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Schools

Hundreds Observe Yom Kippur at Services, Workshops in Wheaton

High school space allows for a larger group of worshipers.

As the sun set outside the Wheaton High School auditorium Friday, a young woman with dark hair and a white yarmulke took the stage and began to quietly chant as hundreds of men, women and children filed into the auditorium for Kol Nidre, the evening prayer service that marks the beginning of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

Also known as the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, which began at sundown Friday, is a day of prayer, fasting and abstinence for the atonement of sins. In observance of the holy day, members of Adat Shalom, the area's flagship reconstructionist congregation, gathered at Wheaton High, as they have for at least a decade, for a weekend of services, workshops and other events.

Reconstructionist Judaism is a modern Jewish movement founded by Mordecai M. Kaplan that treats Judaism as an evolving culture.

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During Friday's two-and-a-half hour service, the congregation's founding rabbi, Sid Schwarz, delivered a "green" sermon in which he urged members to consume less -- and live more simply, humbly and modestly in the coming year -- for the good of the planet and their own fulfillment.

"Yom Kippur is our test," he said. "This is our food fight. Are we slaves to our appetites? Or are we capable of being controlled by a higher consciousness?"

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To live more ethical lives, Schwarz said, "will require a new level of consciousness about our consumption habits." He noted that the congregants' European ancestors would typically give over part of their land to the poor. "You don't have to consume everything that is available to you."

The congregation's synagogue is in Bethesda. But each year, for the high holy days, it uses the Wheaton High School space to accommodate the large crowds that turn out to attend services or workshops.

This weekend at Wheaton, the congregation hosted several Yom Kippur services, a children's story hour, adult education programs, and a "break-the-fast" meal on Saturday, among other events.

Sheila Feldman, the synagogue's executive director, said the extra space is welcome because it allows the congregation to keep its community together for all services and events, and to accommodate anyone who wishes to participate.

By the weekend's end, Feldman estimated that as many as 1,500 would take part in at least one service or workshop in observance of Yom Kippur. The synagogue building, by contrast, can accommodate just under 500 people.

"It's a huge project," she said. For Kol Nidre service, for instance, the high school stage was transformed with a wooden ark, decorative cloths and speaker podiums.

"But because we have the space, we don't need to turn anyone away," Feldman said. "That's really a plus."

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