How temples help tech generation pause for Jewish High Holidays

Beverly Projansky sees the High Holidays from a multigenerational point of view.

Projansky is the adviser of the Hillel Jewish student organization at Oakton Community College in Des Plaines and the mother of two millennial daughters.

She and her husband are sandwiched between a generation of young adults who are finding their own ways of observing the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur - marking the Jewish New year and a time of atonement - and a generation of elderly people, who are now in need of help to keep time-honored traditions going.

People like Projansky are an example of why synagogues across the suburbs are working to make their holiday services relevant to everyone.

"People are definitely changing. That's why we try to find ways to give what people are looking for," said Rabbi Mendy Goldstein of Chabad Jewish Center of Naperville. "We have a children's program. We have our service in Hebrew and English. We have prayer books, lots of explanation, lots of trying to share inspirational messages. I really try to keep up with where people are."

Jewish communities are gathering this season to celebrate the "Head of the Year" with Rosh Hashanah, which begins at sundown Sunday, and to repent for sins on the "Day of Atonement," Yom Kippur, which starts at sundown on Oct. 8.

As communities come together, rabbis say, they are seeking to provide meaning and guidance in the hurried, smartphone-toting lives of the faithful of all ages.

"How an empty-nester in 2019 is looking for relevance has a lot of parallels to how our 17-year-olds are looking for relevance. It's how our times are," said Rabbi Richard Prass of Congregation Beth Am in Buffalo Grove. "They want to see that it can benefit them; they want to see that it can guide them. They want to see that religion can better them as people."

One way Beth Am looks to connect the masses with the meaning of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is by bringing more people into the rituals.

As the new year arrives and 10 days of reflection begin, Jews traditionally sound a horn called the shofar as a call to repentance. For the past three years, Prass has taught a beginner class on shofar-blowing at Beth Am to get congregants involved.

The course demystifies the use of the curved ram's horn during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. But Prass said he keeps it simple and "gets to play band teacher," focusing also on the proper technique for a shofar blow.

One session he taught this season drew a kindergartner, a seventh-grader and an empty-nester, and - because of the shofar - they were all in temple together, all learning and engaging.

"It was a fun little zany class to have three very different cognitive and motor-skill abilities in the group," Prass said. "Interestingly, the kindergartner picked it up, like that. He could pucker up."

Instead of a shofar lesson, Chabad in Naperville hosted a challah bake before Rosh Hashanah, inviting women and girls spanning generations to knead the traditional bread for new year's celebration tables.

In these ways and others, synagogues across the region are blending learning with social time to help make an ancient observance of new beginnings palatable and purposeful for a generation that "struggles with just sitting still long enough," Prass said.

Despite technological distractions, young people are listening to the messages of their faith, said Jonah Brandhandler, director of engagement for Metro Chicago Hillel, an organization of Hillel chapters at several colleges and universities. Today's college students might not completely follow the temple-going traditions of their grandparents, but that doesn't mean they're setting Judaism aside, he said.

"In my experience, younger generations are looking for personal, relatable and authentic Jewish experiences," Brandhandler said.

That's true in Projansky's experience, too. Students involved with Hillel at Oakton often attend events by the Metro Chicago group, and the younger members of Projansky's own family are finding ways to keep their faith alive.

Projansky said one of her daughters, now living in Los Angeles, may celebrate the High Holidays or may not, depending on her schedule of travel and work. But the other, now living in Nashville, has connected online with Jewish peers she meets to mark the new year and seek a fresh start.

"They find their own groups," Projansky said of millennials. "It's wonderful."

In the Western suburbs, Fox Valley Jewish Neighbors has formed its own group of Jews and interfaith Jewish families. The organization, like many others, is hosting services for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, also featuring a potluck before the Yom Kippur observance.

While the younger set is finding its path in faith, older groups - maybe members of the silent generation, maybe early baby boomers - are beginning to need assistance.

"For my husband, it's more about making sure his mother is taken care of with her faith commitments and how important it is," Projansky said. "It's much more important to her to be in temple on the High Holidays than it is for me or my husband."

Breaking the fast of Yom Kippur may no longer come after a long day in synagogue for many Jews, and it may be more of a family dinner than anything spiritual, as it is in Projansky's case. But it's still a reason to pause, pray and be pensive - and that's significant as the High Holidays begin, Brandhandler said.

"Seek out learning opportunities, take time to reflect," he said, "and try to find some genuine enjoyment in the holidays."