At Kanisse, an egalitarian community for Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews, women lead High Holiday services

At Kol Nidre this year, vocalist and anthropologist Galeet Dardashti will co-lead services in the Persian musical liturgical custom.

Her co-leader at this Yom Kippur evening service will be Abe Safdie, who will sing in the Syrian style. Some 150 people are expected to attend the service, which will be held Oct. 1, and they’ll be invited to share their own culture’s versions of prayers. In the past, Iraqi, Moroccan and Yemenite congregants added to the musical melange.

Welcome to Kanisse , a modern, egalitarian Jewish community in New York built by and for Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews. This non-Orthodox prayer space held its first Yom Kippur service in 2021, and since then Kanisse — the Arabic word for “synagogue” — has grown into an independent, year-round cultural and prayer community.