Jewish High Holidays FALL 2024 at UAlbany

CLASSES ON THE HOLIDAYS

UAlbany does not give off for the holidays anymore, there will be classes on Rosh Hashanah (this year on a weekend anyways) and Yom Kippur (Sunday night into Monday), though some teachers may cancel, most will very easily excuse. All faculty are notified that religious holidays (and they have a University list of them) are excused absences and if there are tests or such on those days students are very much entitled to ask to have them rescheduled.

Obviously, out of respect and courtesy, students should not tell this to the professor last minute, it is best that they are told of your observance dates and observance level at least a week or more prior.

Not all students observe the holidays the same way. Some will go home to be with family, some will miss class to attend services and holiday meals, some will attend class but not write or take tests – whatever your or your family’s observance level or style, this is something UAlbany is committed to respect.

Email Shabbos House with “Holiday Letter” in the subject line and Rabbi Mendel will personalize a holiday letter for you to share with your professors with dates and details. Please explain to the professors which holiday dates you will be absent, not writing, or not taking tests etc, depending on your/your family’s observance. Better yet, use the High Holiday RSVP 2024 form and scroll down for the Religious Letter section.

If there should be any issues with any professor in this regard please contact Rabbi Mendel and the Deans Office and they will promptly address it.

ROSH HASHANAH 2024 AT UALBANY

All Rosh Hashanah prayer services and holiday meals will be at Shabbos House. In addition, there will be a quick and accessible Shofar Express with holiday treats at a Small Fountain campus table from 3-5pm on Sunday afternoon of Rosh Hashanah.

RSVPs are not required, but they are helpful so we can be best prepared.

FIRST NIGHT, WEDNESDAY, OCT 2:
Prayers 7pm, holiday dinner at 8pm (this is night of apple and challah dipped in honey, and eating pomegranate seeds etc, plus a full-course delicious holiday meal)

FIRST DAY, THURSDAY, OCT 3:
Morning Prayers 9:30am, Holiday Lunch at 1:30pm. Shofar blowing approximately noontime, and more blasts through end of the prayers.
Neighborhood waterside Tashlich after lunch
Shofar Express and holiday treats at the Small Fountain 3-5pm
5:15pm waterside Tashlich service at Bridge over Parker Pond (near Indigenous Quad)

SECOND NIGHT, THURSDAY, OCT 3:
Prayers 7:30pm, holiday dinner 8pm (on the second night we eat new and exotic “Shehechiyanu” fruits, plus a full-course holiday meal).

SECOND DAY, FRIDAY, OCT 4:
Morning Prayers 9:30am, Shofar 12pm, Lunch at 1:30pm
Shofar Express & holiday treats at the Small Fountain on Campus, 3-5pm

SHABBAT, FRIDAY NIGHT, OCT 4:
Rosh Hashanah flows straight into Shabbat
7pm prayers and 8pm Shabbat Dinner

SHABBAT, FRIDAY NIGHT, OCT 4:
Rosh Hashanah flows straight into Shabbat
6:12pm Shabbat Candles, 7pm prayers, 8pm Shabbat Dinner

SHABBAT, SATURDAY, OCT 5:
10:30am Shabbat Prayers, 12:30pm Shabbat Lunch.
Shabbat (and the 3-days of holiday) ends at 7:10pm
Pizza and Havdalah 8:30pm

Those observant of the Fast-of-Gedalia (on the day after Rosh Hashanah, this year two days after Rosh Hashanah, on Sunday) the fast ends at 7pm.

YOM KIPPUR AT UALBANY
Mostn years Yom Kippur services at UAlbany are a joint project of Shabbos House and UAlbany Hillel held on campus.
This year in 2024 Yom Kippur falls on Fall Break weekend, and students have off through Tuesday.
There will be still be Yom Kippur services, but we’re not yet sure if it will be held on campus or at Shabbos House – stay tuned!

YOM KIPPUR NIGHT, FRIDAY NIGHT, OCT 11:
Prefast Meal at Shabbos House 4pm until 5:30pm.
Kol Nidrei Prayers (location TBA) at 6pm

YOM KIPPUR DAY, SATURDAY, OCT 12:
9:30am-2pm Traditional Morning Prayers (location TBA)
5pm Mincha Prayers (location TBA)
6pm Neilah Closing Service (location TBA)
6:59pm Yom Kippur Ends, Shofar, (then Maariv & Havdalah)
7pm pm Break-Fast

SUKKOT
Sukkot is all about atmosphere! There are lots of meals in the Sukkah, opportunities to shake the Lulav and spend quality holiday time together.

