Cyber Spot

musical Shabbat services attended by
several thousand worshippers each week.
While the B'nai Jeshurun service is
not specifically a young adult service,
Rabbis Yedwab and Loss gained insight
from attending several Friday night
services there.
Temple Israel clergy also met with
musician/composer Craig Taubman
who, along with Rabbi David Wolpe,
created the highly successful adult
musical service that Wayburn attended
at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.
That 5-year-old service increased par-
ticipation from 300 young adults the
first week, doubling the second week
and now reaches thousands on a Friday
evening.
"It is hard to explain the intensity of
2,000 people singing and swaying, danc-
ing and praying," Taubman said. "It is
very powerful. It is very awesome."
Since the creation of the Sinai Temple
service, Taubman said, "Friday Night
Live-type services have popped up in
hundreds of communities throughout
the country"
"The simple, accessible and inviting
music and style of the service clearly
speak to people," Taubman said.
The Sinai Temple service is typically
followed by Israeli-dancing, an oneg
Shabbat and a guest speaker or musician.
And it evolved into a series of addi-
tional programming for young adults
with Rabbi Wolpe's creation of the
ATID (future) group to oversee them.

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Said Leslie Klieger, administrator of
ATID, "The service had been complete-
ly recreated to be geared toward young
adults, from the language to the adver-
tising to the sermons, which are directed
at what's going on in their lives. And
they were coming, and coming back.
"So the next step was offering social
and educational opportunities geared
toward young professionals."

-Building Plans
Are Virtually Assured

Unbridled Success

"We are constantly working on how to
keep our programming geared to the
younger crowd," Klieger said. "If so
many not-so-young-adults keep attend-
ing, it won't be a young-adult service
anymore."
One suggestion: Welcome older adults
if they attend with a younger adult.
Participants in the Los Angeles service
come from various denominations,
including the unaffiliated, who, Klieger
said, "may not otherwise do anything
else Jewish."
Temple Israel's "Shabbat Unplugged"
is hoping to be as successful. "When we
say, 'Experience Shabbat like never
before,' we're hoping to attract those
who don't attend services, as well as
offer a different, more-spiritual perspec-
tive for those who already enjoy coming
to them," Lisa Stern said.
"We know for many of the younger
set, going to services is not cool, not
fun, not the thing to do, but we hope
to change that."

click on Holidays and then Sukkot.
Once you've come to the Suk k ot
homepage, you'll notice that the dates
are wrong (from 5760, not this year's
5764) because the page hasn't been
updated. No matter; there's so much
here to enjoy, you can forgive the
webmaster for not changing the date
this year.

DEBBIE HITSKY
Special to the Jewish News

l

s this the year you've commit-
ted yourself to building a fami-
ly sukkah? If so, Google or
another search engine can steer
you to any number of sites offering
plans and tips or, for the carpentry-

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irtualjeru:alern.corn/judaism/bolkays

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Sukkot this year begins on September 21 , and continues until September 28 in
Israel, and tmtil September 29 in the rest of the world.

Theines.L..Customl..

Resuui ces

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sulckot symbolism can take some esmlainingl What are UshpiMa? Why do we wave
various species of plants around in the an every day? Take a look in this section for
answers to all the basic questions on sukkot

e's
surfer: if you have some'time, start at
the homepage,
wv5w,virtualjerusalem.com It's a bit
red because of its enormous
size, but you'll want , at least, a quick
"1904:sce" at all that's offered at a site
thittiniS itself as "The Place Where
Jews Click." You send a prayer to the
Kota, get legal advice on aliyah, do a
crossword puzzle, join a chat room or
forum, arid/or find your bashert
(Prince or Princess Charming). You
can also meet pen pals for your corre-
spondence, peruse recipes, new and
an e-mall for your shopping pleasure.
But if you're in a bit of a hurry to
raise the roof of your own sukkah,
use this URL:
wvvw. vi rt ualj e rusale m. co m/
Judaism/holidays and click on
Sukkot, or start at the homepage and

of pa are wen-organ-
.
easy to navigate. There are
Themes and
is a primer to the celebra-
ukkot. Shake It Up offers
recipes, the link to send a
prayer to the Kotel, a virtual tour of
Jerusalem, as well as the Suldcah
buntline and decorating tips previ
ously promised. Insight is a page with
articles pertaining to the history and
celebration of Sukkot, as well as to
the meaning of its symbols and CUs-

toms.

At the Kids' Club page, you can
make everything from a cardboard
sukkah to candied or caramel apples
for Simchat Torah. All the prayers
you'll need for the holiday are here
and there's a story to enjoy as well.
Aside to teachers: Don't leave
virtualjerusalem.com before checldng
out the E,ducators page for curricu-
lum help, free activity., worksheets,
lesson ideas, and your own chat room
for sharing with colleagues.
Shake your etrog and lula_v! Happy
Sukkot! Erev Sukkot is Oct. 10.

Scott Stern has a lead role.

10/ 3
2003

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