High Holy Days Leadership Search
Mile End Chavurah is a progressive, egalitarian, non-denominational, grassroots, dynamic, and innovative Jewish community based in Montreal, Canada. We are looking for a guest leader for our 2023 High Holy Days.
The ideal candidate will be a rabbi, a cantor, or a rabbinical student who will provide spiritual leadership for our complete slate of High Holy Days programming, collaborating closely with our Managing Director, lay Chazzan, High Holy Days musicians and singers, as well as a number of other community members who help facilitate prayers and teachings on a regular basis.
Situated in the historically Jewish Mile End neighbourhood of Montreal, Mile End Chavurah (MECh) is committed to creating spaces for Jewish study, culture, prayer, celebration, and acts of social justice. Our vision is to create a sustainable and progressive Jewish community in our own neighbourhood—one which will nurture us and our children.
Our community consists of Montrealers who are seeking a progressive, inclusive and diverse space to explore Jewish spirituality, learning and culture; Jews who have felt disconnected from the mainstream Jewish community but are seeking an opportunity to engage with Judaism in a meaningful and new way. We welcome people of all backgrounds: interfaith couples, non-Jews, gays and lesbians, non-binary and transgendered persons, young families with children, and individuals. Many of us are professionals, educators, therapists, artists, and students. Our ages range from newborn to 70+.
We embrace Judaism, even as we wrestle with it, and are also open to learn from and draw on other spiritual traditions. We are in many ways a very unique community, on the one hand very open to devotional and deep worship, but also a ragtag group of intellectuals and skeptics. We look forward to finding a High Holy Days leader who can engage with our varied dimensions--someone who will both challenge and nurture us.
Specific tasks will include:
- Leading full prayer services for:
- Erev Rosh Hashanah (Friday, September 15)
- The first morning of Rosh Hashanah (September 16)
- Erev Yom Kippur (September 24)
- Yom Kippur (September 25)
- Developing ideas to engage meaningful and innovative participation in the High Holy Days
- Helping to facilitate community members’ leadership in services (e.g., offering of Divrei Torah, leyning, etc)
- Collaborating with lay leaders to plan a retreat for the second day of Rosh Hashanah, to include learning, creativity, and Jewish contemplative practice
- Lead some creative programming (example Torah study, or embodied practice) on Yom Kippur afternoon before Neilah, Shabbat Shuva, etc.
For many of our past High Holy Days services we have been fortunate to have great lay leaders in our own community as well as very involved participation from many talented community members, which have made our celebrations truly special. We have also been blessed by Rabbinic leadership in the past, notably Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari, and Rabbis Arthur Waskow and Phyllis Berman. We look forward to finding a dynamic, creative, teacher/practitioner to help shepherd our community through these days of awe