to bring awareness and healing to all who are in pain. In this vein, should another community member directly engage in conversation with you about it, we invite you to welcome the opportunity for bridge-building, learning and healing if you are able to do so.

2. In bringing your full, authentic self to be in community with us, we invite you to come dressed to embody your unique identity and expression, as always. We also ask that in remaining aware of the sacred work we are here to do to be mindful of your choice of clothing and accessories (e.g., flags, symbols, signs and slogans) and how they may impact our collective gathering or inadvertently distract others from the sacred work we’ve come to engage in together. We leave this decision with you in your best judgment for what’s appropriate for this particular time and space – High and Holy days that are separate and distinct from the rest of the year.

3. This is guidance and not policy. In trusting that people will make the decisions that make sense for them, we will not patrol peoples’ choices. We offer this invitation: If you see someone wearing something you would not choose to wear – something that may even be painful for you to see – consider what it would take for you to trust that they, too, went through this discernment process.

We trust your wisdom in holding delicate space in these fraught times and appreciate you engaging at this level of sensitivity to support all who join us to be grounded in sacred community and in the holiness of the days.

If you wish to speak further about this, please contact Sam Hipschman, Director of Community and Culture at sam@labshul.org.

Thank you again for being an integral part of this sacred gathering. We look forward to sharing these powerful days together.