Riverway Project's Ticketless Kol Nidre Service a Success!

Our "ticketless" service made quite an impression. Thanks to all of you in the Temple Israel Community for your support of the Riverway Project and this service. The success of this service was a real testiment to all of your willingness to try new things and support creative engagement.

For those of you who weren't able to be there, we had around 330 people come, at least 2/3s of whom self-identified as being new to Riverway.  The feedback we've gotten from the participants has been outstanding:

"Really, really wonderful. The balance was just right between singing/ speaking, English/Hebrew. The melodies, harmonies and musical instruments really brought it together."

"I loved how the Rabbi was so inclusive of Jews and non-Jews, people who would and would not be fasting, etc. From the very beginning, he was extremely inclusive of all people who were there, which made me feel comfortable being there. His sermon was spectacular as was his general attitude towards the service. The melodies were great - the singing reminded me why I used to enjoy going to temple. Loved the violin.  Length was great. Overall a very positive experience and hope there is a ticketless service next year!"

"I really liked the service from start to finish. It recalled to me the shabbat services I attended in college at Hillel in terms of atmosphere, melodies, and sermon topics. I have attended services at numerous temples, synagogues, and communities in NYC and Boston over the past several years and this was my favorite because it felt relevant to my life and within my Jewish "comfort zone"."

We're excited to continue programs like this in the future.