ChaiLites - 5782

and SELICHOT SATURDAY, AUGUST 28 7:30pm on the Warren Lawn YOM KIPPUR EREV ROSH HASHANAH THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 TEC SCHMOOZE-A-PALOOZA! TASHLICH 9:30am 7:00pm AUGUST 29 SUNDAY, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 10am Start Time 3pm at Conejo CreekSERVICE Park YIZKOR MEMORIAL ROSH HASHANAH DAY 1 This event is funded in part thanks to a grant from TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 USCJ's Pacific Southwest Region

9:30am ROSH HASHANAH DAY 2 ROSH HASHANAH WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 FAMILY 9:30am SERVICE TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 KOL NIDRE 8:30am Family Service onWEDNESDAY, the Warren Lawn SEPTEMBER 15 6:30pm

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 4:15pm

CONCLUDING SERVICES THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 YOM KIPPUR FAMILY 5:00pm SERVICE

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 HAVDALAH SERVICE 8:30am Family Service THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 on the Warren Lawn 7:00pm

Outside, all are welcome, children will have light sticks

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SELICHOT SATURDAY, AUGUST 28 7:30pm on the Warren Lawn TEC SCHMOOZE-A-PALOOZA! SUNDAY, AUGUST 29 10am Start Time

TASHLICH TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 3pm at Conejo Creek Park

This event is funded in part thanks to a grant from USCJ's Pacific Southwest Region

ROSH HASHANAH FAMILY SERVICE TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 8:30am Family Service on the Warren Lawn 31

YOM KIPPUR FAMILY SERVICE THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 8:30am Family Service on the Warren Lawn

A MESSAGE FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,

GIDEON MANZUR

Here's a breakdown of our procedures for High Holidays!

PLEASE NOTE: Subject to change due to evolving county protocols.

STEP ONE: CONFIRM YOUR MEMBERSHIP If you haven’t already done so, please confirm that you are up to date with your membership with TEC.

STEP TWO: RESERVE YOUR TICKETS ONLINE We will only be providing e-tickets for services.

These e-tickets will be downloadable and accessible on your phone.

Please click HERE for the Ticketing Site.

STEP THREE: JOIN US FOR TEC SCHMOOZE-A-PALOOZA Join us on Sunday, August 29 at 10am-12:30pm.

This is an outdoor, socially-distanced event ON CAMPUS, where you can schmooze and pick up your "High Holidays @ TEC" Gift Bag. This event is funded in part thanks to a grant from USCJ's Pacific Southwest Region

STEP FOUR: ON THE DAY OF SERVICES...

Before you arrive at Services, if you are feeling sick at all, please do stay home.

We will be live-streaming all of our Main Services and you can join us virtually.

Upon arrival, please wear a mask. We will also be asking for Proof of Vaccination upon your arrival in person..

You will be asked to have your bags checked before entry. There may be a delay as we will have two (2) bag-checking entry points, but please be patient as you enter the shul.

Be prepared to silence your phone with your e-ticket upon entry. As you pass the checkpoint and enter campus, please silence your phone from then until the end of the service.

As you enter - find your Reserved Seat or an Open Seat! Please respect the set spacing of seating already in place in the sanctuary.

If you would prefer to join us virtually, we will be live-streaming the services.

Please call the Office with any questions!

by Ron Goldstein

by Cindy Goldberg

by Judy Gindi

by Colin Pullan

by Elisa & Evan Robichaud

by Tami Ratzan-Wank & David Wank

by Joyce Bronstein

by Rachael Pugh

by Dan Lubetkin

by Gideon Manzur

by Betty Zonshine

by Eric Feigenbaum

by Shealen Wynner

by Benny Sommerfeld

by Cheryl Wolf

Rosh Hashanah In the Torah, The New Year is called Yom Teruah: “The Day of Sounding the Shofar.” According to the Talmud, we use any horn from an animal in the bovidae family except that of a cow; usually, this animal is a ram.

Once the horn is taken from the ram, the tip is cut off and a hole drilled into the hollow of the remaining horn. The top is shaped for the mouthpiece and the rest of the horn is cleaned out. It is important for the shofar to look as it did in its original state — free from embellishment. Now it is ready to blow.

Press the tip tightly against your lips. Hold one finger against the place that the mouthpiece touches your lips for a tight connection.

Then go ”pthhhhht”. Practice every day but start slowly for only a few minutes: you’ll want to avoid swollen lips. With patience - and, in time - you will become an expert.

