It is hard to believe, but in exactly a week from now, we will be gathering together in our sanctuary to celebrate Rosh Hashanah as a community. As part of my own personal spiritual preparation for the High Holy Days, every year I read This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared, by Rabbi Alan Lew, on the Shabbat afternoons in the 2 months leading up to Rosh Hashanah. This past Shabbat, the part that jumped out at me was Rabbi Lew’s description of how rabbinic tradition calls all the Jewish people to stand before God ba’agudah achat – “as a single spiritual unit.” “Here in the full flush of the reality of the life-and-death nature of this ritual, here in the full flush of our impotence as individuals to meet this most urgent emergency, our need for each other is immense. We heal one another by being together. We give each other hope. Now we know for sure – by ourselves, there is nothing we can do. But gathered together as a single indivisible entity, we sense that we do in fact have efficacy as a larger, transcendent spiritual unit, one that has been expressing meaning and continuity for three thousand years, one that includes everyone who is here and everyone who is not here….– all those who came before us, and all those who are yet to come…”
This means you. We need you with us on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, attending in person if you can, or via livestream. The Jewish people, our community, needs your presence.
Parents of school-aged children (and those younger, too)! This means you and your children, too! Everyone is part of this single spiritual unit of Am Yisrael. Children of all ages are always welcome during services, along with their noises, their wiggles, and their questions – and know that we also have children’s programming throughout the High Holy Days designed for them too. If you’re hesitating about whether or not to bring your school-aged kids to services or to send them to school on Rosh Hashanah this year, I hope that you will bring them to services, to give them the opportunity to be a part of their spiritual heritage, to join with the community. I am always ready to write a letter, on Temple Shalom letterhead, to your child’s teacher or principal, informing them about the importance of Rosh Hashanah – please don’t hesitate to reach out if this would be helpful or if there’s anything else I can do to help make our schools a safe and welcoming place for our Jewish children.
See you in 5785!