Sukkot Holiday week meals and prayers and programs are supported by an endowment established in memory of the late UAlbany professor Dr. Herman Prins Salomon, Eliezer ben Yitzhak. Some holiday meals are also co-sponsored by Shabbos House alumni, and by the Shabbos House Lchaim Student Group (SA Funded).

Sukkot is filled with vibe and atmosphere! It is a special time of togetherness, uplift, good food and good times. It’s a light and chill holiday, pleasant and accessible, outdoorsy and nature-oriented, it has a really good feel to it. And it all leads up to the joyous Simchat Torah!

TUESDAY, OCT 15th:
Sukkah Building BBQ 4pm-7pm (this leaves us little wiggle room, as its one day before the holiday, but there are no classes on Tuesday so we should be able to do it).

HAPPY SUKKOT! This beloved outdoorsy holiday is filled with vibe and atmosphere, it’s a very special time at Shabbos House (‘s Sukkah). We’ll have lots of holiday meals, events and activities and it culminates next weekend with joyous Simchat Torah! But first this weekend and coming week is Sukkot…

Note re: the holiday-days and weekday days of Sukkot: Basically, the first two days of Sukkot – Friday night until Sunday night – are holiday-days. We have prayers, festive dinners and lunches both these days. The next 5 days – Monday until Friday – are weekday parts of the holiday, we still shake Lulav and eat in a Sukkah and have festive Sukkot spirit but otherwise they’re weekday days. We have more meals on holiday days, more programming on the weekday days.

As Sukkot falls later this year than usual, dress accordingly. We may be in for a colder Sukkot, with more opportunities to warm up internally!

There’s a handy flyer Chani made with all the Sukkot events. To be posted soon! Here is a more detailed breakdown schedule, with additional events, menus and info:

WEDNESDAY NIGHT OCT 16: THE FIRST NIGHT OF SUKKOT:
Prayers 7:15pm, Shabbat and Holiday Dinner 8pm. This is the night when we drink the traditional upstate hot cider and sing the Sukkahleh Song.

THURSDAY OCT 17: FIRST DAY OF SUKKOT:
We’re doing Minyan at 10am, with Lulav Shakes and Hallel, followed by lunch in the Sukkah at 12:30 and on.

THURSDAY NIGHT OCT 17, SECOND NIGHT OF SUKKOT:
Prayers 7:30pm, 8pm Dinner in the Sukkah.

FRIDAY, OCT 18, SECOND DAY OF SUKKOT
Holiday Prayers 10am, with Hallel and Lulav Shakes, and lunch in the Sukkah starting 12:30pm.

FRIDAY NIGHT, OCT 18 – SHABBAT IN THE SUKKAH – HOMECOMING WEEKEND
Candlelighting 5:49pm, Prayers 7:15pm, Shabbat Dinner in the Sukkah 8pm. Guests for Homecoming are Welcome!

SATURDAY, OCT 19, SUKKOT SHABBAT
Prayers 10:30am (no Lulav on Shabbat) Lunch follows 12:30pm, enough time to get to UAlbany Homecoming Football at 3:30pm.

SAT NIGHT OCT 19, MUSICAL NIGHT IN THE SUKKAH:
Shabbat ends 6:48pm. No Pizza this week, instead there will be plenty of refreshments and soups in the Sukkah at this event.
8pm Sat Night event. This event isn’t on the Sukkot flyer, and it’s open to the local Jewish community. A group of very talented local musicians  will play Jewish and Chassidic melodies, desserts and refreshments will be served. This event is hosted by Mendel’s parents each year in memory of his sister Esty. Students are welcome, but its also a community event – at Shabbos House.

SUNDAY OCT 20 – WEDNESDAY OCT 23
Sukkah-on-Campus: We hope to set up a small Sukkah outside CC West on Dutch Commons (just behind the tree line). Inside will be a Lulav set for DIY shakes, plus we’ll leave some snacks there for a quick bite in the Sukkah.
The Sukkah-Bike: Each of the Sukkot weekdays, Monday thru Wednesday, we’ll take the Sukkah-Bike for a spin around the Podium and Quads, flag us down for Lulav Shakes. Times TBA.

SUNDAY OCT 20
Minyan Brunch, Lulav Shakes, 11am, followed by Brunch
Hillel Basketball Tournament 1-4pm
Pizza-in-the-Hut at Shabbos House Sukkah. No KOF Swipe. 7pm.

MONDAY OCT 21 – A MIDWEEK SUKKOT DAY
Look out for roving Sukkah Bike with Lulav Shakes and holiday spirit
KOF Dinner (the only KOF swipe this Sukkot week) Stay tuned for menu.