There are three very different sounds for Rosh Hashanah: The first sound “te-ki-yah” is a single note; it is a call to attention!

The second sound are three notes quickly sounded one after the other, “sha-vo-rim," to represent sobbing or possibly joy.

And the final sound is nine notes played in rapid succession: “truah.” It’s the alarm clock— the wake up call.

After all the verses are heard, the “te-ki-yah gah-doe-lah" is the finale. This louder and longer call declares: “Do not forget.”

But whenever or wherever we hear the Shofar, we are reminded of our blessings, who we are and the responsibilities expected of us.

Rosh Hashanah Hi, Challah-Days!

That’s how I happily frame the period from Rosh Hashanah to Simchat Torah.

Holiday foods root me to my past, warm my present and create the memories of the future. Round challahs are part of that tradition.

The circle of life, another year circles back to the beginning…time for sweet, round challot. Lots of them.

Since our children were in preschool, I have made challah every Shabbos (except for Pesach). To be honest, it’s part joy, part job security.

But in the early years of my adventures in challah making, the High Holidays posed a unique dilemma for me. You needed sweet, round cinnamon raisin challah to set the stage for a sweet new year. And my family loathes raisin challah.

OK, that’s maybe a little hyperbolic, but you get the picture. About 16 years ago or so, I decided that parve chocolate chips could be a good substitute for raisins. This keeps the concept of a sweet new year alive, taste better, and could be the beginning of a new family tradition.

And so it began.

Rosh Hashanah When vegetarian or milchig (dairy) meals were on the menu, I expanded the parve chocolate chip base to include all other sorts of treats – white chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, Heath pieces, apple pie challah... You get the picture.

At the end of the marathon holiday season, my family and I are ready for a break from a new round chocolate chip challah each day/Yom Tov. Everyone’s happy when I shift back to the straight braided loaves during the rest of the year.

But they are excited by the time Challoween rolls around.

Rosh Hashanah Every Erev Rosh Hashanah we have dinner at my mother-in-law‘s home.

My husband‘s family is Sephardic, originating from Syria, so we have the most delicious Rosh Hashanah dinner with dishes such as grape leaves, kibbe, stuffed zucchini with apricots, in addition to rice, turkey, prime rib, salad, string beans, mushrooms and seasonal fresh fruit. Dessert consists of homemade date cookies, sponge cake and other Kosher delights. Before dinner, blessings are recited over specific food items that represent the hopes and aspirations for the new year.

So, what are these foods, what do they symbolize and why are some metaphorical and others humorous?

I never knew until this year that many call it “The Rosh Hashanah Seder.”

First, we begin with blessings over the candles and wine. Then we each eat a date and ask for peace in the world. Dates are used in this prayer because the word “date” in Hebrew is yitamu which means to end. We pray to end war and conflict.

Next, for a year of fulfilling the commandments, we eat pomegranate seeds, which symbolizes the 613 commandments found in the Torah.

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Rosh Hashanah Third, we eat apple slices dipped in honey for a good and sweet year.

Fourth, we eat black-eyed peas because the word for peas means “increase”... By eating peas, we are asking for our merits to increase.

Fifth, we eat a piece of spinach and leek quiche to ask G-d to cut us off from our enemies. The word for “leek” is Karti which resembles yikaru which means cut off.

Sixth, we eat slices of tongue to symbolize the hope that we will think with our heads and not our tails.

Finally, we say the blessing over the challah and throw each piece in order from the oldest to the youngest symbolizing our respect for our elders.

This ritual was mentioned in the Talmud over 1,800 years ago.

I find the Rosh Hashanah Seder to be very fun but this year it will be even more special because I have learned what each of these food items symbolize in our ancient traditions that we continue to hold dear today.

Rosh Hashanah Around 1960, the year of my Bar Mitzvah, I asked my mother why there are two days of Rosh Hashanah, and she told me about using mountaintop bonfires to communicate.

In 2021, it is so good to do a bit of research and learn that my mother was right.

In the old days, prior to cell phones that told us the precise time and date, there was confusion about the correct day to celebrate holy days.

Additionally, G-d set the Shabbat, but commanded the children of Israel to set the monthly and annual dates. Until about 2,000 years ago, the calendar was set each month based on the sighting of a new moon. The Sanhedren, the supreme court in Jerusalem from about 50 B.C.E. to about 450 C.E., set that date.

In those days, communication was slow and imprecise.

