Jewish Holidays

Rosh Hashone
The annual meeting of the Jewish people. Our program is a thoughtful and meaningful response to the spirit of the season. Members and participants reflect on the achievements as well as the shortcomings of the past year, and look forward with renewed hope for a year of understanding, justice and peace. The afternoon is filled with poetry and song, followed by the traditional blowing of the shofar and dipping of khallah in honey for a sweet new year.
Yom Kipur
For 24 hours we set everything else aside, not to escape the mundane and the ordinary, but to reflect upon them. At its best, it can be a day of intense engagement with the everyday of our lives. We gather both to recognize our collective responsibilities and to acknowledge the failings and limitations that are common to us all. In this way, we express the essential inter-relatedness between our own actions and the larger community in and for which we act. We hope you will join us for these moving and meaningful programs.
Khaneke
At The Workers Circle/Arbeter Ring Khaneke is 4 Kinder. We welcome one and all to our very special Khaneke Party. Children of all ages are invited to participate in all our fun activities. Bring your menorah and candles. We light them all to brighten our lives. We make Khaneke cookies and eat latkes, of course! We shpil dreydl and do a bunch of Khaneke crafts and sing some of our favorite Yiddish Khaneke songs, maybe even learn a new one!
Passover
Our Arbeter Ring Seder is the most beautiful and imposing cultural celebration in the Jewish calendar. All generations join together in a festive commemoration of our ancient proclamation of freedom, using our own hagadah that weaves together the traditional Exodus story with our eternal struggle to live as free Jews. We sing of the hidden Jews of Spain during the Inquisition, the martyrs and heroes of the ghettos of Poland, the Jews of Soviet Russia, and the seekers of peace in Israel. Our Seder is a glorious demonstration of inclusion and diversity, emphasizing our commitment to be a progressive Jewish alternative here in Southern California. Non-Jewish friends are always welcome.
Warsaw Ghetto Commemoration
The 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against the Nazis, marking the first open revolt against the Nazis in occupied Europe, is annually commemorated by the WC/AR and a coalition of organizations prominent in the Jewish life of Southern California. The commemoration also pays tribute to all the Holocaust martyrs.
Soviet Yiddish Writers Memorial
On August 12, 1952, the Soviet régime of Joseph Stalin executed 14 prominent Yiddish writers in an attempt to wipe out Jewish culture. It was the last wave of executions before Stalin’s death the following year, sending a strong statement of anti-Semitism that poisoned life for Jews in the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc countries for decades to come. This annual event is sponsored by the Committee to Commemorate Soviet Yiddish Writers, a coalition of groups, including the WC/AR, active in the secular Jewish community of Los Angeles. The program is free and open to the public.