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Rabbi's Corner – September 2023: Approaching the High Holy Days

8/31/2023

Welcome to the Season of Meaning as we approach Rosh Hashanah 5784.

This Rabbi’s Desk column for September is about this year’s High Holy Day journey – my overall philosophy, what to expect, what’ll be similar to past years at Shir Ami, what’ll be different and why. This column also includes links to two new melodies that we'll use, and a few suggestions for making the most of our journey together.

From my heart to yours, I send blessings for a 5784 of sweet goodness for each of you and your loved ones, and our beloved Congregation Shir Ami. Here we go!

A Quick Summary

Many things about the High Holy Days at Shir Ami will be very similar to last year. The prayerbook, musical director and vocal quartet, Torah readers, Kol Nidre cellist, Yizkor experience and many tunes will be the same. The confluence of Erev Rosh Hashanah and Shabbat require some liturgical changes on both Erev Rosh Hashanah and Rosh Hashanah's first morning, and Shir Ami will experiment with a Rosh Hashanah Day 2 to enfold rituals omitted the prior day due to Shabbat.

This year will feature two new tunes (Return Again and an Ahavat Olam setting) that the community is invited to hear in advance. We'll use them on Selikhot evening (Sept. 9), when we'll co-write part of our Yom Kippur liturgy together. This year also will make some changes to Unetaneh Tokef and Yom Kippur afternoon to freshen those offerings in close coordination with the community's leadership.

Because the prayerbook omits many transliterations and translations, this year everything we do will be on user-friendly slides in addition to the prayerbook itself. This addition also will help bring deeper meaning to what we do together.

Please read below for details, more information and a few invitations and requests from me.

The Superpower of Renewing Together

8/28/2023

By Rabbi David Evan Markus
Ki Tavo 5783 (2023)

This week's full moon of Elul launches our two-week countdown to Rosh Hashanah. When the waning moon runs out of reflected light, the outgoing year will run out of time.

On that Erev Rosh Hashanah evening, Jews worldwide will gather together to usher in the new year. Much as our spiritual ancestors did for centuries before us, we'll uplift new hopes for ourselves, each other and the world – and we'll proclaim that we're in it together. While parts of the High Holy Day journey are about each of us individually, much that we'll do and aspire to become will depend vitally on being and acting together.

"Together," it turns out, is one of Judaism's superpowers. The Jewish key to both ancestral continuity and collective transformation is how the very act of gathering helps reshape us. Community is the catalyst – and scientists have come a long way in figuring out why.

Lost and Found – Soul Edition

8/21/2023

By Rabbi David Evan Markus
Ki Teitzei 5783 (2023)

The Jewish month of Elul has begun. Days are shortening noticeably. Emails about the High Holy Days are flying. Ritually, daily shofar blasts pierce protective layers and call us to renewed attention. The season of teshuvah is here.

What is teshuvah? English-language equivalents include "return" to "repent." This impulse asks us to "return" to our highest selves and best spiritual lives. We do so physically in community (it's "back to shul" time), and figuratively by introspection, "repenting" for "sins" (I prefer Hebrew's חטא / het – an archery term for "missed marks"), and doing the sometimes difficult work of repairing and forgiving.

This week's Torah portion, Ki Teitzei, presses us to back these words with action that shows up in the world – because hanging in the balance is whether we're really here at all. (Keep reading for bonus content for animal lovers.)

Chasing Justice, Outside and In

8/14/2023

By Rabbi David Evan Markus
Shoftim 5783 (2023)

Concerns about justice and rightness are top headlines nowadays – and should be. We are called to channel justice and rightness everywhere they seem in short supply.

And if we think deeply, we might discover that justice and rightness ask of us far more – and, in a sense, also somewhat less – than our initial instincts suggest.

The Eye is in the Hand of the Beholder

8/7/2023

By Rabbi David Evan Markus
Re'eh 5783 (2023)

If art and beauty are in the eye of the beholder, then what about spirituality and community? And when we feel disconnected from spirituality and community – as everyone sometimes does – then what?

This week’s Torah portion (Re'eh) invites us to see that one of the most powerful tools of spirituality concerns "how we see" what we see. If we look closely, we might see that spirituality leads less through our eyes than our hands.

Rabbi's Corner – August 2023: Toward Turning

8/1/2023

By Rabbi David Evan Markus

August once brought the sure end of summer. In Simon & Garfunkel's "April Come She Will" (1962), August was the month that "Die she must / The autumn winds blow, chilly and cold." For area families with school-aged children and grandchildren, August still brings vacations winding down, returns from camp and "back to school" sales.

But in our climate-change world, August is still full-throttle summer. And this year, most of August 2023 comes before the Serious Matters of the High Holy Days for most of us. Jewishly speaking, it's high summer.

Yet, my friends, slow change is in the air.

Rabbi's Corner – September 2023: Approaching the High Holy Days

The Superpower of Renewing Together

Lost and Found – Soul Edition

Chasing Justice, Outside and In

The Eye is in the Hand of the Beholder

Rabbi's Corner – August 2023: Toward Turning

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