Torah Reading Day 1: Genesis 21: 1-34
Haftarah: 1 Samuel 1:1-2:10
Torah Reading Day 2 (for those who observe): Genesis 22:1-24
Haftarah: Jeremiah 31:2-20
Dear TBE Community,
5787 is on the threshold as this newsletter hits your inboxes. As we’re bidding goodbye to 5786, I invite you to revisit one beautiful memory from the parting year. How will you carry that moment into these new turns around the moons (and the sun), from this Tishrei to the next? How does it give you strength, joy; how does it inform your Jewish identity? What was especially meaningful to you? And is it something you’d like to deepen and explore more in this new year?
Last Rosh Hashanah, I spoke about 5786 being a year of wonderful connections, because the last letter in the Hebrew numerical spelling of the year – תשפו – the ו, vav – means “hook” and is the name for the word “and.” A year of connections and additions, a year of throwing out a fishing line with a hook and waiting to see what comes up, what sticks, what jumps off again.
Life is about trying. And trying means that we can fail. But, if we don’t try, we can also never succeed.
When I worked for the URJ team “Strengthening Congregations,” one of the mantras the consultants shared with Boards of Directors across congregational sizes and across the country was: Try something new. Fail forward. Be nimble. Know how to manage change: Like in a marathon, some people will sprint ahead with you, happily and energized. Others will trail behind or even quit. And the vast majority of the field wants to move along at a pace that works for them, excitedly, sometimes overwhelmed but still on board, sometimes inspired, sometimes skeptical if they can make it, but eager to be part of the journey.
Life is about trying, and life is a journey. It’s been a wonderful year of trying and succeeding and failing and journeying onward with and at Temple Beth El, and I look forward to 5787, which, as I will mention tomorrow, is תשפז – the zayin now representing the last number, 7. I invite you to go back to your Hebrew vocabulary books, to your memory, to your dictionaries, to Google – and find a word that starts with zayin that you might wish for this new year. May it be a year of wonderful ____! I have some ideas to share with you tomorrow as well!
Talking about trying, and new ideas: This one doesn’t begin with a zayin, but I would still like to try it out: As members of a Reform congregation, most of you don’t feel bound by Jewish law and the commandments, and we’re pretty chill when it comes to Shabbat and Festival observance. And that’s part of the welcoming warmth so characteristic for Temple Beth El: Nobody is reprimanded; everyone is welcome.
For this High Holiday season, I have one favor to ask you to consider. It is a favor that comes from a place of respect for our sanctuary rather than from an insistence on observance. Over my time here so far, I have noticed quite some phone-scrolling during services, often when I give my davar or sermon, or sometimes even when Cantor is singing. And speaking for myself, this has often thrown me off, made me feel a bit insecure. Is it so boring or disengaging what I am saying? Is this a personal statement? Is something wrong with the mic? (J ) It trips me off, especially on a regular Friday night, when the sanctuary is not always bursting at the seams – I notice it so easily. Of course sometimes, we have emergencies going on in our lives, we need to be on call, there’s something or someone we worry about. And that’s legit.
For this High Holiday season, I’d like to suggest that if you have an emergency, if you get a text replying to which can’t wait – please consider going into the lobby or the courtyard. You are free to browse and call from there. Feel free to leave the sanctuary respectfully when you need a break, any break. But most importantly: If you are lucky that there is no emergency in your life — please try to experience what it feels like when you give yourself and your phone a break during these few hours of being together in the sanctuary.
The word sanctuary comes from the Latin sanctuarium – meaning a holy, sacred place. The Jewish idea of holiness is connected to the idea of separation: A holy place is a place where we don’t do some of the things we do in the outside world, and the sanctuary is the Kodesh HaKodashim, the holiest of holy spaces. When we enter a holy space, we enter with the intention to focus and to meditate and to leave the outside world behind – as much as that is possible in our busy times.
And here is one more idea: Traditionally, many Jewish congregations, across the denominational and non-denominational spectrum, wear white on the Days of Awe, as an expression of a fresh start, the hope for merciful judgment, of pure joy. While the custom is even more widespread on Yom Kippur, (more about that next Friday!) Rosh Hashanah is already a perfectly fine day to wear white — even after Labor Day!
I look forward to spending the Days of Awe with you again. Throughout the year, I heard from several of you who told me they’d love the opportunity to linger on after services over an Oneg. Some preferred Erev Rosh Hashanah, others the daytime service. The majority leaned toward the evening, so for this year, we’re going with that tonight: We’re having an Oneg much like our regular Shabbat Onegs (it is Shabbat, after all!) though with a few extra treats. Come join us for the beautiful Festival Kiddush and HaMotzi over round challah in the courtyard after the evening service and mingle with TBE friends on the first evening of 5787.
Wherever you will be tonight and tomorrow, whether in our sanctuary, online, or out of town, I wish you a wonderful golden (זהב!!) and sweet and healthy new year of continued and deepened connections. May we all be inscribed in the Book of Life.
Shana tova!