My dear friends,
When Hazzan Marian and I sat down this year to begin preparing for the High Holy Days, we asked ourselves what spiritual or emotional needs our congregants might have as they walk through the doors of the Temple. The ideas came readily: tranquility and refuge were major themes, as were community, love, and a sense of belonging. We felt people were longing for a connection to their past, while also seeking new directions. More than anything, we felt that people would be yearning for hope.
We will strive to focus on these themes in our Rosh Hashanah services this year. Our hope is that, through our time together in worship and in community, we can all enter the new year feeling more spiritually and emotionally secure, more deeply connected to each other, and more hopeful about the future.
These goals were at the forefront of my thoughts as I developed my messages for Rosh Hashanah. After weeks of preparation, I'm proud to unveil the titles for those presentations:
Rosh Hashanah, Day 1: "After Charlottesville, Be a Light"
Rosh Hashanah, Day 2: "The Elephant in the Room: Teshuvah and the Challenge of Change"
For your information, Day 1 will be a traditional sermon, while on Day 2, I'll be experimenting with an interactive text-study format. I look forward to hearing your thoughts about either or both, whether in person, or over email, or through our High Holy Day evaluation. I cherish your thoughts and welcome opportunities for conversation with you.
For your edification, here is my Rosh Hashanah reading list, the books I read closely as I was preparing my messages:
- Resistance: Jews and Christians Who Defied the Nazi Terror by Nechama Tec
- Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, by Chip and Dan Heath
- The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, by Jonathan Haidt
- "The First White President," by Ta-Nehisi Coates (in The Atlantic, October 2017).
Our 3rd annual "Rosh Hashanah Live" service, featuring Susan Greenbaum and Chris Parker, which will take place on Thursday, September 21 at 8pm, will also emphasize these same themes. For two years, this innovative worship service, which blends authentically traditional and thoroughly modern, has been the highlight of the High Holy Days for hundreds of Richmonders. It's free (admission is a suggested donation of at least one canned food item) and open to the entire community: all are welcome, regardless of faith or affiliation, so feel free to bring friends. You can
preview some of the music we'll be incorporating into that service here . You don't want to miss it!
Finally, I hope you will consider joining us on Sunday, September 24th, 12:30pm, in the lower parking lot of the Virginia Holocaust Museum for our Rock Hashanah Jewish New Year's Festival and Community Tashlikh. We are partnering with more than a dozen synagogues and community organizations to put on this incredible event. There will be live music (My Son the Doctor), food trucks (Monique's Crepes, Gelati Celesti Ice Cream and more), a moonbounce, activities for all ages, social action opportunities, and an inclusive Tashlikh service (bring your own bread!).
I look forward to welcoming in the New Year with you! Adira, Lilah, and Shemaya, join me in wishing you all a "Shanah Tovah U'Metukah," a happy and sweet New Year!
