HIGH HOLY DAYS

DEAR FRIENDS

Dear Friends

July 2011

We hope you are enjoying a restful and relaxing summer. Here at Temple, it is preparation time! The High Holy Days are just weeks away and plans are well underway for us to come together as a congregation in celebration and reflection on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and throughout this powerful holiday season.

Our ancestors in the wilderness built a sacred space for God’s presence out of some very mundane materials: rods and sockets, cloth and poles. And we do the same. The enclosed logistical materials are the nuts and bolts, the rods and sockets that will help us create an experience of holiness and for this great congregational community on the Days of Awe. We appreciate your taking the time to fill out the forms and communicate your preferences, and we are grateful to the volunteers and Temple administrative staff whose hard work and patience make all of this possible. As the New Year begins, we will continue to welcome our new rabbi, Kimberly Herzog Cohen, into our congregational family. Rabbi Herzog Cohen will lead services with our Young Adults and our families in Pollman Hall, and will be on the bima in the Olan Sanctuary sharing her spirit and insight with all of us. We also welcome back Student Cantor Leslie Niren who shares her musical gifts with us during the High Holy Days and monthly throughout the year.

We hope you will join us to celebrate Shabbat in advance of the High Holy Days. Our Friday evening and Saturday morning services throughout the month of Elul, beginning September 2, are a wonderful opportunity for us to be together and begin the important spiritual and intellectual work of reflection and repentance, in warm and intimate settings. This month of preparation culminates when we join together to welcome the New Year in the Olan Sanctuary with services that continue to grow in energy, depth, innovation and beauty. Our Pollman Hall daytime experiences are designed especially for families with school-age children and feature informal liturgy, participatory music and an interactive family learning activity. There is plenty of room for everyone in these daytime services and you won’t want to miss this wonderful opportunity to be together and celebrate the High Holy Days with other families in our Temple community. On Yom Kippur afternoon, our Teen Experience will once again be led by our teenagers, together with our extraordinary youth staff and clergy and will include a unique opportunity for students in grades 8-12 to learn and pray together as a community. And of course, we will continue our tradition of opening our doors to all those in Dallas who do not have a congregation. Our guests in Lefkowitz Chapel will once again be connected to the service in the Olan Sanctuary via audio and video connection.

The great Hasidic master, the Baal Shem Tov once taught: “The first time an event occurs in nature, it is called a miracle. Later it comes to seem natural and is taken for granted. Let your worship and your service be your miracle each day…performed from the heart and with the enthusiasm of fresh wonder.” May this coming season of soul-searching and celebration be a blessing to us all—a season of heart, service and wonder—and may the new year 5772 bring health, sweetness and peace to you, your family, and all of God’s world.

L’shanah Tovah,
Rabbi David E. Stern
Rabbi Debra J. Robbins
Rabbi Asher G. Knight
Rabbi Adam Allenberg
Cantor Richard Cohn