HIGH HOLY DAYS

DEAR FRIENDS

July 2009

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 spirituality 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.

This year we are excited to be offering a new Yom Kippur Morning worship experience in Pollman Hall designed for school-aged children (grades 2-6) and their families. The service will engage students and their families with informal liturgy, participatory music, and an interactive learning opportunity connected with the story of Jonah and the themes of the holiday. We encourage families of children in this age-range to join in one of these two services and experience Yom Kippur in a new, fresh, and exciting way.

Our warm and participatory services in the Olan Sanctuary continue to grow in energy, depth, innovation and beauty. This year, we will enhance our worship by bringing our regular Temple Shabbat custom of the hakafah (carrying the Torah in the midst of the congregation) into our High Holiday worship as a means of affirming the centrality of the Torah’s ethical values and spiritual message in our lives.

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 5770 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 Oren J. Hayon
Rabbi Asher Knight
Cantor Richard Cohn