L’Shana Tova,
We are so excited to announce that we are doing High Holy Days again this year!
The old joke of course is that everyone loved services so much last year that we should do them again. In reality, this is no joke. Last year's ervices were uplifting, energizing, and welcoming. And, they set us up for a wonderful new year both as individuals and as a synagogue community.
This year we are again expecting a wonderful High Holy Days experience and in your hands is a packet that will give you all of the information that you need: tickets, parking, children's programs, etc. However, the real important information can only be found within each of us: What intention are we bringing to Rosh Hashanah; what baggage to Yom Kippur? Our liturgy, music and sermons will be ready when we arrive, but will we be ready? Our ancestors considered this time of year to be one of serious soul work and required enormous preparation. With this in mind, we offer these seemingly simple questions to be discussed within your family or meditated upon privately in the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah: What was the theme of my past year? Where did I excel? Where did I fall short? How will I make this new year be one of increasing happiness, wholeness, and holiness?
Our hope is that having considered these questions in advance we will be more prepared than ever for this Season of Awe and that with the close of Neilah we will already be looking forward to next year.
May our High Holy Days services inspire a beautiful new year for all of us.
L’Shana Tova!,
Rabbi Riter, Rabbi Dubowe, Cantor Shukiar
