Continuing its long tradition as an interfaith community, that recognizes and celebrates numerous world religions, Doane Stuart on Tuesday held its annual Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur service in the school chapel.
Beginning with a guitar processional by Music teacher Joe Hetko, the event included readings, stories, and prayers by students Julia Vitkin, Isabel Barats, Jaicee Stone, and Liana Lekocevic.
The students explained the celebratory nature and significance of Rosh Hashanah as the Jewish New Year and of Yom Kippur as a day of atonement and reflection. Music teacher Maria Pflegl blew the ram’s horn, known as the shofar, a key element of the holidays, as the shofar holds deep symbolic value, including as a reference to coronation, God, and to the ram sacrificed by Abraham.
In addition, on Friday, students in Brianna Stauder’s Early Childhood class and in Sandy Cassant’s Kindergarten class constructed their own shofars and traveled throughout the school blowing the horns, which was all done as part of the day’s lesson on religion