Shabbat
Friday evening services are held at 5:30 pm. It is a highly participatory celebratory wonderful way to welcome Shabbat. The melodies are a combination of both old and new.

Saturday morning services are at 9:15 am. So many things are happening every Shabbat morning. It could be a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, an Uufruf, an extraordinary scholar-in-residence, birthday blessings, or just the warmth and rhythm of a regular Shabbat morning service.

Members of the congregation and its friends read the Torah. The liturgy is both traditional, impressive and uplifting. There is a wonderful combination of informality, religious significance and even some light hearted humor that makes the Shabbat morning service the highlight of so many within the Temple Adath faith community.

Members of the congregation and their families are encouraged to chant Haftorot and be participating members of our congregation. It is always followed with a delicious kiddush and frequently a lunch.

Saturday afternoon services times are available by calling the Temple office, or on the Heb. Cal on the Temple Website. The Saturday afternoon service always includes the impressive Havdalah service at which time youngsters of all ages are called to the bima to hold the Havdalah candle as well as the distribution of sweets and candies indicating the sweetness of a new week.

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Daily Minyan
Temple Adath Yeshurun is the only congregation in the Central New York area that provides an Egalitarian daily Minyan everyday of the week. The morning Minyan Monday through Friday meets at 7:30 am, Sunday morning 9:00 am. Every evening 5:30 pm.

The morning Minyan is a special group of people not all Temple Adath members but a place where those who “walk through the valley of the shadow” have the opportunity in the comfort of a supportive community to say Kaddish. It is a highly participatory service, so even those who have difficulty with Hebrew or cannot read, still feel comfortable in the Minyan community. Immediately after the morning service there is a delicious breakfast that our Rabbi Sherman likes to describe “as the best breakfast in town. Nourishment for the body, nourishment for the soul.

Torah / Haftara Readers

Each week Torah is chanted by members of the Temple Adath family. Dr. Ran Anbar is our coordinator. We strive to engage our youth by inviting every b’nai mitzvah back to the synagogue to read torah after his/her simcha. Each year on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the haftarot are chanted by the b’nai mitzvah of the year.

Junior Congregation

The Temple Adath Junior Congregation meets twice monthly - the first and third Saturday of the month - in the Library on Shabbat morning from 10:30 to 11:30 during the school year. (Check the monthly Temple Adath Calendar for dates.) The services are conducted by the Director of Education, Devorah Lowenstein; Dr. Ran Anbar, the Torah reading coordinator; and teenage volunteers. The themes vary from week to week and are based on the Torah portion of the week and holidays.
 
Activities include prayers led by the children, reading of the Torah, storytelling, games and a raffle with prizes. There are other fun surprises such as a chocolate Kiddush after services, Backwards Day and Crazy Kippah Day just to keep things interesting.
 
All children who attend at least 10 Junior Congregation services during the year are recognized wi! th a special certificate and prize in the Spring.

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Holidays
Every holiday has its own rhythm and fragrance. Beginning days before Rosh Hashanah, Selihot evening, the midnight service becomes an evening of learning, yearning and expression. In the recent past we have had presentations, among others, Dr. Fred Epstein renown pediatric neurosurgeon and author. Mordecai Rosenstein calligrapher and artist. Danny Siegel, the “Jewish Pied Piper”. Professor Benjamin Gampel, Professor of Medieval Jewish History the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Steven McDonald a New York City policemen shot and paralyzed in the line of duty an inspiration to all. CNN Correspondent Wolf Blitzer; Harvard doctor and author Bill Thomas, MD; and raconteur/storyteller Moshe Waldoks. The Selihot service introduces the High Holy Day liturgy and moments of meditation, and the uplifting endowment of our memorial plaques.


For Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Temple Adath has an open seating policy for its members and friends. There are no reserved seats. Your out of town relatives and friends are always invited to be our complimentary guests.

Some of the Adath High Holy Day traditions include on Rosh Hashanah, the blessing of our newborns, born the year previously as tens and tens of families ascend the pulpit for a special Rosh Hashanah blessing as well as a lovely gift, a Temple Adath t-shirt appropriate for an infant. Tashlich, going down to Meadowbrook Drive where more then a hundred members of the congregation, the first day of Rosh Hashanah, symbolically throw our sins away.

Yom Kippur day includes our Martyrology Service – personal and poignant stories about Temple Adath members who have survived the Holocaust. These stories teach us about perseverance, courage, hope and optimism. We end the holiday with a family Havdalah service. Children of our congregation march down the aisles of our sanctuary as we say farewell to the High Holy Days and usher in the new year.

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We celebrate Sukkot by putting a contemporary twist on the traditional dinner in the Sukkah. Our “Pizza in the Hut,” a meal immediately following services, appeals to every member of the family.

Our uplifting celebration of Simchat Torah gives everyone an opportunity to march our Torahs around the sanctuary in honor of the gift of Torah. There is wonderful, celebratory music, and you can expect to see hundreds of people dancing throughout the synagogue and its grounds.

At Blessing of the Animals “Father Noah” leads a special service on Temple grounds to bless our animals. This very popular, lighthearted event recognizes the Noah portion of the Torah, and celebrates the companionship and special bond we share with our pets. Refreshments are served and children are delighted by a variety of loveable cartoon characters who mingle with the crowd.


Our Hanukkah evening offers food, fun, songs, games, warmth and light for the whole family. Each year our Hanukkah dinner has a different theme with decorations and some foods to match. The evening is geared to informal interaction among the families attending.

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On Purim we offer a casual, family-style dinner followed by the Megillah reading; a costume parade; and our very own Purimshpeil, you never know what you will see on the pulpit! This is a night of celebration and craziness and the enthusiastic shaking of groggers is encouraged! There is Purim, not just the traditional reading of our Megillah but a Purimspeil with great music, costumes and story, good humor, good fun.


Temple Adath hosts two congregational Seders for Pesach (Passover), which are open to the entire community. Ours are beautiful and meaningful Seders appealing to both children and adults alike. The Rabbi and Cantor lead us in explanation and song, focusing on a different Jewish tradition each night. Plan to brush up on your knowledge of the holiday for the annual Shabbat Matzah Bowl, which takes place the Saturday before Passover. Temple Adath is the only congregation in the Syracuse area that provides two Kosher Seders for our community.

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For Yom HaShoah we commemorate this holiday in temple with services, and at home by lighting yellow candles, which are distributed to the Jewish community. The Yellow Candle Program is a national undertaking, and Temple Adath is honored to be the only local synagogue to participate.


Tikun Leyl Shavuot which celebrates the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people, has traditionally been a time of study. We spend the evening together with friends and family at the synagogue trying to understand what the Torah can teach us through a variety of lectures and workshops. Our morning Shavuot service includes our impressive Confirmation ceremony.


Temple Adath was one of the first congregations in North America to use the Siddur Sim Shalom, the prayerbook of the Conservative Movement. We are very proud that the Chumash, the Torah volume we use in our congregation (popularly referred to as the Hertz Chumash) and use in congregations throughout the world, began here at Temple Adath. Our very first Rabbi, the late Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz was also the first graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the fountain head institution of the Conservative Movement. After serving in Syracuse, Dr. Hertz was called to Johannesburg, South Africa and then to London, England where he served with distinction as Chief Rabbi of the British Empire. We take great pride in our Rabbinic leadership, from Rabbi Hertz, to our present Rabbi Charles Sherman.

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