BIDDEFORD — Congregation Etz Chaim in Biddeford has announced it 2017 High Holiday schedule for Jewish services.

Cantor Beth Strassler will be leading services for Congregation Etz Chaim, which is at 36 Bacon St. in Biddeford.

Rosh Hashanah services begin at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 20.

Services are scheduled from 9:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21, with Tashlich following at 12:30 p.m. An evening service will also be conducted at 6:45 p.m. Thursday.

Strassler will lead Yom Kippur services starting at 6:15 p.m. 

On Friday, Sept. 29, Kol Nidre begins at 6:15 p.m.

Yizkor services will be offered at 9:15 a.m., 11;15 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, with the           Community Break Fast beginning at about 6:30 p.m.

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year and falls on the first and second days of the Jewish month of Tishri (September/October). The Mishnah, the core work of the Jewish Oral Torah, sets this day aside as the new year for calculating calendar years and Sabbatical and jubilee years.

Prayer services for Rosh Hashanah are typically longer than on a regular Shabbat or other Jewish holidays, and include the blowing of the shofar, an ancient musical horn made of ram’s horn. 

Yom Kippur is the Jewish festival of the Day of Atonement and in the Hebrew calendar, the ninth day of Tishri is known as Erev Yom Kippur (Yom Kippur eve). Yom Kippur itself begins around sunset on that day and continues into the next day until nightfall, and therefore lasts about 25 hours.

On Yom Kippur many attend synagogue for most of the day. and there are five prayer services, one in the evening, sometimes known as “Kol Nidre” from one of the main prayers, and four others consecutively on the day.

Parking for all services at Congregation Etz Chaim is available in the lot next to Biddeford Police Station.

For more information, visit etzchaimme.org.

— Executive Editor Ed Pierce can be reached at 282-1535 ext. 326 or by email at editor@journaltribune.com.