Making the Most out of Services (ERH 5775)
For many people the High Holy Days are an ordeal. It's something they feel they have to do. And let's face it: for many people services are boring. As a result, they come late, leave early and spend a good part of the service day-dreaming or talking to the people around them. For a rabbi and for those who have come to pray, seeking a spiritual experience, this can be pretty disheartening. High Holy Day services...Read more...
Success and Failure (RH1 5775)
Shanah Tovah! It is such a pleasure to look out and see all of you here on this Rosh Hashanah 5775. This is a Shehehiyanu moment, a moment to celebrate and to savor, so please feel free to join me in reciting this bracha, this blessing that thanks God for this special moment in our lives, it can be found in our Mahzor on p. 30 in both Hebrew and transliteration for all who do not read Hebrew – [say...Read more...
Grow Your Judaism (RH2 5775)
Rosh Hashanah, Day 2, is actually a misnomer. The rabbis of the Talmud called the two days of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Arichta, One Long Day. This was before we doubled all our holidays outside of Israel, back then only Rosh Hashanah was two days long. This is what led to the custom of eating a new fruit on the eve of the second day to give ourselves a reason to say the Shehechiyanu prayer again as we do on the first...Read more...
Israel (KN 5775)
KN the most sacred night of the Jewish year! We have gathered together, put on tallitot and heard the plaintive chanting of the KN prayer. On this night we contemplate our state of affairs. We've had ten days to repent, for those who began back in Elul, tonight culminates a 40 day process, parallel to the time Moshe spent on Mt. Sinai receiving the Torah. Whether you have spent 40 days or 40 seconds preparing for...Read more...
Death since last Yom Kippur (YK 5775)
Since last Yom Kippur, we mourn the loss of four members of our Shomrei Torah family – two long time members and two much too young:
• Irwin Nijaki, Jack Gaba, Jeff Razen and Keren Friede
As well as many relatives:
• Daniel Dunn, brother of Marilyn Hirschhorn
• Howard Trachtenberg, father of Alan Trachtenberg
• Paula Sheffler, mother of Beth Julie
• Jeffrey Kornblau, brother of Marc Kornblau
•...Read more...
Overcoming Obstacles (YK 5775)
Yizkor is a time we think about death. Yizkor is about remembering. This summer we have seen more than our fill of death. But probably nothing captured our attention as intensely as the kidnapping and murder of the three Israeli teens – Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaer & Eyal Yifrah. For 18 days the world Jewish community stopped what we were doing and we prayed. In Israel all attention was focused upon finding...Read more...
Everything One and Everything Changes! (RH1 5774)
Beruchim Habaim, Welcome! It is good to be together again this Rosh Hashanah. One of the themes of Rosh Hashanah is what we call Heshbon Hanefesh, Soul Searching. It is the idea that we can and do change from year to year, nothing stays the same, but the belief in free will means that it is up to us to determine what we change and how...Read more...
Engaging Israel (RH2 5774)
Israel is near and dear to our hearts; we read about it, we discuss it and we struggle with the reality. As a people we spent millennia praying for the return of Jewish sovereignty and there are some in this room who can remember that day in 1948 when that dream was realized. The role of Zionism took a dramatic shift in 1967 in the wake of the Six Day...Read more...
Isaiah & Soc Justice (KN 5774)
As we gather on this most sacred of nights on the Jewish calendar, having just listened to the familiar and plaintive chanting of the Kol Nidre, we begin to focus our thoughts on the nature of the day. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, it is about rediscovering our best selves, it is about connecting with God, it is about strengthening our bonds to the Jewish community. It's about looking beyond ourselves to see...Read more...
Loss (YK 5774)
Yom Kippur. Shabbat Shabbaton. The Sabbath of Sabbaths. Sacred time on the Jewish calendar. Time we spend with loved ones is also sacred time. The loss of a loved one makes us acutely aware of the passage of time. And this has been a year of loss – as a nation we were shocked and horrified by the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, 20 children and six staff members brutally and needlessly slaughtered....Read more...
