Message from Rabbi Rick

 

I would like to highlight some of our recent successes and suggest some ways we can all contribute to an even brighter future.  No one will dispute that the greatest promise for vitality comes from active involvement of our youth.  Our children offer the infectious enthusiasm and the naches that are the hallmark of a thriving Jewish community.  This reality was powerfully evident at our Simchat Torah celebration, which, on a weeknight, brought out a large number of members and prospective members, for a delightful evening of very spirited singing, dancing, and celebrating.  That night, I felt that everyone in attendance celebrated as a child.  We recaptured a ruach (spirit) that exists within all of us and is waiting for the right time to burst forth.  I believe that this “right time” can be much more common than we usually think.  We saw a similar energy on Friday night, November 11, when we invited our friends from Atid to come and lead the service with me.  We had a superb turnout (over 50% of the school’s population, according to Principal Eda Segal), restoring a vigor to our Shabbat evening service that I would very much like to see continue.

In the coming months, we will continue not only to have our wonderful First Fridays in congregants’ homes (see the calendar for details), but we will also be having Friday night services at the synagogue that highlight our youth.  On December 16, our service will be led by our religious school students and USY members, and we look forward to welcoming back Atid in the future.  We plan to experiment with other ways of attracting more people and creating the most meaningful and attractive Friday night experience possible.  If you wish to be a part of that effort or have ideas or requests for our services, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Of course, not everything we do revolves around our youth.  There is a place for sophisticated, intellectual pursuit of Torah, and such study is occurring now on a weekly basis, following our Saturday kiddush lunch.  From about 1pm – 2pm, many congregants are gathering around a table and tackling ideas from provocative essays found in the Etz Hayim Torah Commentary, published by the Conservative Movement.  Our learning has been lively and inspiring, with everyone getting a chance to share thoughts and perspectives. 

Another way to create a more meaningful community is through more active sharing of both our simchas and our remembrances.  If you are coming to synagogue to say kaddish for a yahrtzeit, it is also appropriate for you to have an aliyah to the Torah in memory of your loved one.  If something joyful has occurred in your life that you wish to celebrate, this, too, is cause for an aliyah.  Finally, the anniversary of your bar/bat mitzvah celebration is a chance, at the very least, to have an aliyah – and even better, to chant some Torah or your Haftarah.  I will be giving worshippers the opportunity to share these personal items so that we can honor you appropriately.  Everyone should know that if you ever wish to lead any part of our service, all you need to do is ask.  Also, if you would ever consider sponsoring the Saturday kiddush or Friday night oneg for celebration or remembrance, this would be a fitting way to mark the occasion and very helpful to our community.

Another addition to our Friday night service is going to be a focus on a particular prayer from the siddur, which I will also highlight in this column.  In Ahavat Olam, we find five core verbs:  We say that God has loved us and taught us Torah; we, then, will discuss, rejoice, and meditate upon those teachings day and night.  It is worth reflecting upon these actions as the core behaviors of our lives as Jews.  I am eager to continue working with you all in building a loving and joyful center of learning, in which we can share with one another our encounter with Torah and also be able to reflect inwardly on these precious gifts of our tradition and their role in our lives.