Nashuva, JTN to Broadcast Kol Nidrei Services

What may well be the largest Kol Nidrei service of all time, potentially reaching more than 200,000 worshippers around the world, will be conducted by Rabbi Naomi Levy on Sept. 27 at 6 p.m.

The live service will emanate from Brentwood Presbyterian Church and will be transmitted via the broadband channel of the Jewish Television Network (jewishtvnetwork.com). The service will also be available subsequently on demand.

When the service went global for the first time last year, 220,000 viewers tuned in, forming a virtual congregation of Jews who generally don’t attend synagogues, said Jay Sanderson, CEO and executive producer of JTN Productions and the incoming Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles president.

Levy founded and leads Nashuva, which translates as “We Will Return,” as a “post-denominational” community that meshes spirituality with social action.

Previously, she was the spiritual leader of a Conservative congregation and is an author, as well as a wife and mother of two teenagers.

Her services are characterized by the same energy as the social action, with a heavy infusion of musical styles, from reggae to klezmer, performed by a four-piece band.

Prayers are traditional, but with new translations by Levy, who also delivers the sermons with lots of soul and a leavening of humor.

Levy is now fielding calls from all parts of the country, asking for tips to replicate Nashuva-type congregations in other cities.

A second High Holy Days service will also receive national exposure when the Temple of the Arts’ Kol Nidrei services on Sept. 27 and Yizkor memorial services the following day are broadcast.

Services led by Rabbi David Baron will be recorded at the congregation’s newly remodeled facilities at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills.

Several guest speakers and artists will participate in the broadcast, including former President Petar Stoyanov of Bulgaria, speaking of the rescue of 50,000 Jews during the Holocaust. Kol Nidrei services will air on Sept. 27 starting at 3 p.m. and repeat every 90 minutes thereafter. Yizkor services on Sept. 28 begin at 11 a.m., repeating every 90 minutes.

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