A Rosh Hashanah Message from Rabbi Yoel Kahn Dear Beth El Members and Friends: L’shanah tovah! As we prepare for Rosh Hashanah this weekend, the first day of the New Year 5770 on the Jewish calendar, I want to wish you and your family a meaningful holiday and a sweet New Year, share a teaching about the holiday season, and update you about some of what to look forward to at Beth El this Fall. In classical Jewish imagery, Rosh Hashanah and the High Holy day season are a time of repentance, reflection and judgment. Each person is challenged to consider her/his intentions and actions in the prior year, to ask forgiveness for transgressions, and to resolve to turn in teshuvah --renewed awareness and purpose. The fate of the world and of each individual is determined and inscribed in the Book of Life. Much as I love the music, language and metaphoric imagery of the High Holy day season, there are also parts that sometimes make me uncomfortable. In particular, I resist the historical liturgy’s focus on a vertical axis in which God above looms large over frail humanity below. I find comfort fortunately, as I often do, within the Jewish tradition itself. The Hebrew month preceding Rosh Hashanah is called Elul. The rabbis of old explained that “ELUL” is an acronym for the first letters of the four words in the famous verse from the Song of Songs 6:3: “Ani l’dodi v’dodi li —I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” The month of Elul, the rabbis taught, is a period of preparation and concentration, in which we imagine the Holy One as a beloved who is reaching out to us and we, in turn, reach toward God, preparing to draw closer and enter into deeper relationship through the High Holy days. This powerful image invites us to see ourselves as partners with God in the sacred work of our lives. Martin Buber teaches that the route to true meeting with God is always found through a dialogue of depth and integrity with others. During this season, our turning in awareness and attention to those who are most beloved to us is a primary path to realizing the holiness at the heart of this sacred season. As we conclude Elul, I pray that this season is indeed a time of renewed closeness and connection. Through the course of these High Holidays, we have sought to create a series of sacred gatherings which are faithful to our traditions and will help you and your family find meaning, inspiration and renewal. For the second year, our services will use Mahzor Ha-Makom, the High Holiday prayer book created especially for Beth El. (In a recent article, I wrote about what motivated this book’s combination of faithfulness to the historical prayers and modern poetry and text). I also will speak about my wrestling with some of the historical imagery of the High Holiday tradition on Kol Nidre evening. In addition to evening and morning services, we will gather for our annual Tashlich service at 4:30 pm on Saturday afternoon in Live Oak Park (families with school-age children are encouraged to attend the Family Service at 3:00 pm which will end up at Tashlich). Following Tashlich, please stay for the bring-your-own picnic supper. Because Rosh Hashanah falls on a weekend, we have expanded our Rosh Hashanah programming on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, Sunday, September 20. In addition to a complete second day service, beginning in the sanctuary at 10:15, please consider joining us at one or more of these High Holiday programs: • 8:30 am (promptly) The First Annual “Rosh Ride”: Hear the Shofar and then take a spin around Berkeley. • 1:00 pm Torah and Trees: A family-friendly Rosh Hashanah Hike with tree scientist Susan Frankel • 3:30 pm Torah Study: I will lead a session exploring texts on social justice and the Jewish tradition • 4:30 pm Beth El’s monthly homeless meal needs volunteers; to volunteer for this or future meals, please click here. We will gather again on Yom Kippur, beginning on Sunday evening, September 29th. On Yom Kippur afternoon, a variety of discussion and study sessions and other programs will enhance our observances. The Yizkor memorial service will be preceded by a Yizkor Circle, an opportunity to speak about loss, grief and healing, facilitated by Diane Gerstler and Peggy Kostick. Yom Kippur concludes with the Neilah service (bring your shofar for the final tekiah gedolah!) and a communal breakfast. Perhaps in response to the solemnity and fasting of Yom Kippur, our calendar promptly turns to joy and the pleasures of the senses at Sukkot, which begins on Friday evening, October 2. We invite you to eat a meal in the Beth El Sukkah during the week-long celebration of the harvest. In addition to a pot-luck and service on Friday evening and our annual Secret Sukkah tour on Sunday, October 4, each evening during the week of Sukkot will be “hosted” by a different Beth El constituency. We invite you to come, as an individual or as a family, and eat your dinner with others in the Beth El Sukkah. In honor of Sukkot’s themes of wandering, shelter and hospitality, our Social Action Committee is hosting an Immigration Teach-in on Wednesday, October 7th. The High Holy day season concludes with Simchat Torah on Friday, October 9th. On Simchat Torah, we finish reading the Torah and start right at the very beginning again…as well as dance to a live Klezmer band, welcome our newest students and come together for a pot-luck dinner. In an effort to expand our exploration of Jewish spirituality and practice, Rabbi Margie Jacobs will be leading Everyday Teshuvah: Jewish Meditation for Daily Living on Wednesday evenings, starting on October 14th. Join Rabbi Jacobs to learn about and practice meditation techniques to cultivate the patience, attention, and compassion that make teshuvah possible, not only once a year but every day. For those new to learning about or living Judaism, Rabbi Ruth Adar will lead a year-long class, “An Introduction to the Jewish Experience.” Part I: God & the Jewish Lifecycle. In partnership with Lehrhaus Judaica, Beth El will be offering a variety of adult Hebrew classes this Fall. I will be teaching a class on “Preparing a D’var Torah (Torah lesson)” for Torah study leaders, adult b’nai mitzvah students and anyone else interested! Please visit our website periodically for more details on these and other upcoming programs. This year is the 5770th of the Jewish calendar…the 66th year of High Holy day services at Beth El…my 25th year as a rabbi…and my third year at Beth El. Each year, I am struck by how far I have moved or changed and how many of the same issues and concerns that I was wrestling with last year are still with me. Jewish time, it seems to me, moves in a spiral—forward in history, and revisiting and reenacting the sacred stories of our past. The movement of teshuvah encompasses both turning and returning. In the Mishnah, the 2nd century core compilation of Jewish texts we read,” For transgressions between a person and the Omnipresent, the Day of Atonement atones. For transgressions between one person and another, the Day of Atonement atones, only if the injured party forgives the other.” The Jewish tradition takes forgiveness and reconciliation very seriously, and accordingly frowns upon group and blanket apologies and requests for forgivness (like the one I was about to type!). In the spirit of our tradition, I will instead ask, if I or Beth El has caused you offense or pain, please you will be in touch with me so that we can have the opportunity to seek to do teshuvah and begin this New Year as whole and healed as we can be. President Joanne Backman and Beth El’s volunteer leadership, Executive Director Norm Frankel, Director of Education Debra Sagan Massey, Rabbinic Intern Reuben Zellman, Rabbi Emeritus Ferenc Raj, and our Beth El staff, join me in wishing you and everyone you love a sweet New Year. L’shanah tovah – Rabbi Yoel Kahn |
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