Community Corner
Congregation Celebrating Jewish New Year—Under the Stars
The Baltimore Hebrew Congregation prepares for its fifth annual Rosh Hashanah Under the Stars. The event takes place Wednesday at Oregon Ridge Park.
When the organized its first Rosh Hashanah Under the Stars event five years ago, it didn’t expect it to be the success that it was.
“We expected 500 people, and got nearly 2,000,” event chairwoman Jessica Normington said. “Last year we had over 6,000.”
The congregation anticipates an equally successful turnout during the fifth annual on Wednesday at in Cockeysville.
Find out what's happening in Pikesvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The free event gathers Jewish community members for family services the night before the Jewish New Year.
The park will open at 4:30 p.m., when families can picnic on the grass to a performance by the . This will be followed by a service in both English and Hebrew led by congregation Rabbi Elissa Sachs-Kohen and Cantor Robbie Solomon at 6 p.m.
Find out what's happening in Pikesvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
This year, attendants will have the option of reading along with a digital prayer book, which was developed with Rabbi Dan Medwin of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. It will be projected onto the amphitheater screen, and available for download onto phones and tablets from the event’s website.
In the past, Under the Stars has drawn Jews from outside the congregation and from areas outside Baltimore. Families who are not congregation members are encouraged to attend.
“It’s mostly residents from Baltimore City and county, but there’s also been people coming from the DC area, Pennsylvania and Delaware,” Sachs-Kohen said. “We’ve also had families who go to services at their own congregations the next morning, and others who are unaffiliated with any congregation and just want to celebrate the holiday with others."
Accessibility is one of the event’s major goals. The large turnout each year shows that there’s a need for such events for unaffiliated Jews, Normington said.
“Every year people come up to me after the service and say, ‘Thank you for providing this to me and my family. This is an important holiday for us, and it’s great to have a place to celebrate it with other Jewish families,'" Normington said.
“We’re offering something that resonates with people,” Sachs-Kohen said. “To have something that feels so organic, to be outside in an incredible space and welcome the new year together makes sense to a lot of people.”
Register for free tickets at the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation website.