Our Services
Our worship is conducted largely in Hebrew, but our weekday prayer book (Siddur Sim Shalom – the red book in our Daily Chapel), our Shabbat & Holiday prayer book and Chumash (Siddur Lev Shalem and Etz Hayim, respectively -- the red books at your seat in the Sanctuary) contain wonderful English translations, transliterations and commentary. Ours is both a traditional and a modern liturgy, recognizing both the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Jewish people.
Daily Services
Our evening services are conducted each Sunday, Monday & Wednesday at 7:00 PM in the Cowen Daily Chapel at the OJC. Our Tuesday and Thursday evening services take place in the Cowen Daily Chapel at 6:00 PM during the school year (this year starting on October 11th) and 7:00 PM at other times of the year to facilitate the participation of the bar and bat mitzvah-age students in our Kulanu program.
Evening services enable those mourning a loved one to fulfill the daily obligation of saying kaddish in the presence of at least 10 members of our community. Making a minyan is one of the highest mitzvot any Jew can perform, as halacha dictates the exclusion of the Kaddish and other parts of our liturgy in the absence of a minyan. Please help by attending evening services just one night a month.
Shabbat Services
Our weekly Shabbat services take place Friday at 7:00 PM during the summer months and 6:00 PM during the winter months, and on Saturday morning at 9:30 AM in the Walerstein Sanctuary. Our Friday evening services are festive and musical and are particularly fun for our youngest congregants. And the "kavanah" (spirit) of our Saturday morning Shacharit, Torah and Musaf services is energizing and joyous. Our Saturday morning services are followed each week by a delicious Kiddush lunch to which the entire congregation is invited.
Holiday Services
Our connection to the Jewish calendar forges our Jewish identity as individuals and as a community.
Every significant date on the calendar – from Shabbat to our three major Festivals, from the High Holy Days to the “minor” festivals of Chanukah and Purim, from Fast Days to holidays celebrating Israel – is marked, remembered and celebrated in the OJC community. Whether we are commemorating Kristalnacht or studying until sunrise on Shavuot, dancing on Yom Ha’Atzmaut with the Israeli flag or dancing in the sukkah with lulav and etrog in hand, celebrating a communal Seder or laughing at a Purimspiel, the rhythm of Jewish life is modeled for all to see, to grab hold, and to practice at home.
Please refer to the OJC Calendar on this website, our dedicated holiday pages which you can find in a dropdown under the PRAY tab above, or click here to subscribe to our weekly e-letter, OJC News You Need to Know, for details on our Holiday services throughout the year.
These services take place in the Walerstein Sanctuary, and on the High Holidays, when attendance is particularly robust, additional services are offered in the Cowan Daily Chapel and elsewhere in and around our building.