Once The Sanhedren accepted the sighting of the new moon, that information was dispersed by designated mountaintop bonfires, starting in Jerusalem. Chains of lookouts would spot particular bonfires and then light their own. The calendar information was spread far and wide, to Babylon and beyond.

Rosh Hashanah Then there were troublemakers. The Samaritans denied rabbinic authority. They started lighting fires on the wrong days to cause confusion.

The mountaintop bonfires were replaced by messengers, and it took longer to spread the information. People outside of Israel really didn't know if they were celebrating the festival on the proper day.

It was decreed that people outside of Israel would celebrate Rosh Hashanah for two days.

So, now that we have precise clocks, calendars, and virtually instant communications… why do we still celebrate for two days?

The Talmud tells us to "...be careful to keep the customs of your forefathers and keep the two days..."

It is also argued that those of us living outside of Israel are not as physically close to the holiness that is Israel.

Physics teaches that as you double your distance from a torch, you only receive a fourth of its light. Perhaps that principle applies to spirituality as well.

Perhaps we need a second day of Rosh Hashanah to compensate for being away from the holiness that is Israel.

Rosh Hashanah “Apples dipped in honey, for Rosh Hashanah!”

You almost can’t read it without singing it to yourself in your head.

It’s the time-honored song that we all sang so early on in our Jewish educational journeys. To hear my boys come home from their TEC preschool and kindergarten classes singing the same new year songs I did at their age warms my heart and marks the start of the most important time in the Jewish year.

As we take turns dipping apples in honey, we discuss the significance of the act and how it brings hope for a sweet new year.

It isn’t completely clear where this tradition stems from, but some attribute the use of honey to the Torah’s description of Israel as “the land of milk and honey.” Ancient Israelites used date honey in the absence of sugar to sweeten their foods.

Many also believe that apples signify good health and personal well-being. The tradition has evolved over the years, with some still using honey extracted from dates, and others using bee honey.

No matter the origin, this tradition has become a staple for Jews all across the world and is something we look forward to every year.

From our family to yours, we wish you a sweet, prosperous new year!

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Yom Kippur Tears flowed when David and I held the Torah at the Western Wall in Jerusalem at our children’s Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.

You could not help feeling connection, spirituality, strength, and immense pride. We are so blessed holding the Torah on the bimah during the High Holidays, and those emotions felt at the Western Wall rush right back to us. And yes, those emotions are overwhelmed with tears and smiles. Truly, it is a surreal feeling.

Having that heightened sense of a connection to something greater - to feeling closer to God - is immeasurable.

To us, Kol Nidre is that time we personally cherish to honor those emotions and reflect. While listening to the soulful prayer of Kol Nidre, we see our children smiling back, my parents watching with pride, a loving place where our children began preschool through post confirmation, a place where our family has everlasting roots and beautiful congregants whom we consider our community. And we embrace our legacy.

We feel truly blessed.

To a healthy and happy year ahead to all, The Wank Family: Tami, David, Justin, Hayley & Morgan Our Kol Nidre Service will be on Tuesday, September 15 at 6:30pm in the evening.

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Yom Kippur My Uncle had a shoe store on Fairfax Boulevard, across from Cantor’s Deli. Because my Grandparents lived a block away, we used to walk the boulevard every Sunday. It was a center of Eastern European Judaism in the area, and I always marveled at the annual hustle and bustle as everyone prepared for the high holidays. I still remember the heavily-accented Yiddish voices saying “I’m sorry” to each other in the week between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Occasionally, I heard someone respond, “I don’t think you mean it” or “it’s not okay.”

In Judaism, there is a difference between “wronging” a person and “wronging” G-d.

During the Ten Days of Repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, if you have mistreated a person, you must apologize to them sincerely and directly. If they do not accept the apology, you must try again. If they still do not accept your apology after three attempts, you’ve fulfilled your obligation.

That’s all you can do. G-d does not forgive us for things we do to others; those matters have to be resolved between people.

Even if the person does not forgive you, you can still atone to G-d.

Yom Kippur is the day we fast and give all our attention to G-d. We spend the entire day in the sanctuary as we ask G-d’s forgiveness.

When we sit in the sanctuary and chant our prayers, it is our time to continue to think about our past, and how we can improve ourselves in the upcoming year.

Yom Kippur I remember being a young girl and thinking it was so special to be able to fast and wanting so badly to participate with the adults each Yom Kippur.

Whenever we attended Synagogue for the high holidays, I would always sit with my parents, letting the prayers from the bimah consume me, though I had just about no idea what was being said.

