Members' Reflections
Dale Rosen's Talk on Rosh HASHANAH
While I’ve been preparing for this year’s High Holy Days, two phrases keep repeating in my mind. One is from Psalm 27 which we recite every day during the month of Elul: “One thing I ask, for one thing I hope, to live in the House of Adonai all the days of my life,” and the other is from the Book of Samuel, the words of King David when he is facing a great enemy in battle: “Let us fall at the hands of God”, better to have God take my life than to die at the hands of the enemy.
Read the rest HERE.
Read the rest HERE.
BRENT DIVISION'S Talk on Rosh Hashanah "How To prepare for the Exile"
In the past, I would Prepare for the High Holidays by looking forward to the food I would eat, the friends that I would see again, and the sermon I would hear. I might also think of the memories of the Holidays when I was younger: being at services with my parents, then with my children as they were growing up. Just go, do it. It would be over, and then we would eat.
It was a process, a routine that I expected and it worked for my last 70 years or so. But in the end my preparation was passive. The routine was there. I was a congregant. That was great. I followed along. But that was really all I had to do.
And then the pandemic hit! Read the rest HERE.
It was a process, a routine that I expected and it worked for my last 70 years or so. But in the end my preparation was passive. The routine was there. I was a congregant. That was great. I followed along. But that was really all I had to do.
And then the pandemic hit! Read the rest HERE.
It's Not Too Late! Join the elul programs!
By Amy Farber
I am writing with a little “ELUL PLUG!”
If you have not yet joined TAA for one of our Zoom Elul programs, I urge you to do so!
The daily Shofar Blowing has been especially fun for me. I have never performed the mitzvah of listening to the shofar call daily during the month of Elul. I have only ever heard Shofar at High Holiday services.Somehow, signing in each morning has helped me to be more mindful of this holiday season. AND, it has been so wonderful to see familiar (and some not so familiar) faces each morning. Their smiles and greetings have been such a delightful way to start the day. This feels especially important to me this year because we will not be able to greet each other at the Temple as we usually do.
You can still join our daily (except Shabbat) VERY BRIEF Shofar service and hear the Shofar call. I would be so happy to see YOUR smiling face there! You will find links to sign up in this newsletter as well as on our TAA website AND our specially designed High Holiday website.
There are also opportunities on the High Holiday website to share stories, photos, New Year Greetings and Remembrances. It’s a lovely way to keep in touch with our community and share a little of our lives.
I plan to attend the Selichot Service on Saturday night at 8:00 pm. You will find links to that as well on our websites.
Warmest wishes for a sweet new year and prayers for the day when we can come together again.
Shanah Tova!
I am writing with a little “ELUL PLUG!”
If you have not yet joined TAA for one of our Zoom Elul programs, I urge you to do so!
The daily Shofar Blowing has been especially fun for me. I have never performed the mitzvah of listening to the shofar call daily during the month of Elul. I have only ever heard Shofar at High Holiday services.Somehow, signing in each morning has helped me to be more mindful of this holiday season. AND, it has been so wonderful to see familiar (and some not so familiar) faces each morning. Their smiles and greetings have been such a delightful way to start the day. This feels especially important to me this year because we will not be able to greet each other at the Temple as we usually do.
You can still join our daily (except Shabbat) VERY BRIEF Shofar service and hear the Shofar call. I would be so happy to see YOUR smiling face there! You will find links to sign up in this newsletter as well as on our TAA website AND our specially designed High Holiday website.
There are also opportunities on the High Holiday website to share stories, photos, New Year Greetings and Remembrances. It’s a lovely way to keep in touch with our community and share a little of our lives.
I plan to attend the Selichot Service on Saturday night at 8:00 pm. You will find links to that as well on our websites.
Warmest wishes for a sweet new year and prayers for the day when we can come together again.
Shanah Tova!
Shofar by Larry Constantine
“A plangent plea, a promising invitation.”
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“What is your favorite Jewish holiday?” It’s a stock question for interviews in the Jewish media, and the Days of Awe are rarely cited. I myself would probably vacillate between Sukkot and Pesach. But if you asked me which Jewish holiday I find most personally meaningful, it would have to be the High Holy Days, hands down.
Last year, B.C. (Before Covid), my wife and I spent part of the lead-up to Rosh Hashanah in Austria. A highlight of that trip was a visit to the small villages of Frauenkirchen and Halbturn from where my ancestors emigrated in the Nineteenth century. In Frauenkirchen, in a tiny memorial park at the site of the synagogue destroyed when the Nazis annexed Austria, I blew the shofar as part of my morning prayers. The sweet-shrill call of the shofar at the turn of the year is music to my ears. To me, the clarion cry is both a plangent plea and a promising invitation, an invitation to begin again. Each year, after reflection and serious self-assessment, we are offered a gateway to a fresh start. We apologize to those we have wronged, we acknowledge our shortcomings, and in the ceremonial highlight of tashlik, symbolically cast our transgressions into the waters. The real story is what happens inside, in silence, as we forgive and are forgiven, letting go of our failings with the honest determination to do better, to begin again on another cycle of learning and loving. Tekiah, shevarim, t’ruah, tekiah gadolah. With that I will start my day throughout the month of Elul, directing my thoughts both back and forward. |
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