Wow! What a DAY! I hope your Yom Kippur was filled with meaning and joy. The glorious image of the colored light sticks in the darkness of the auditorium at Ethical Culture is still with me this morning. The psalmist teaches, in your light, we see light. The light of the holy was certainly with us throughout these days of reflection and repurposing. May your light inspire in 5782!
Our tradition calls us to build the sukkah/a temporary hut as soon as Yom Kippur concludes. With no appropriate space for a sukkah, I instead made a
donation to Food Bank for New York, actualizing the sacred challenge presented in Isaiah to live the fast that Gd desires. Delta airlines will double match all gifts to Food Bank for NY up to $50,000 today. How will you live into the call to act this year? Take time to commit to something and support those in need in the year ahead. If you plan to join our Habonim Apple picking in celebration of Fall and Sukkot on Sunday, September 26 at 10 am, register soon. You'll find information in the weekly email.
As we prepare to enter Shabbat and then Sukkot next week, I want to offer gratitude to our tremendous staff for crafting and implementing exquisite and engaging High Holy Day prayer services and experiences, and carefully constructing systems to share information and keep things in order, to our lay leadership for supporting all planning, and to everyone in our community for opening yourselves to the possibility of a new year of blessing, even and especially when it did not look like what you imagined entering this new year.
Tomorrow, we'll read parashat Ha'azinu, the final parasha read at services on Shabbos morning. I remember my father telling me he had to memorize Ha'azinu as part of his education at Jewish day school. This oral tradition reminds us that Moshe's lessons extend throughout the generations. May the Torah we learn and share this year be life-giving, like dew, and may our blessings abound.
Shabbat Shalom and Shanah Tovah! rg
Congregation Habonim 103 West End Ave New York, NY 10023