My tummy would rumble as I would have had as little breakfast as possible that morning. I’d look around at somber, hungry faces, and I thought, “Today matters. This feels real and intense.”

I remember one year, making it to about 2 o’clock before caving in and eating pretzels but feeling like I had done a fair job. Since my days in itchy tights, uncomfortable dresses, and standing on the chair to see the Rabbi, I have gone through many phases of my own connection to my Jewishness.

There were more years than I care to admit where I barely lit a single Shabbat Candle; but every year, without fail, I would fast.

When I was working 11-hour days and didn’t even know where the nearest synagogue was, when it came time for Yom Kippur I would fast. I would say my own prayers, apologize for my failings, and make my own pleas on behalf of myself and those I loved.

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Yom Kippur It was always the time when I felt reconnected, recommitted. It was always important. While trying to answer the question, “why do we fast?,” I find myself at a loss for answers, because it is such a personal experience.

I know we are instructed to do so. I know that our peers are doing so. I know it shows reverence, devoutness, and humility. It’s what we do.

But the question keeps reforming in my own mind, “Why do I fast?”

The answer can be simple and straightforward some years, “because I want G-d to hear my prayers, and I want G-d to know that I am serious in my atonement.” It also, inevitably, becomes more layered, “I fast because there was a time when I didn’t know who I would be or even who I was, if I would go to Temple again, if I would light candles with my family one day, if I would have a family one day (thank you good G-d for bringing me my family), but I always knew that wherever I went or whatever I did, I was proud to be born a Jew and I believe it to be a gift for which I am grateful.

I am grateful to have the twisted and complicated relationship with my own history and sense of religion, so that I may be eager to always do better, always feel empowered to ask questions, to fall, to get back up and try to do better next time. Because when those who came before me marked the day and said their prayers, they did so with rumbling bellies just like mine.

Because to me, it matters.

Yom Kippur This is my 24th year away from my hometown of Nashville. Growing up, I didn’t realize how attending High Holiday services in TN was different until I brought my wife - we were only dating at the time back home one year. She really enjoyed the subtle nuances. For example, she marveled at the pronunciation of sho-FER instead of sho-FAR. Even more fun: Yom KIPPER, rhyming with “skipper”.

Celebrating Yom Kippur in the south - as a kid in the ‘80s and '90s had its own set of challenges. I’d get to miss school (yay!) but school happened without me (uh…) and I’d fall behind on a few assignments (ugh). Non-Jewish kids didn’t really fully understand what Yom Kippur was and let’s be honest: there was probably a fair amount of jealousy from getting to miss school for a holiday that sounds confusing. Atoning for your sins? Fasting? Forgiveness for a year's worth of sins after just one day? After Yom Kippur, I'd return to school and be privy to plenty of confused faces.

Growing up, I sometimes thought about the gawking looks or the weird glances from many in Tennessee, and I’d be disappointed in them. It wasn’t until recently that I realized that I was overlooking a key part of Yom Kippur: Understanding. Yom Kippur is a clean slate, a future of endless opportunities, a chance to seek forgiveness for your own mistakes. But it’s also a chance to understand and accept the mistakes of others - those they make on purpose, and, perhaps more importantly, those they make by accident.

It’s one of the many reasons I love Yom Kippur… And Yom Kipper.

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Yom Kippur For as long as I can recall, my family’s traditional Yom Kippur Break the Fast was one that we looked forward to.

Not just because we finally got to nosh after 24 hours of rumbling stomachs, but because we did more than just grab the bagel and cream cheese from the shul or go right over to a family or friend’s house or Brent’s Deli to eat. We spent some time together as a family and reflected on the year to come.

Our tradition was simple: marble cake, orange juice and Schnapps (or whatever my father z’l wanted that year).

After my father, brother, and I finished the Tekiah Gedolah, the family headed right for the car. We popped the trunk and sliced the cake. My father poured us juice and himself a glass of Schnapps – we began to enjoy whiskey a bit later.

While standing, typically around the trunk of the car, we would reflect on the year that past and plot the year ahead. We joked, kibbitzed with others as they walked by, and just took some time to be present in the moment. This tradition is one that I still do with my girls. So if you see us at the tailgate of the big red truck or the back of our SUV, stop by and say hi.

There will always be marble cake, Schnapps and great memories.

We will all Break the Fast upon the conclusion of Yom Kippur on Wednesday, September 15.

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The High Holidays Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are here, which means life is very busy. The High Holidays always brought a special kind of panic as we frantically tried on last year’s finest, only to realize that our children’s pants are too short, their shirts are stained, and their shoes are too tight!

