Got Questions? We’re here to help!
If your questions have not been answered below, please feel free to email [email protected].
I’M NEW TO LAB /SHUL
We’re a lab, remixing Judaism for the 21st century and our evolving diverse community. Like a synagogue and a shul, we’re a vibrant space to nurture your personal growth, support your communal and spiritual needs, and explore the ways Jewish tradition can help make life meaningful today–for everyone.
The notion of Divine Presence is a personal and unique experience for each individual, as well as a significant historical feature of Judaism. In our ongoing search for authentic, common, spiritual ground, we replace the reliance on the English term “God” with a multiplicity of metaphors and prisms that embrace a more modern, gender-neutral, and abstract relationship to what is ultimately beyond language. We invite you in on your own terms, in your own way, to co-create this experience with us.
Easy. Included with any Hebrew you will see transliteration and our original poetic God-optional English translations. We use projections, not prayer books, so it’s easy to follow along.
Lab/Jr. is happening! Highly skilled, enthusiastic artist-educators are offering engaging kids’ programming for everyone from 0-12. This year we’ll have Lab/Jr. offerings both online and in person. Click here to learn more about Lab/Jr!
Lab/Shul is truly everybody-friendly, meaning we invite the full spectrum of human existence without exception or judgment. So if you’re Jewish/Jew(ish)/not-at-all Jewish, interfaith, multi-faith, not-really-into-faith, a Person of color, a Jew of Color, LGBTQI+, older, younger, from here or from there–we want to make space for you.
“Friendly” doesn’t even begin to describe it! We deeply value the leadership of trans and queer members of our community, and seek to ensure that we build mutually nourishing relationships with those most marginalized in our communities. We work to uproot transphobia and homophobia, internalized and externalized in the ways it may show up in our spaces.
Lab/Shul is proud of the work of READ, our Racial Equity Action Delegation, led by community members who recognized urgent work and sought to do it together. They have gathered together and come up with action items, in collaboration with Lab/Shul’s Board of Directors, Executive Director and Spiritual Leaders, that will help Lab/Shul live into its everybody-friendly value.
As we enter the High Holy Days season of 5786, we offer guidance on how we intend to be together as a community of care during this time of heightened polarization and political discord in the U.S., particularly around the ongoing conflict in Israel/Palestine and its impact on our lives here and worldwide. As we gather with our Lab/Shul community to begin a new year, we come to co-create sacred space for transformative soul work. Despite differences, we seek common ground in our shared humanity, our hopes for healing and peace, our resistance to despair, and our commitment to repairing what is broken. Please click here to read our community guidelines.
We know that gathering in Jewish community today asks us to hold multiple truths at once: to take security seriously, to recognize the diversity of our community’s lived experience regarding safety and security, to remain attentive to the world around us, and at the same time to resist allowing fear to define the spaces we create together.
At Lab/Shul, safety and belonging are not opposites. They are both practices of care.
This year we have strengthened our approach with several overlapping layers of support: professional security consultation, BMCC’s House Management and Public Safety teams, trained Lab/Shul staff and volunteers, and our new SWEPT — Safety and Wellness Engagement Planning Team. Our SWEPT members, along with the entire Lab/Shul staff, production team and members of our Board of Directors have received specific training in recognizing distress, responding to conflict, and practicing nonviolent de-escalation.
Here’s what we need you to know before you arrive:
- Please enter through the 190 West Street entrance to BMCC.
DO NOT use the 199 Chambers Street entrance. If you enter at 199 Chambers you will be redirected to walk around to the 190 West Street entrance. - BMCC security guards will be stationed at the West Street entrance. They will check bags and screen attendees using handheld metal-detecting wands.
- Alongside them, Lab/Shul SWEPT team members and volunteer greeters will be there to welcome you, answer questions, help keep entry moving smoothly, and serve as a calm, familiar community presence.
- Once you have been screened, you will receive a wristband so that you can leave and re-enter as needed without repeating the full screening process.
- Please do not bring bags that are larger than a backpack or purse. The less we have to screen, the faster and smoother entry will be for everyone.
- Give yourself extra time to enter and cooperate with the BMCC security team as they complete the screening process.
- If something concerns you while you are with us, please tell a SWEPT member, Lab/Shul staff member, production team member or volunteer. They will be wearing orange Lab/Shul lanyards and will be easily identifiable.
We know that people move through spaces in many different ways because of culture, disability, neurodiversity, anxiety, immigration status, racial identity and countless other reasons, and we are committed to treating every person who enters our space with dignity and respect.
We hope all of these measures remain exactly what they are intended to be: precautions that allow us to turn our attention toward what we have actually come together to do: prayer, contemplation, celebration and being in community.
Thank you for your patience, your awareness and your partnership in helping us create a High Holy Day experience grounded in safety and belonging.
There will be a small mask-only section in our main ritual space. Please stay home if you are feeling ill.
Of. Course. You can volunteer virtually or in person. Choose “yes” when registering for ritual programming on days when you’d like to volunteer or email [email protected].
This year’s high holy days
With respect for the importance of these days, wear whatever allows you to feel comfortable, open, and present. We encourage you to suit up with any ritual gear that is part of your religious practice. We don’t provide prayer shawls but we do have cool kippot.
As always, we welcome you to dress in a way that reflects your unique identity and expression. At the same time, our ritual team will refrain from wearing flags, symbols, signs, or slogans on stage. We ask you to consider how your own choices may impact the collective gathering, and to use your best judgment for these High and Holy Days together.
Pro Tip: Most people glam up on Rosh Hashanah night, and throughout Yom Kippur some prefer to wear white and abstain from leather shoes…or footwear in general.
Special Note for Rosh Hashanah Eve: We are delighted that our friends and partners at Temple of the Stranger will be with us on Rosh Hashanah eve for “Back to the Womb,” a special ceremony grounded in the lost wisdom of ancient mothers. You are invited to wear red if you like (red-optional!), as red is the sacred color of life and renewal.
All our ritual programs will be held at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center. Please enter through the 190 West Street entrance to BMCC. DO NOT use the 199 Chambers Street entrance. If you enter at 199 Chambers you will be redirected to walk around to the 190 West Street entrance.
Some of our public events during the High Holy season will be held at different locations across NYC, so check the schedule closely!
We are planning to have closed captioning for our main ritual. We will also be using our familiar High Holy Day liturgy slides, so that you may follow along during the ritual. Our space is fully wheelchair accessible, and the lower level can be accessed without stairs. We are happy to reserve accessible seats for those who need them!
Email [email protected] if you have any specific needs or requests and we will do our very best to accommodate you.
Yay! Click here to reserve your seat, in person or online!
5787/2026
high holy days