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Day by Day towards the New Year: Dear Friends – We are drawing close to a something important: it’s our Jewish New year 2010. As we did last year for the first time, I hope our Sinai Temple community will once again have the opportunity to prepare together for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We are going to prepare “day by day” throughout the Hebrew month that begins today. This special month of preparation leading up to Rosh Hashanah is called ELUL. According to Jewish custom, Elul can be compared to what so many of us do before we exercise. We warm up. We stretch. It’s the same with Elul. In order to be ready for the intensity of the High Holidays, Judaism proposes that we “warm up.” We start to think holiday thoughts in the weeks leading up to the holidays. We get in the mood. We “stretch” our souls so that we don’t arrive cold in Temple. Professor Deborah Lipstadt of Emory University offers this comment: “Most of are like people who have been told that the last scene of Hamlet is the most riveting and only show up for that scene. We fail to understand what the fuss is about. We parachute into the holidays. This period is the April fifteenth of the Jewish year, yet so many of us spend more time preparing our taxes than preparing our souls.”
*** We are all getting ready for the New Year. We hope our comments will help you approach the great season of renewal. Please e-mail me with your comments, thoughts, and feelings.
Shana Tova…A good New Year! Day by Day towards the New Year: Cantor Martin Levson
That is what we will explore this coming Yom Kippur. The Cantor and I have created a brand new way to present Jonah. We’ll approach the text as a play….And…Well…Stay tuned. I think you’ll be surprised and stimulated. Another innovation?
Not quite so much an innovation as a clever way to make lemonade out of lemons.
Our challenge is that Selichot (the service preceding Rosh Hashanah) takes
place this year over Labor Day weekend. Oy! A tough time to get Jews to shul. Shalom - Rabbi Mark Shapiro Day by Day towards the New Year: Cantor Martin Levson Day by Day towards the New Year: Elul is the month of preparation for the High Holidays. During this special time, we are sharing reflections on the experience of the holidays. Over the next several days, we will feature the thoughts and memories of several Sinai congregants as they anticipate the New Year. I hope these Elul messages will help you get into the spirit of the High Holidays. Rabbi Shapiro *** As a youngster growing up in the Boston area, my recollections of the Jewish
High Holidays are laced with the memories of gathering at my maternal grandparents
home where my siblings and parents joined together with cousins, aunts and
uncles for a festive time. The scent of early morning cooking and baking filled
the house from the moment we arrived, which was the day prior to the holiday. I can still recall the excitement as the doorbell would ring in the apartment
and all of cousins would run to answer. That was one of our "jobs." We
always had a large group of friends and family who joined us. The food seemed
to come from the kitchen in an endless stream. I most recall the homemade kreplach
and taiglach which we children helped our grandmother prepare the day before. Susan Jaye-Kaplan Day by Day towards the New Year: Have you seen the moon lately? Look up if the sky is clear over the next few nights and you’ll see something amazing. You’ll see the full moon of this Hebrew month Elul waning. During these next two weeks it is going to diminish in size until just after Labor Day the moon will disappear in the sky. One night later – Wednesday night, September 8 – it will reappear. The moon will hang up there in the sky as a tiny crescent. And when that happens, you’ll know we’ve arrived at the beginning of a new month. In this case, it will be the beginning of Tishri and the beginning of a new year. I love to tell time by the moon. Especially at this time of year I feel as if that silent globe up in the sky is gently guiding me into Rosh Hashanah. It’s like a beacon nodding at me and reminding me that the biggest days of our Jewish year are drawing closer and closer. Imagine a sailboat. Imagine that we are all slowly approaching the shore. We are coming home and, when Rosh Hashanah arrives, we will be home. We’ll be back to see each other; we’ll be back in the familiarity of our Temple; we’ll be back to spend some time with our prayers, our souls, and God.I know there is a frenzy around holiday time at the Temple. If nothing else, you have to find a parking spot and then hope to find a decent seat amidst the big crowds. It’s easy to forget what we are all about. Easy to forget in the pressure of the moment that the holidays are not meant to be a source of anxiety. They are meant to be a time for reflection and renewal. The themes are serious. We are talking about our failings and mistakes, but we are doing so amidst community. We are doing so, I believe, in the safety of the harbor. Quiet time. Ten days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur for thinking great thoughts about what we might like ourselves to be in the year ahead. Soon enough, we’ll push out to sea. We’ll be back to regular time. But, for at least a moment, we’re at home. We’re where we need to be. Watch the moon. Enjoy the voyage home. And for today – Friday – Shabbat Shalom! Rabbi Shapiro Day by Day towards the New Year: My earliest High Holidays memories consist of "preparing" for the Holidays. This meant a whole new outfit