Growing up, the High Holidays meant lots of cooking and lots of eating. Of course, we were always seated at the children’s table, something we dreaded, which we interpreted as a license to misbehave, and we DID! My parents were Holocaust survivors so we had little family to observe the High Holidays with. My parents invited other families to join us at synagogue and at meals. It was a time to reflect on the past and “kvell” about the lives they had all made for themselves. To have a roof over your head, food on your table, and share a “schnaps,” what more could you ask for? We attended synagogue on a regular basis, there was never a question of “if,” it just was.

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Even though our Holidays look different than they did in the past, you find other ways to celebrate. You share pictures, emails, videos or meet virtually; or find a time to meet and have a meal together.

However, one tradition and ritual that has never changed in my family is that we are adamant about finding a synagogue in which we feel at home. In that regard, we are very blessed. Thank you TEC for sharing the High Holidays with the Zonshines for over 30 years!

The Hineni Prayer My great grandmother came to America from Galecia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) around 1914, a sixteen year-old girl traveling alone in hopes that she would successfully connect with her older brother when she arrived in New York.

She rarely spoke of the poor, antisemitic world she left behind and focused on the joys of the present. So when she did share a tidbit of old world memories, we listened.

One of her favorites was of Yom Kippur and the Hazzan singing Hineni starting from the back of the old, beautiful shul and singing soulfully while walking up the aisle to the bimah on Yom Kippur.

I was influenced easily by anyone with ruggulach like hers, so as I child I began paying attention to the Hineni prayer and indeed it’s a showcase moment for a talented Hazzan.

Anyone with a good voice can perform it, but the great ones make you feel it.

“Here I am, deficient in deeds and merits but nevertheless I have come before You, God, to plead on behalf of Your people Israel” The Hazzan prays for permission to pray.

The Hineni Prayer But more importantly, to be worthy and capable of the heavy task of praying for the entire congregation looking to cleanse their sins and begin again, better in the new year.

A great Hazzan can make you feel his or her humility and the weight of their charge. You hear the pleading with the Divine.

But why, unlike any other prayers, does the Hazzan begin at the back of the synagogue?

For people like my Gisi Bubbee. The Hazzan entered the shul from the rear where the poorest congregants sat and worked his way slowly up to the front – representing everyone; giving everyone the chance to see him and know that he was praying for them.

That mattered to her.

So on Yom Kippur when we think of those who have passed and contemplate our own mortality along with the meaning of a good life, I enjoy not only the Hazzan’s beautiful performance of the Hineni – but I remember how important it was to a poor girl, orphaned at the age of six who traveled into the unknown at the age of 16 and never looked back – to feel acknowledged and represented in the back of the shul.

And I’m one small step closer to being a better person.

Tashlich No one likes making mistakes. In fact, we all go out of our way to avoid them.

Nevertheless, “to err is human” and something none of us can avoid.

Judaism understands that we, as humans, make mistakes and that we will continue to do so because we are, in fact, human. These mistakes are the groundwork for what Judaism wants from us. It wants us to learn from our mistakes and improve ourselves.

That’s why we have the ritual of Tashlich.

Each year during the High Holidays, my TEC Religious School kindergarten class learns about Tashlich. We talk about it in simple terms and use saltine crackers and water to complete the ritual.

Here’s how it works with my class: First, we talk about some mistakes we may have made during the year. As you may expect, the list of kindergarten mistakes are pretty innocent and often involve family pets missing out on meals and clothes and toys not put away when requested.

Those mistakes are symbolized by the crackers. They go into small sandwich bags for each student and then the students crunch up the crackers in the bag (at least the ones that haven’t been eaten).

Tashlich They go into small sandwich bags for each student and then the students crunch up the crackers in the bag (at least the ones that haven’t been eaten).

Once the salty mistakes have been crushed in their bags, we say the Tashlich prayer and stand around a large bucket of water and take turns throwing the salty mistakes into the water until their bags are empty. This act of throwing the salty mistakes into the water is accompanied by promises to do better in the new year and to learn from missteps in the prior year.

The combination of the physical act of smashing the saltines and throwing them into the water, combined with the promise to improve and become better, is symbolic of our physical and spiritual worlds connecting.

We are human beings in our physical world with a mandate from our spiritual world to be better.

Being better requires “doing” in our physical world, not just words.

