SELICHOT PROGRAM AND SERVICE
Saturday, September 4
6:30 pm Heavy Hors D’Oevres
7:30 pm Film and Discussion: “A Serious Man” by Ethan and Joel Coen
9:30 pm Dessert
10 pm Selichot Service in preparation for the High Holy Days
Selichot is a time of personal reflection leading up to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This year we invite you to join us for a great Selichot program. We will gather in the Community Court for heavy hors d’oevres. This is a time to mingle with old friends, meet new ones, or just catch up from a busy summer. After, we will head into the lounge to watch and discuss the movie, “A Serious Man,” reflecting the High Holy Day themes of fate and free will. Please go to:
Following the movie we will once again gather to eat some scrumptious desserts before heading into the sanctuary for the Selichot service, including the changing of the Torah mantles for the High Holy Day season. We hope you can join us for part – or all – of this evening.
A synopsis of “A Serious Man”: Jewish physics lecturer Larry Gopnik, in the spring of 1967, is a very serious and a very put-upon man. He can confidently lecture his students about the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics, but outside the classroom he’s unable to cope with the uncertainty all around him. He cannot understand his wife (who is leaving him), a student who may be attempting to bribe him for a better grade, or the tenure committee that will decide his professional fate. His son’s bar mitzvah is approaching, and, as in the book of Job upon which this film is loosely based, a lot of bad things are about to happen, for no apparent reason.
This film raises questions about what God may want from us, what we should expect from God, and who really controls our lives. “A Serious Man” is rated “R” by the MPAA for language, some sexuality and nudity, and brief violence.