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The Rabbi's Column
Since Labor Day
and
September are so late this year, it makes it seem like
the High
Holidays are very early! They begin on the Wednesday evening of the
week of Labor Day and we will conclude all the fall holidays by the
end of
September. At least we will not need to worry about eating
snow soup in our
sukkot this year, instead, we will be swatting at
bees. If it is not one thing
it is another.
But seriously,
we
decided to send out an August Hakol this year because of
how early
the High Holidays are; the schedule and times for services are listed
in this month’s Hakol so that you can plan accordingly and not get
taken by surprise.
The ritual committee, and especially Ken
Turkewitz and Len Solomon, have been
diligently working in order to
ensure that all the details will be set. Since we
will be praying in
a new venue, we have additional issues that need to be planned
for,
and implemented. I am happy to report that we have focused on a
number of
matters that will hopefully enhance your High Holiday
experience and increase
the spirituality and beauty of the services.
We have studied
the
room configuration and will be setting it up in such a
way that
hopefully, everyone will feel that they are close to the bima. We
will be framing the seats in a semi-circular fashion as a way of
building
community and allowing individuals to feel connected to the
rest of the
congregants. As in the past, seats will be reserved for
the 1st Day of Rosh
Hashana, Kol Nidrei and Yom Kippur morning.
We have tested
the
sound system and while we believe that it will provide
better
amplification than what we had in our
former setting, we are hopefully
also going to rent individual audio
devices that will help to augment the sound
for those in our
community who have more difficulty with hearing. I am also
going to
provide paper copies of my Divrei Torah as I have in the past
so that
congregants can also follow along as a way to help them hear my words
more effectively.
As has been
mentioned
previously, we are organizing a congregational choir to
help the
cantor with 2-3 prayers as a way of enhancing the spiritual component
of the services. You can still join if you would like to
participate!
On the second day
of
Rosh Hashana, which this years falls on Friday, we will once
again be
using the more relaxed service that was introduced last year and
which so many of you enjoyed.
I invite anyone
with a
Shofar to bring it on the second day so that we can truly
appreciate
the loud blasts of the horn.
For Tashlich, we
unfortunately do not have access to a running body of water right
outside our door as in years past. However, this will also allow
those of us
in the community who were concerned about the walk down
the water to join
us in a new site. We are currently exploring
different venues but I promise that
all of them will be very
accessible, which will allow those of us in the community
to be able
to participate in this simple, short but emotionally provocative
service on the 1st day of Rosh Hashanah.
I
am already getting excited about the Holidays (though I am not as
excited about
writing my sermons). I look forward to sharing
insights and thought-
provoking introductions about the different
prayers in the service as in years past and
I am confident that the
High Holidays will be spiritually enriching and fulfilling and
will
have the usual patina of Temple Shaare Tefila services. I look
forward to seeing
you all there.
The
physical part of moving has been accomplished. We did it with a lot
of
energy, commitment and time from several of our members. And now,
comes the
fun part. The settling in. The transforming of mundane
space into sacred space
that, over time, will gain the patina of
being home for us. The moving ahead. Over
the last few months, we
have been focused on the needs of our synagogue in
terms of
maintaining the continuity of our identity. This has translated into
discussions revolving around the physical structure: which plaques to
bring,
where to hang them; how to create our new home so that it
continues to feel, look
and be like our old home.
In
many ways, that has been the easy part. Now, comes the more
difficult
challenge: how do we use this opportunity of being in a
new venue with all of the
new energy and excitement that comes along
with change to re-envision who we
are and what we want our synagogue
to be? We have created a space that allows
for our physical identity
to remain intact; what do we want our spiritual, cultural,
and
communal identity to be? We have shaped our structure; what do we
want
the content to look like? A move likes this allows us to begin
a process of
exploration and deliberation. What does the future of
Temple Shaare Tefilah hold
for its members and any prospective
members? What type of programming
and services do we want to offer
that will enrich our spiritual, intellectual
and psycho-social lives? Who do we want to be?
I
offer this as a challenge to you; come forward and volunteer to sit
with other congregants and myself to think about these questions. As a
synagogue, what can
we offer to you as a member that perhaps we
weren’t beforehand, or that you
would like to see better
incorporated into our programming? Be a part of shaping
the next 99
years of Temple Shaare Tefilah. There are so many different avenues
of Jewish identity and expression: religious services, educational
opportunities,
cultural enrichment, social activism and action,
Zionism: let us know which area is
the one that you would like to
see us develop and become known for. This is the
time to get
involved and help to shape our identity for the future. An identity
that
has been strongly forged by the commitment of the generations
past who have
been honored by the plaques that surround us.
Reaching out to intermarried families
GOD WHISPERS BY KARYN KEDAR
Light and goodness are not beyond our grasp. We should not defer or postpone
joy and blessing. We need only to begin to choose life. A spiritual life, a calm life,
a life immersed in love is within our grasp. Reach. All things are connected. The
world of the spirit speaks to you in a hundred voices. Listen with the heart-beat of
your soul. Life is an adventure toward beauty. The grandest of journeys begins
with a single step. May God bless you on your way.
Make the body a throne for the mind,
The mind a throne for the spirit,
The spirit a throne for the soul.
Then the soul too becomes a throne
For the light of the Presence
That rests upon it.
The light spreads forth around you
And you, at the center of that light,
Tremble in your joy.
—Adapted from Your Word Is Fire, edited by Arthur Green and Barry Holtz
United
Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.