 | We made it through the High Holy Days of 5784. We rang in the Jewish new year. We honored its double-celebration confluence with Shabbat. We stood together forgiven on Kol Nidre night. We plunged and soared on Yom Kippur, whose last shofar blast re-entered us into life after the High Holy Days. Now we get to celebrate together. The festival of Sukkot, our "Season of Joy," begins the evening of September 29 – yet again coinciding with Shabbat. So we're off the Torah cycle for two more weeks while we revel in Sukkot and hang out in a sukkah. You don't have a sukkah? It's still Sukkot, and there are lots of ways to celebrate. |
 On our trees of life, the spiritual ties that bind, the human penchant for the inner avoidance mechanism called "spiritual bypassing," Yom Kippur as our call to "answer" our souls rather than "afflict" them, taking the inner deep dive in joy.
 On losing and re-gaining our felt sense of connection; Judaism's call of community; the U.S. loneliness epidemic; Blue Zones of longevity built on community connectivity; and what the real business of Jewish community is all about.
 Shanah tovah! I hope this new year has dawned bright and full of hope for you and your beloveds.
How ironic that the first Torah portion of the new year is nearly Torah's last. How ironic that this Torah portion is the swan song of Moses as he faces his fast impending death. Ironic – and, with Yom Kippur up next, utterly right.  Imagine what our world would be if we extended ourselves just a bit more beyond what most frightens or upsets us. Imagine what our world would be if we each stretched just a bit more into the equality, kindness, gratitude, Godwrestling and stranger love that are the core callings of our ancestral identity. It starts with us. It starts today.
We can choose to let our suffering, jealousy and fear harden us. Or we can let them soften us, and remind us that we know the Other’s heart because we’ve been the Other, too. Empathy is healing for most every felt sense of Otherness, and most especially for our own. By Rabbi David Evan Markus Erev Rosh Hashanah 5784 (2023)  R. David joins a national call to smash the stigma about emotional and mental health in the United States.
Hope and renewal are our birthrights. Claim them as yours, with the power they transmit from legacy and from heaven – and let’s talk if your path feels too steep. Claim your birthright and its inspiration to do more than we think we can – nothing too small – to heal ourselves and this world. Our High Holy Day journey starts here.  This weekend's arrival of Rosh Hashanah 5784 interrupts the weekly Torah cycle in favor of the New Year's special Torah reading for P. Vayera in Genesis 21-22. It's about the Israelite (later Jewish) lineage began by dividing from the Arab (later Muslim) lineage, and how relationship with God deepened and was put to the test in its wake.
The story is a fascinating one, full of intrigue and drama – as many beginnings are. It comes every Rosh Hashanah, itself a new beginning when our own relationships with God are deepened and put to the test.  By Rabbi David Evan Markus
Nitzavim-Vayeileikh 5783 (2023) One of many things that jazzes me about Jewish life is that it doesn't entrust its depths, heights and pathfinding only to rabbis like me – much less scholars and sages. Judaism's core is far more lowercase-D democratic: its paths are forged collectively, by everyone who commits to do Judaism together. This truth helps explain why history has evolved many authentic ways of being Jewish and doing Jewish – rationalists and mystics, traditionalists and transformers, denominations and vibrant communities proudly outside the dynamic ebb and flow of denominational life. Judaism's collective empowerment is the core message of this week's Torah portion. And as the High Holy Days are about to begin, this message – like so many spiritual truths – comes at just the right time. |
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