High Holidays art by Raina Fox.

Accessibility

We are committed to making High Holiday Services programming accessible and inclusive for all who wish to attend. This includes people who are neurodivergent, D/deaf, hard of hearing, blind or low vision, or who have learning or other kinds of disabilities not listed. 

Please read below for more details about how we’re planning to meet certain needs. If you have any access needs that are not met by what’s detailed here, please email operations@newsynagogueproject.org so that we can work to meet them.

CART captioning will be provided for all online High Holiday events.

ASL interpretation will be provided for all main services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, including Rosh Hashanah morning, Kol Nidre, Yom Kippur morning, Ne’ilah, and the Tashlich ritual.

For ASL interpretation at all other High Holidays events, such as children’s services:

        • NSP will work to accommodate all requests, pending the availability of Hebrew/English sign language interpreters.
        • Please submit ASL requests for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur events (apart from the main services) by September 1, if possible, to operations@newsynagogueproject.org.

For in-person services, we will use bound, printed machzors or prayer books, as well as a printed supplement. All non-English text will be fully transliterated and translated. Page magnifiers will be available, as well as digital versions of the texts.

For Zoom services, a complete machzor/prayer book will be linked in the chat, along with a pdf supplement.

If you need an alternative way of accessing text or prayers, email operations@newsynagogueproject.org.

All indoor services will be held in a building that is fully wheelchair-accessible. Outdoor events will be hosted at sites that have wheelchair-accessible restrooms, and are a short distance from paved parking areas. NSP will provide a cocopath mat to make the pathway from the sidewalk to the gathering space smoother.

No walking or standing is required for indoor services. Outdoor events may require walking short distances, and seating may be limited. If you require a chair and there are none available when you arrive, please speak to an NSP staff or volunteer onsite.

Gender-inclusive restrooms are available at all indoor services. 

For in-person services, we will ask all attendees to avoid using products with strong scents as much as possible. 

If you have additional needs or requests around scent sensitivity, please let us know on the registration form or email operations@newsynagogueproject.org.

COVID Safety

At NSP, we work to ensure that all members of our community can participate meaningfully and safely in community spaces. Through a host of community health practices, we aim to both meet the different needs of our community. Participants at NSP events commit to respecting and trusting others in their assessments of their needs. Our COVID policy is one part of our accessibility and disability justice work; it is part of how we care for and about one another.

Attendees to NSP in-person programming must adhere to our community health and participation protocols, as of April 2025. For the High Holidays, that means:

        1. Stay home when you’re sick. One of our most powerful tools to keep one another healthy and safe is to stay home when we are sick or when we are experiencing symptoms that may mean we’ll pass on a contagious and potentially severe illness. Please stay home if you have COVID, the flu, RSV, norovirus, or another serious contagious illness, or if you are experiencing flu-like symptoms. For more guidance on when to stay home, please click here.
        2. At High Holidays main services, masks will be required for everyone above b-mitzvah age (8th grade and older), unless you have a health need that prevents masking, as explained below. Children below b-mitzvah age (7th grade and under) are not expected to wear masks. Children’s programming will be mask-optional for all participants. If you have a health need that prevents masking, take care of yourself and refrain from masking! We trust you to assess your needs. 
        3. Rapid tests. At High Holiday services, everyone above b-mitzvah age will take rapid COVID tests before or upon arrival (provided by NSP). There will also be outdoor and indoor mask-optional spaces during services, and at other times during holidays. High Holidays services will continue to be available by Zoom.
        4. Fresh air. We love being outdoors for lots of reasons, and we gather outdoors when weather and venue allows. We also work to meet high standards of air circulation and filtration in the indoor spaces where we gather, using portable HEPA filters and consulting with our hosts about the air quality their HVAC systems can provide.
        5. Get vaccinated. All attendees of NSP in-person events must be fully vaccinated. NSP requires up-to-date COVID vaccination to participate in all in-person events. We expect everyone who can to get all doctor-recommended vaccinations, including annual flu shots. Check vaccines.gov to find a pharmacy near you offering vaccines or talk to your doctor.

If you have a health need that prevents vaccination, please contact Rabbi Yosef to request an exemption at rabbi@newsynagogueproject.org.