Established 1858
Bulletin
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September 2013 Elul 5773 - Tishrei 5774
L ’Shana Tova
Vol. 62, No. 11
The Board of Trustees and Clergy invite you and your family to join us for a Rosh Hashanah Reception 1 Tishrei 5774 . Thursday, September 5, 2013 Reception is in Blumauer Auditorium, immediately following the service Catering by Alfresco Catering and Sheraton Hotel With thanks to the WRJ/Beth Israel Sisterhood for organizing the sweets table
Finding Meaning in the Spaces Between By Cantor Ida Rae Cahana When you say “High Holidays,” you might think that simply means the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) and the Day of Repentence (Yom Kippur). And truth to tell, you would be correct. But to focus only on these two important times would not be the whole story of the path to teshuvah, to turning away from ingrained negative behavior and returning to a better self. As soon as the Yom Kippur fast is over, one is instructed to begin the construction of the sukkah, a shaky booth put up to celebrate the holiday of in-gathering called Sukkot. And following right on the heels of the festival of booths is Simchat Torah (literally “rejoicing in the Torah”), when the yearly cycle of reading from the Torah starts all over again. Sukkot and Simchat Torah encompass the fall festival holiday: an appreciation of the fragility of our existence, sitting in a gourd encrusted hut and peering up at the stars staring down through the roof of leaves, an unwinding of the great scroll of our peoples’ story, dancing and singing as we then slowly roll it back to start once more the telling of who we were and who we hope to be – at once both ancient and new.
There is hardly time to clean up the breaking of the fast, let alone erect a sukkah in between these fall holidays...but still in the pauses between is added time to reach out to each other and renew or repair relationships. There is a beautiful custom called ushpizin of inviting guests into the sukkah – people both real and imagined. Reserve a seat in the sukkah for our foremother, Sarah, most gracious hostess who welcomed the stranger and was rewarded for her kindness and hospitality. Reserve another seat for the new arrival to your neighborhood you saw at services and introduce them around. If you don’t have the tools this year to build a sukkah, invite someone to join you at the Cahana home for our annual Open Sukkah party on Sunday, September 22, or bring them to the temple’s lovely sukkah for an outdoor lunch. As the New Year 5774 begins and each of us begins the hectic rounds of school and appointments, use the rhythm of Jewish time to gather in family, friends, and friends-yet-to-be. French composer Claude Debussy said, “Music is the space between the notes.” May the music you make be in these festival holiday pauses that Judaism has gifted to us if we choose to accept them. May the guests you invite in feel their hearts lifted as you are blessed!
September 2013