for Mom, my sister and me. This was the 60's and appearance for a pre-teen girl was of the utmost of importance. I can remember feeling special and in a way it set the mood for repenting and promising to be better for the coming year. I grew up in Springfield attending Sinai Temple from Kindergarten through to High School. To me going to services and sitting in the Shul was very spiritual. It often brings comfort and peace when I am in need of it. I think the most moving aspect of services is listening to the melodies. I can't point to one specific song. But especially at the High Holiday Days, one can’t help being caught up in the magic of the Cantor and choir singing the prayers. Another thought which comes to mind is observing how year after year my father would fast and stay the whole day in Temple. It was an expression of the holiday that I tried to achieve. Lo and behold, as the years went by and I progressed into being an adult, clothes disappeared as the first priority and I was so thankful to sit with my father and pray, reflect and fast. Hearing Kol Nidre has become the most moving time of all for me. Charlene Cutler
For me, when my children were home, the holidays meant a time to come together as a family, to sit, listen, reflect, and just be. Back then, we would all get dressed in our holiday finery. Once the children were about 3 or 4, they would accompany us, not go to a babysitter, and would actually sit in services and stay still. Often, I would point to the words as the Rabbi read them so the boys could follow along. At times, they would nestle next to us and I would rejoice in their warmth. My parents would be seated with us and many times the children would move their seats to be right next to them. How nice to have the generations seated together! I still savor that memory. As we sat in Temple for Rosh Hashanah Services, there was a feeling of rejoicing. It was the New Year! It was a time for new beginnings. The past was the past. Yes, we would reflect on it, learn from it, but now we could start anew. Our pages for the New Year would be clean. It was up to us what we wanted to imprint upon them. While we intoned the songs, I would listen in awe to Dad’s booming voice; age never seemed to alter it. How sweet the voices of our young sons were as they joined in! My husband and I sang as well. Singing together was special; our generations were linked. Eagerly, we all harkened to the sounds of the Shofar – those wonderful, uplifting sounds. Children hurried into the aisles to see better and smiles on faces were abundant. When services were over, especially in the morning, we would all gather in front of the Temple, greet friends whom we had not seen for a while and hugs and handshakes were plentiful. The “Friendly Congregation” was in full force. Today, I do not know as many of the congregants, but the warmth still exists. Later in the day, we would go to my folks for dinner. My mother would light the candles in the candle holders that were her parents and in-laws. The women would join in the blessings. We would dip apple slices into honey in order to wish each other a sweet year and eat from a round Challah to represent the continuance of life. Just breaking bread together was special. Each year I would make the Challah and the smells emanating from the oven would evoke a holiday feeling. As my folks became more elderly, they had dinner at our home, but the same togetherness existed. It was special; it was warm. The New Year was off to a good start. The Days of Awe followed. They gave us pause and time to remember perhaps what we did not wish to remember or certainly did not wish to repeat. They gave us time to think what we wanted to do and how we wanted to change. Services were held for Yom Kippur. Again, we dressed in our finery, went to Temple, sat with our family, and enjoyed the closeness. Yizkor was important and is even more important to us today. My wonderful parents are no longer with us, but Yizkor is a time for remembrance and images of them spring forth and warm our hearts. Breaking the fast at my parents was special. The delicacies were abundant and were the same each year. When the meal moved to our home, the menu stayed the same. After all, the traditions were honored and treasured. We still keep them today. Some of my boys and their families do not live close to us but when the holidays fall on a weekend, they come with their children and we all honor the holidays together. The traditions are passed down and continued. L’dor v’dor. Yes, for me and my family, the High Holidays are special. They evoke beautiful memories and give us time for reflection and pause. They let us celebrate joyful happenings, let go of unhappy occurrences, and renew us with energy as we continue life’s journey. As the holidays draw to a close, we embrace each other and pray that we will be inscribed and sealed for a good year. Judy Cohen Day by Day towards the New Year: Orthodox families walk. That’s the way it was when I was a child. It was just about two miles from 114 Cottage St. to the synagogue on Chestnut. 