Chabad of Greater St. Louis will hold a 30-minute Rosh Hashanah ceremony focusing on the primary observances of the holiday. The “Community Tashlich & Shofar Service” will take place from 3 to 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21, on the parking area of the Morris and Ann Lazaroff Chabad Center, 8124 Delmar Blvd. in University City. The service is free and open to the community.

Rabbi Yosef Landa, regional director of Chabad of Greater St. Louis, said the ceremony aims “to accommodate those who would otherwise not participate in formal Rosh Hashanah synagogue services.” It will include the sounding of the shofar and Tashlich, a brief prayer recited near a body of water, expressing “hope that G-d cast our indiscretions into the depths of the sea, and that we be granted a good and sweet new year filled with G-d’s abundant and manifest blessings,” according to a news release.

This local initiative comes as world Jewry marks 50 years since the late leader of Chabad, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson initiated the worldwide Mitzvah Campaigns, a historic undertaking that took Jewish observance to the streets.

“The Rebbe insisted that Judaism be made accessible to all Jews,” Landa explained. “Our goal is to lower the barriers of entry and to encourage every Jewish person to actively participate in the observances of Rosh Hashanah.”

Rosh Hashanah begins this year at sundown on Wednesday, Sept. 20 and extends until nightfall on Friday, Sept. 22, leading into Shabbat. 

For more information, call Chabad at 314-495-3515 or visit ShowMeChabad.com.