Televised Jewish holy days will resonate with Catholics

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

Touro Synagogue of New Orleans, which has held virtual services for its congregation since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in March, will broadcast its Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur liturgies – the high holy days of the Jewish faith – on WLAE-TV, beginning Sept. 18.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond said he was grateful that WLAE, which broadcasts daily and Sunday Masses from St. Louis Cathedral, agreed to broadcast the Jewish liturgies, and he offered his prayers to the Jewish people of New Orleans.

“Our Jewish brothers and sisters are preparing to celebrate two high holy days,” the archbishop said in a video message that will precede the liturgies. “We want to assure them of our prayers during this time. It’s a very sacred time for them. As Christians, we find our roots in the Jewish tradition and have a great deal of respect for the Jewish tradition. … I extend God’s abundant blessings to our Jewish brothers and sisters.”

(See full video: https://vimeo.com/454145469/fc11c7e4d8)

Rabbi Katie Bauman said Touro Synagogue, located at 4238 St. Charles Ave., has been live-streaming services since mid-March as a way of keeping worshipers safe. But just as Easter and Christmas services for Christians draw large congregations, the Rosh Hashanah (Sept. 18) and Yom Kippur (Sept. 28) liturgies annually attract large numbers.

“Because of the realities we’re living in, the feeling was we could not in good conscience invite our congregation into the sanctuary for group prayer on these holidays that tend to have 600, 700, 800 people coming at once,” Rabbie Bauman said. “These are our biggest days. So the thought was, how could we create maximum accessibility for our congregation? It’s the same question everyone’s asking in the faith community.”

Rabbi Bauman said the synagogue leadership thought for the holy days, it would be helpful, especially for their elderly members, to be able to watch the services on television rather than on a laptop or tablet. Loyola University New Orleans president Dr. Tania Tetlow, Rabbi Bauman’s friend, and Fox 8 news anchor Lee Zurik, a member of Touro Synagogue, made the initial contacts with WLAE general manager Ron Yager.

Rabbi Bauman said Catholics who view the Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur broadcasts may be intrigued to see a resemblance to Catholic worship.

“I suspect they will see much that feels familiar,” she said. “They will see clergy in the pulpit. They will hear beautiful music. They will hear a relevant sermon that’s, hopefully, relevant to their lives and to the exploration of faith and conscience, much of which we all share.

“There will be Hebrew, which may be unfamiliar. They will hear the blast of a shofar, which is a ram’s horn, that herald’s in the new year. They will see and hear the reading out of a Torah scroll, which is the original Hebrew of the five books of Moses. I think they’ll find much of the themes of the liturgy and much of the language that is used in the liturgy familiar and resonant.”

The liturgical prayers will be in Hebrew, but the readings, narration and sermon will be proclaimed in English, Rabbi Bauman said.

“I think our services tend to be pretty accessible for non-Hebrew speakers,” she said.

The services are about 90 minutes to two hours long.

Rabbi Bauman said Rosh Hashanah “literally means the start of the new year, the head of the year.”

“It consists of two services in which we are grateful for this chance to enter the world again and also to begin a process of repentance for our sins and wrongs of the past year,” she said. “That process of repentance takes 10 days of intense reflection and prayer that culminates in Yom Kippur, the day of atonement.

“Yom Kippur is a fast day with multiple services in which we reflect again on the entire year and ask forgiveness from God and from one another for those sins and try to enter the world with some semblance of a clean slate.”

Here is the WLAE broadcast schedule of the Touro Synagogue services:

Sept. 18, 8 p.m.: Erev Rosh Hashanah

Sept. 19, 10 a.m.: Rosh Hashanah morning

Sept. 27, 8 p.m.: Kol Nidrei

Sept. 28, 10 a.m.: Yom Kippur morning

Sept. 28, 4 p.m.: Yom Kippur Yizkor/Neila.

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