So the ritual of Tashlich reminds us that we need to recognize our mistakes and then physically cast them aside so that we can make room for improving ourselves and the world in which we live. Once we’ve made room, and cleared the slate for the new year, the burden is on each of us to learn from our mistakes, begin anew and repair the world by growing, improving and doing good each day.

Tashlich will be observed on Tuesday, September 7 at 3pm at Conejo Creek Park.

Selichot Selichot: it comes from the word Slicha which means forgiveness.

It is a foreshadow of what is to come, we are getting prepared to embrace God as a judge on Kol Nidre and a King on Rosh Hashanah.

We have an opportunity to start early the process of forgiveness, to say, I am sorry.

The Selichot service is held late at night when our senses are open to receive. It is dark outside, and it is quiet inside.

Maybe there is room to hear that small voice inside of me that can guide us, to start to repent, to return to God. Forgiveness is a process, it starts with me facing where I have gone astray. I can ask God for forgiveness knowing that I have a chance for mercy on Yom Kippur.

However, I have to ask the people in my life whom I have wronged for forgiveness in hope that they will be able to forgive me too.

If God can forgive me, I can forgive myself, I hope that you can forgive me too.

Selichot will be observed on Saturday, August 29 on the Warren Lawn.

Neilah Neilah: the day has come to an end, the keys to the gates of heaven are about to close, they are about to be locked (Neilah).

This prayer is the fifth section of the Yom Kippur services.

The day starts with Kol Nidre the night before and ends with Neilah, in between, you have Shacharit, Mussaf, and Micha. That is, evening, morning, additional service, and afternoon services before we end with Neilah.

We are locking the gates for the day of judgment and hoping that we have at least one more attempt to ask for forgiveness before Yom Kippur ends. These five levels are corresponding to our soul's five levels. We are being elevated throughout the day, moving our spirits higher and higher hoping to unite with our soul's divine properties.

The opportunity to be one on one with God before the book of judgment is closed!

Is that really what we are feeling or are we tired and cannot wait for the service to end? You be the judge of how your day is going to end.

Remember it is all in your mind, you can decide if your physical needs shall rule the day our your spiritual possibilities.

Neilah will be observed on Wednesday, September 16 at 5pm as part of our Concluding Services.

Yizkor

Thursday, October 9, 2008, Yom Kippur, I walked into shul after a short break at home between services with a lump in my throat and an extremely heavy heart.

The year before my dad came to shul for the very last time to hear me chant Haftarah and now, I walk into the very same sanctuary with my mom for a service I had never attended. As a child, my brother and I would hang out in the foyer and wait for my dad to come and get us and bring us back to our seats, my mom always giving us a hug with a tissue in hand and tears in eyes.

Until 2008, Yizkor was a mystery for me and because thank goodness both of my parents, my siblings and my precious children were alive, it was not a service that I attended.

Yizkor means "To Remember."

We implore G-d to remember the souls of our loved ones, a service to reconnect with those that we have lost. The Torah explains that it is a mitzvah to give to charity after Yizkor as it is a commandment that our loved ones can no longer do for themselves.

We say Yizkor four times a year: Yom Kippur, Succos, Pesach and Shavuot.

Yizkor Of course, those are not the only times that we remember our loved ones, those are simply the days that we do so as a community.

Yizkor is actually quite a beautiful service filled with music, prayers, readings and stories.

A sanctuary filled with members of our community all remembering not only the loss of loved ones, but the beautiful memories that were shared. One of my favorite readings, We Remember Them, I struggle to read aloud with the congregation as the pain in my heart knowing that my dad and other loved ones have and will continue to miss so many milestones and yet take solace knowing that we are carrying on the beautiful legacies that they created.

Thursday, September 16, 2021, Yom Kippur, we again come together, we will comfort those experiencing their first Yizkor, we will sit side by side as a community again this year.

We will pray, we will read, we will cry and we will laugh, and most importantly, WE WILL REMEMBER! 1

The Yizkor Service will be observed on Wednesday, September 16 at 4:15pm.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 10AM - 3PM Our Annual Tradition! Mens Club will be building the Sukkah and you’re invited to join in on the fun! +

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 6PM-8PM The Mens Club Membership Dinner!

Join us for Steak, Scotch & Torah

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 7:45PM The Board of Directors will be meeting in the Sukkah. Please join us as our Guest!

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 5:45PM-8:30PM Family Dinner under the Sukkah followed by a Kabbalat Shabbat service

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 11:30AM-1:30PM Religious School is hosting a Brunch for families under the Sukkah. Please join us and bring your brunch to share and schmooze!