TUESDAY OCT 22 – TORAH-TUES SUKKAH HOP
Instead of the usual Torah-Tuesday we’re going to do a 1-hour Sukkah-Hop in the local Jewish community, one at 6-7pm, one at 9-10pm. It may run a little longer but will try to keep it to that. We’ll pack a packaged dinner and snacks. Students who don’t want to go can enjoy the packaged dinner here in the Sukkah at home.

HAPPY SUKKOT, please come for whatever and as much as you can this holiday. We love to celebrate this joyous uplifting and invigorating holiday together! It has a tangible spirituality, its multi-dimensional and multi-sensory… The Sukkah brings people closer together, going out into the Sukkah and being enveloped by its atmosphere, brings out an inner warmth and dimension inside us.

SHEMINI ATZERET AND SIMCHAT TORAH
Simchat Torah is one the most joyous days on the Jewish calendar. It’s the climax and crescendo of the long holiday season starting with Rosh Hashanah, it expresses all that spiritual connection and inspiration into get on your feet and dance!

Sadly, this Shemini Atzeret (Israel’s Simchat Torah) marks one year 

WEDNESDAY OCT 23 – SHEMINI ATZERET NIGHT
Prayers and mini-Hakafot 7pm, Shemini Atezret Holiday Dinner 8pm in the Sukkah – last night in the Sukkah!

a beautiful thought about the custom of Shmini Atzeret night dancing Hakafot: This is the night when Jews in Israel have their Simchat Torah. So we are dancing in soldarity with them. Then, tomorrow night, when we have Simchat Torah in the diaspora outside of Israel, many Israelis take to the streets to dance “Hakafot Shniyot” a second Hakafot, when their holiday is already over, to dance Hakafot in solidarity with us. Am Yisrael – Am Echad!

THURSDAY OCT 24 – SHEMINI ATZERET DAY
Holiday Prayers 10am, Last lunch in the Sukkah 12:30pm

THURSDAY NIGHT OCT 24 – SIMCHAT TORAH – THE BIG NIGHT!
Prayers 7:30pm, 8pm Kiddush, and Dancing and more Dancing, with food buffet at intervals and lots of fun, perhaps stretching even until close to midnight! It’s the  one night of year that we do this, come give it your all, or stop in for 15 minutes of lively uplifting Jewish spirit! There’s an annual collective giveaway, there’s all sorts of shtick and good positive vibes and energy to go around… and around…

The Big Night of Lively Spirited Jewish Celebration! – Don’t miss it – even if you can only come for a short 15 minute or half-hour window, come anytime between 8:30pm and 11:30pm… 8:30pm Hakafot dancing start, hopefully until midnight! Food buffet all night, dancing, singing, uplifting vibe and energy, annual collectible souvenir. TBH, especially from a Chabad lens, the Simchat Torah celebration is more of a celebration of the Jewish people and our core essential connection to G-d, the Torah and our heritage, than it is about the Torah or any of its particular teachings..
Prayers and Ata Horayta 7:30pm, Hakafot Dancing and Buffet starts 8:30pm, goes late, hopefully until midnight!

Friends don’t let friends miss Simchat Torah (especially Sat Night… even if you/they can only come for a short while). It’s a once-a-year type celebration, an incredible outpouring of the joys of Judaism and of being Jewish. We dance with our feet (any old way, fancy steps not required) and closed Torahs, Simchat Torah celebrates the heritage, the core connection, it’s not about knowledge or specifics.

FRIDAY DAY OCT 25 – SIMCHAT TORAH DAY
Somehow one of the longest services  of the  year, 10am start, lunch around 2pm, with lots of Torah reading, snacks and Kiddush foods and a big buffet lunch and singing in between…

FRIDAY NIGHT OCT 25 – SPILLS OVER INTO SHABBAT
Candle-lighting 5:39pm. Prayers 7:15pm, Shabbat Dinner 8pm. No more holiday…. but the spirit and inspiration linger on as we work to transfer the energy into the year ahead!

SATURDAY, OCT 26 – SHABBAT DAY
10:30am Minyan Prayers, no more holiday stuff, 12:30pm Shabbat Lunch.
Shabbat (and the holiday…) ends: 6:38pm. Havdalah and Pizza 8pm

Love, and our best holiday wishes!
Mendel and Raizy

PS: For almost ten years now we go down with a group of students to Brooklyn for a mega Chabad on Campus Shabbaton called “Pegisha” with hundreds of students from around the country, some years exceeding 1,000 or 1,200 students representing campuses from all over. It’s also a fun and meaningful bonding time together as an Albany group. This year it falls over the Nov 15-17 weekend. Registration is due by October 16th. If you are interested in joining, you need to register at chabadoncampus.org/pegisha/  please speak to us if you have questions or would like to hear more of what this is about, what it entails, etc.