For Your Consideration - Rabbi Mark Dov Shapiro

     Let’s imagine that someone said the following to me, “I belong to Sinai. I’m a Reform Jew. Are there guidelines for me in observing the High Holiday?”
      Here is my vision for giving the holidays Jewish meaning this year.
      First, use the home services that are on our Temple website (www.sinai-temple.org). You should recite the blessings before the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur meals because Judaism begins in the home and because Jews ought to welcome great occasions with gracious thanks (blessings!) for life.
      Secondly, attend all the services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Although you may not believe it, I really don’t take attendance during the rest of the year. However, when it comes to the holidays, I think attendance is required. It’s like going to Tanglewood. You wouldn’t arrive for the second movement of the symphony, and you also wouldn’t skip the third movement. You wouldn’t do so because you know that a piece of music is an organic whole. Missing part of it means missing its meaning.
      Dear friends, the same holds true for High Holiday services. Although I do understand why some people may stay home with family on Erev Rosh Hashanah, every other service is crucial. The whole of the services is what makes the holidays whole.
      And while I’m offering commentary, you may have forgotten the custom of lighting a yahrzeit/memorial candle before coming to Temple for Kol Nidre. Just as the Yom Kippur Yizkor service is a critical part of entering the New Year, Jews prepare for Yizkor by lighting that small 24-hour candle at home when Yom Kippur begins.
      Fasting is also a necessity on Yom Kippur. I do assume that almost every Sinai congregant fasts, but just in case that’s not so, let me remind you that fasting is important because it truly makes the day different, because it reminds us how much we usually take for granted, and because fasting is a small form of deprivation that goes along with the day of introspection. Fasting is also important because it requires discipline and challenges us in one small way to overcome our body’s needs and reach for something beyond.
      Finally, there is one more Sinai necessity. Everyone needs to bring food to the Yom Kippur Food Van. It’s not hard to do. It’s actually an opportunity for goodness which the congregation drops in your lap. While you’re not eating voluntarily all you need to do is bring some food for those who go hungry daily.
      And that’s it. As a Reform Jew, these five directives should give shape to the next few weeks. Together we have a wonderful journey before us. I look forward to all of it from Erev Rosh Hashanah through to the final tekiah of the Neilah/Closing Service.