SUKKOT
Our students decorate the sukkah in the front of the synagogue. Come celebrate the first of the three ancient pilgrimage festivals with us at our service, or bring your lunch during the holiday and honor a mitzvah by having a meal in the sukkah. A morning Yizkor service is offered at the end of the holiday week.
SIMCHAT TORAH AND CONSECRATION
 On the eve of Simchat Torah, we welcome the newest students of our Religious School into our community. Our celebration continues with re-rolling a Torah scroll, and dancing with our Torahtot. For video of our joyful 2009 dancing on 17th Street, visit our media page .
 CHANUKAH
In 2009, the first night of Chanukah is also a Synaplex™ Shabbat service on Friday, December 11. Come for the worship and music; stay for the program and the Chanukah treats! The URJ website has a virtual Chanukah menorah . For the rules of the Dreidel game, click here . Click here for more on Chanukah's history and significance.
TU B'SHVAT 
Tu Bish’vat is known as the New Year or birthday of the trees or the Jewish Arbor Day. Celebrated on the fifteenth (tu) of the month of Sh’vat , this holiday began as an agricultural festival to mark the coming of spring. Tu Bish’vat has become an occasion on which to plant trees in Israel (www.jnf.org), eat foods, such as carob, that are grown in Israel, and a time when we think about how we relate to the natural world.
Join us as we celebrate Tu Bish’vat with a special program on Tuesday, January 26th at 6:30 PM. We will explore the holiday of Tu BiSh’vat through a study of contemporary environmental issues and sacred Jewish texts. We will approximate the amount of energy and resources we regularly consume and discover ways to reduce our own eco-consumption. We will apply the wisdom of our ancestors to our modern world as we recognize our responsibility to protect and have compassion for our planet.
 PURIM
Purim is a one of the most festive Jewish holidays. It is a day to celebrate the bravery of Queen Esther and Mordechai who saved the Jews of Persia from destruction. To commemorate the holiday we read from the Megillat Esther (Scroll of Esther), dress in costume, and make lots of noise.
This year there will be two opportunities to celebrate Purim with EET. On Thursday, February 25th there will be a community Purim Party (details coming soon) and on Saturday, February 27th at 5:30 PM we will have our in-house Purim Bash. Music, megillah, hamantaschen, mitzvot and fun! You don’t want to miss the EET 5770 Purim Bash. We will begin the evening creating mishloach manot (Purim gift baskets) for the homebound. A costume parade will take us to the sanctuary for havdallah, the megillah reading and Purim spiel. There will be a concurrent program available for our tots.
Please bring a small (but noisy) box of pasta to use as a grogger and then donate to City Harvest.
If you are a homebound member of our congregation or know someone who is, and would like to receive mishloach manot and/or a visit, please contact Sara.
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 PESACH , known in English as Passover, is a major Jewish festival, commemorating the Exodus from Egypt over 3,000 years ago. The ritual observance of this holiday centers around a special home service and meal called the seder (meaning "order"); refraining from eating chametz (leaven); and the eating of matzah (an unleavened bread). The Pesach seder is the only meal in the Jewish calendar year for which an order is prescribed -- hence, its name.
During the seder we read from a book called the hagadah, meaning "telling," which contains prayers, rituals, readings and songs. The goal of the seder is to retell, celebrate and express gratitude for, our emergence from slavery into freedom. Click here to download an East End Temple Hagadah.
At the end of the Pesach week, there will be a morning Yizkor service.
Virtual seder plate, from the Union for Reform Judaism
More URJ resources
LILITH'S SEDER
.jpg) Freedom and liberation carry particular significance to women who have, over the years, brought their perspective to every aspect of Jewish life and practice. Sisterhood’s annual all-women Lilith’s Seder celebrates the Passover story from a feminist perspective, both in the Hebrew language of the Haggadah and in the content of the readings. We learn about Miriam and other great women in our past, who played important roles in the Passover story and our liberation, and who are helping us to establish our stake in the future. Led by Shira Ginsburg, our cantor, it’s potluck with great food, great singing, and great Haggadah reading.
SHAVUOT AND CONFIRMATION
As we celebrate the giving of Torah at Mount Sinai, we also honor the Confirmation Class of our Religious School as they complete their formal studies with our school and integrate into the larger Jewish community.
Following this service, Rabbi Adelson will lead us in Tikkun Leil Shavuot, when we study together and recall standing at Sinai. Dairy dishes are served on this holiday to symbolize the sweetness of Torah, as well as the "land of milk and honey". We will be serving our traditional cheese blintzes.
Shavuot includes the fourth and last Yizkor service of our temple year.
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