Tzimtzum High Holy Days

About our Services

Join us for meaningful and inclusive Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services rooted in queer, trans, non-Zionist, anti-Zionist, questioning, curious, and exploratory community. Through sacred song, ritual, prayer, and collective reflection, we will welcome the new year together.

Our services will make space for both ecstatic joy and collective grief, honoring the fullness of this moment and the many experiences we bring into it.

For more info, visit https://www.tzimtzumcommunity.com/high-holy-days

Become a member of Tzimtzum today and get access to High Holy Day Tickets (at the $84/month tier or higher)! Learn more here

"Pay What You Can" tickets

Click “get tickets” At top of page it says "discount or access code Enter the Code: PWYC $5-300 will be revealed when people enter the code PWYC. Join us! This option is for those who need it, we want to create access and open the doors for all.

NOTE: No one will be turned away for lack of funds! Email us tzimtzumcollective@gmail.com

There are multiple ways to participate in Tzimtzum Community High Holy Days Gatherings:

• All Access $350

  • Includes RH + YK + all other classes and offerings

• Rosh Hashanah Ticket $120

  • Erev RH + RH Day Services

• Yom Kippur Ticket $145

  • Kol Nidre/YK Ball + YK Day Services

• Single Event Tickets $36-75

  • Includes access to ONE of the following: Erev RH, RH Day, YK Ball, YK Day, Spiritual Prep Class or Simchat Torah

  • Community Mikveh & Tashlich Services are free and open to all

  • You can mix and match any single event tickets to any of the above events, services and classes

Spiritual Prep Class

• Tuesday, August 12 – 6:30–8:30 PM – Entering the Sacred Month of Elul Class (Spiritual Prep Class)

Community Mikveh

• Saturday, August 16 – 6:00 AM – Mikveh Experience

Rosh Hashanah

• Friday, September 11 – Erev Rosh Hashanah

  • 7:00–8:00 PM – Erev Rosh Hashanah Service

  • 8:15 PM – L'Chaim Club Gathering

    L'Chaim Club Gathering - Location to be determined soon, downtown Santa Cruz, schmooze, grab a bite or a drink and celebrate together! 

• Saturday, September 12 – Rosh Hashanah Day

  • 10:30 AM–12:30 PM – Rosh Hashanah Morning Service

  • 1:30–4:00 PM – Community Picnic at Seabright Beach

• Sunday, September 13 – Tashlich

  • 5:00–6:00 PM – Tashlich Service

Yom Kippur

• Sunday, September 20 – Kol Nidre / Yom Kippur Ball!

  • 6:30–8:30 PM – Kol Nidre Service

• Monday, September 21 – Yom Kippur Day

  • 9:45–10:15 AM – Morning Meditation w/ Rabbi Genevieve

    Before Yom Kippur morning services, Rabbi Genevieve will lightly guide and hold a 30-minute grounding meditation. It will be a simple practice for all levels and is perfect for those wanting to be quiet together as we receive the presence of the land, the trees, our hearts, and the quiet, languageless aspects of our prayers. Come as you are.

  • 10:30 AM–12:30 PM – Yom Kippur Morning Service

  • 1:00–1:45 PM – Breakout Session I- Integration Meditation
    
    Led by Mackenzie Studebaker
    
    Join Mack for an Integration Meditation during services. This will be a guided, passive somatic experience intended to reset the nervous system and assist us in gently and lovingly metabolizing the significance of this holy day. This meditation can be done seated, lying down, or in any preferred position - whatever most supports your physical, mental, and emotional decompression. It will be restorative and integrative. No prior meditation experience necessary. 

  • 2:00–2:45 PM – Breakout Session II- Reclaiming Radical Spiritual Ancestors 

  • Led by Julie Weitz 

    One source of guidance for many diasporic, justice-affirming Jews today is the voice of Rabbi Aaron Shmuel Tamares—a pacifist, spiritual leader, and writer. In the early 20th century, writing from a small town in Eastern Poland near one of Europe’s oldest primeval forests, Tamares warned against the dangers of ethnonationalism and argued for nonviolence as a core ethical and spiritual principle of Jewish life. This teaching session draws on fragments of Tamares’ writings, translated from Yiddish and Hebrew into English, to engage his vision of liberation, nonviolence, and justice not as historical artifact, but as an active invitation: to think with him across time about how we might build more just forms of collective life in the present.

  • 3:00–3:45 PM – Breakout Session III- Take Your Seat at the Tree of Life

  • Led by Rae Abileah and Ore Ganin- Pinto
    
    A Yom Kippur ritual of return and redwood wisdom for changemakers. On Yom Kippur, we turn toward what has been broken—within ourselves, between one another, and in the world—and ask what repair requires of us. The redwoods offer another scale of time and another story of survival: beings that have lived through fire, drought, logging, rupture, and regeneration; beings whose roots intertwine and whose new life can emerge in circles around what has been lost. Rather than naming every crisis, this ritual asks: What happens when we bring our grief, responsibility, longing, and questions directly into relationship with the living world—and listen for a response?

  • 4:30–6:30 PM – Yizkor & Ne'ilah Services

Simchat Torah

• Saturday, October 3

  • 7-9pm – Torah Reading and Dance Party!

Single Event Ticket

Choose from ONE of the following events:

(You can mix and match any of the single event tickets on the checkout page)

• Entering the Sacred Month of Elul Class (Spiritual Prep Class)

• Mikveh Experience (free)

• Erev Rosh Hashanah Service

• Rosh Hashanah Day Services

• Tashlich (free)

• Kol Nidre / Yom Kippur Ball!

• Yom Kippur Day Services

• Simchat Torah

"Pay What You Can" tickets

Click “get tickets” At top of page it says "discount or access code Enter the Code: PWYC $5-300 will be revealed when people enter the code PWYC. Join us! This option is for those who need it, we want to create access and open the doors for all.

Locations:

All exact locations will be emailed to ticket holders closer to the event. Please reach out if you have accommodation needs.

Rosh Hashanah will be in midtown Santa Cruz. Location is indoor, wheelchair accessible, has gender neutral restrooms, and has some parking.

Yom Kippur will be outdoors and under the redwood trees for an all-day gathering. There will be shade under the trees, access to gender neutral restrooms, and ample parking. Ground is uneven, and certain parts of the property are on a slight incline.

Photo/video policy:

We will ask that you be present at our services and do not record or take photos.

Please note that photography and videography will take place during these services by individuals looking to get wide shots, avoiding detailed faces or close-ups.

If you or a member of your party would prefer not to be photographed or recorded, please email tzimtzumcollective@gmail.com in advance of the event to let us know. We will make every effort to honor your request.