90°? No matter, you walk. Rain? Wind? You walk. It wasn't a hardship, just standard operating procedure...that is until the final blowing of the shofar and the Rabbi's last words in Yiddish. This is when the men would share schnapps and honey cake to break fast. No women, no children, and no Hy Zamansky. My dad would leave with all of us and we would make the trek home to break fast with my mom's apple squares, still warm, filling the stairwell to our second floor walk-up with cinnamon-sugar incentive to run up the stairs. It is a tradition I have carried with me since I moved away from home 30 years ago. I share it with the friends who have become a part of my family. It has become a warm, cinnamon sugar memory for everyone. Merle Zamansky-Coen I have always seen the high holidays as a time of hope. I did not grow up Jewish. Rather, I was raised in a very strict Italian Catholic family in which you are punished for transgressions and the reward for following doctrine comes in the afterlife. I could not relate well to this and, not surprisingly, the aspect of Judaism that resonates most for me is the idea of living each day and each year as the best person you can be. The idea of helping others and trying to make this world, this life better for its own sake and not the next world, is the core belief in which I can believe. On Yom Kippur we make time to measure our lives and assess what we have done well, or not so well, and ponder what we will do better in the year ahead. I relish this time of reflection and I feel hopeful that a better me is always possible. I cannot make the world or even my family better all by myself. But I have come to realize that being the best that I can, will sometimes influence and sometimes inspire others to do the same. Elizabeth Frey Day by Day towards the New Year: A friend of mine is Catholic. While joking, I mentioned to him that we have it much easier in our religion than he does in his. As a Catholic, he is supposed to go to confession each week. By comparison, people of the Jewish faith go once a year to repent and be absolved of our sins… much less time consuming! As is often the case with humor, I believe that there is an underlying message here. I fully believe in the importance of forgiveness. In fact, this is something I believe to the core of my being. Forgiveness can be for ourselves, to absolve feelings associated with guilt and shame. However, I believe that the value in forgiving others cannot be overstated. So, where does this leave my Catholic friend? Actually, I am not sure. Both of our traditions encourage forgiveness and reflection. It seems to me that being reminded of these practices, and encouraged to engage in them mindfully, can only serve to nurture the soul. This is a tradition that I can easily embrace, even if the process isn’t always easy. Michael Wald Day by Day towards the New Year: "What do the ideas of repentance and forgiveness mean for me?" Every year at Yom Kippur I think back to all the ways I failed someone. Either as a parent, friend, daughter, businesswoman, sister, cousin, etc.. None of my failures or wrongs were intentional or meant to be hurtful, but they came about as a result of my weaknesses. Perhaps I was tired or distracted, stressed or impatient and my words and inactions caused emotional harm to others. Words were spoken that should have remained silent. Phone calls or letters were never addressed. I didn't embrace my Judaism, and at times, kept it at arms length. So again this year, I will ask God to forgive these things. But this Yom Kippur I want to ask God to lighten up a bit and allow me a little slack. I'm no different than any other middle age person living in Western Massachusetts. I work full time and then some, raise a child and worry about my parents and relatives. I juggle schedules, pack 3 days worth of running errands into 2 and try to plan for college tuition and retirement. It is impossible not to feel overwhelmed a few times and to take my frustration out on others either through words or deeds. I always feel badly and know my reaction was unwarranted or misguided but by then, the damage is done. The aftermath of these is painful for me and I'm filled with regret and shame. I work hard to make amends and am very fortunate that those close to me understand "it was just a bad day." I replay the pressures that led up to my actions and wonder how I could have done things differently. I hold on to the hurt I cause and sometimes it overwhelms me. But this New Year, I'm going to forgive myself for my lapses in judgment and move on. I won't forget the root causes and ask for repentance from the receiving party. But I will also acknowledge that I'm no different from most others and have strengths and weaknesses that move with the rhythm of my life. I trust that God will understand that I do try to the best person I can every day, let me wallow for a bit and then help me move on. My role is to reach out for strength through prayer and surrender myself to the blessings of family and friends. If I can forgive myself of the sins I've committed, I believe God will do the same. L'Shana Tova…Amy Cohen
My earliest memories of the High Holidays are growing up at Congregation Sons of Zion in Holyoke. In the sixties, the Jewish Holyoke community was thriving. The large sanctuary was full to the brim, with two overflow sanctuaries also participating in the service through the intercom. Everyone was dressed in their best clothes. The Rabbi and the Cantor, in their bright white silver robes, each taking turns leading the congregation. My favorite memory is the harpsichord version of Hayom, which stayed in my head for days and remains with me still reappearing every Yom Kippur. For me, the High Holidays are a time to be sincere to oneself. I ask for help in being a good person and think about things that will occur in the coming year. I leave Yom Kippur with a fresh start to the challenges that are everyday. May we all be inscribed for a healthy and meaningful new year. Israel Schepps |
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