While January 1 marks the traditional New Year on the calendar and back-to-school in September marks a fresh start for the kids, Jews around the world are preparing to celebrate their new year with the High Holiday season that includes Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.##M:[more]## It will be an especially joyous occasion for Chabad of the Windsors, which established new offices at 1686 Old Trenton Road in West Windsor a little less than a year ago under the leadership of Rabbi Sholom Leverton.
Leverton explains that Chabad is an acronym for three Jewish terms: wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. “The idea is to have a fulfilling life connected with a devotion to the spiritual side and it all has to have a proper balance. It’s the combination we strive for in life and it’s based on Hasidic teachings.”
Leverton’s wife, Aliza, is the education coordinator for Chabad of the Windsors. The couple live in West Windsor and have three young children. Chabad has rented out the conference center on the grounds of Mercer County Community College on Old Trenton Road for the Jewish High Holiday services which will begin Monday, October 3rd at 7 p.m. That will be followed on Tuesday, October 4, with a morning service at 10 a.m. that will include the reading of the Torah and the sounding of the Shofar. Tuesday after nightfall begins the second day of Rosh Hashanah with a 7 p.m. service. There will be another service on Wednesday, October 5, at 10 a.m.
Rosh Hashanah is considered the “head of the year,” one of the most significant Jewish festivals and one of the most widely observed. “It’s the day of judgment where we spend time at synagogue, join together as a community, reflect on the year past, and make resolutions for the year ahead,” Leverton says. The Shofar, the blowing of the ram’s horn, dates back to the idea of the coronating of the Almighty. It heralds the times when the Jews wandered in the wilderness. Wherever they went, they blew the ram’s horn.
When Abraham was tested by God to sacrifice his son Isaac, he offered the sacrifice of a ram instead of his son. “It’s customary to wish a happy and healthy new year, especially a sweet new year,” says Leverton.
“There are many foods involved in the ceremonies, but apples dipped in honey are a tradition because they are sweet. For the blessing of the bread, it is usually dipped in salt but at this time of year it’s dipped in honey. It’s also tradition to eat a pomegranate. From the outside it looks like any other fruit. But inside it has many, many seeds. It’s like a human being. From the outside we may resemble each other but inside we’re full of all different good deeds.”
The following week, Yom Kippur begins with a service on Wednesday, October 12, at 6:30 p.m. “The Kol Nidrei service begins the annulment of vows made over the previous year,” explains Leverton. “In a spiritual sense we clear the decks. Thursday the 13th is Yom Kippur day and we will have five services that run all day long. Most people will fast, even from water, until sundown.” Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. “Even people who are less observant will attend the Yizkor service early in the afternoon, a service of remembrance for loved ones,” says Leverton. “The theme of the day is that we call upon departed souls and connect with them. It is the highlight of anyone’s high holiday service.”
Chabad of the Windsors does not yet have a permanent temple to call its own. Previously, the congregation met at the Elks Club just off Route 130 in East Windsor. The rabbi is excited to be holding the High Holiday services in West Windsor for the first time. He emphasizes that there is no fee charged for attending the services, only a request for a contribution, and he hopes that many will come to the conference center at Mercer County Community College. “It’s one of those gems that many local residents haven’t yet gotten to see. People come from all over, Robbinsville, Hamilton, East and West Windsor. It’s the perfect meeting place, centrally located.”
Chabad of the Windsors is part of a worldwide organization that has 38 centers in New Jersey. Affiliated with the main center in Princeton, Leverton considers his organization a Jewish outreach organization. “Many Jewish people are not knowledgeable in the way of their heritage. There are hundreds of such families in the area that would like a connection to their heritage. We have a lecture series, we run a summer camp, we go to retirement communities with the idea of bringing Jewish heritage and traditions to adults and children who otherwise would not have the opportunity to study it.”
Leverton was born the seventh of eight children to an Orthodox family in London, England, in 1972. His father was a jewelry manufacturer and his mother taught school. After attending private high school in London, he studied in rabbinical colleges around the world under the auspices of the Chabad Headquarters based in Brooklyn, New York. His stints included Sydney, Australia, Russia, Eastern Europe, South America, and Belgium.
“Getting an apprenticeship in these communities and seeing how they developed, witnessing their struggles and successes, it was a tremendous opportunity for me.” Leverton taught in a Hebrew Academy in Long Beach, California, before he was placed in Princeton and then offered the opportunity to develop the outreach center in the Windsor area. “It’s a growing area not just in terms of population but in the potential for people to really be involved in their community and spiritual life.
The rabbi says he has been graced with the privilege of leading High Holiday services in such diverse places as Mallorca, Spain; Brisbane, Australia; and Long Beach, California, but it’s now West Windsor that intrigues him with the boundless opportunities offered by the richly varied community. “I’ve had the best education, the chance to get a well-rounded view of the world. We live in a multicultural world with all different languages, especially in West Windsor. They’ve made this a community in the true sense, a beautiful, desirable place, one with a forward-thinking plan and a tremendous future. So that’s something I’m very excited about.”
— Euna Kwon Brossman
Chabad of the Windsors, Mercer College, Old Trenton Road, West Windsor, 609-448-9369. Rosh Hashanah services: Monday, October 3, 7 p.m. Tuesday, October 4, 10 a.m. & 7 p.m., Wednesday, October 5, 10 a.m. Yom Kippur services: Wednesday, October 12, Kol Nidrei, 6:15 p.m. Thursday, October 13, Yizkor, 12:30 p.m. and Neilah, 6 p.m. To find out more about Chabad of the Windsors, visit Www.chabadwindsor.com
