Rabbi's Message

Wow!  What a special Yom Kippur and High Holy Day Season at TBS!  I hope you are feeling spiritually and now physically satiated (after hopefully a delicious bagel, or the like, last night) today.  Yom Kippur is certainly the holiest day of the year, but as I shared yesterday, in many ways, the most important part of Yom Kippur is not what happens during the 25 hours we spend in prayer, it’s what happens the day after, today.

Judaism teaches that the purpose of teshuvah, repentance, is not just to be forgiven, but to be transformed. And transformation only becomes real when it leads to action. That means the real test of Yom Kippur isn’t how fervently we prayed or how well we fasted. The real test is how we live in the days, weeks, and months to come.

In the book of Jonah, which we read yesterday afternoon, the people of Nineveh repent, and God forgives them. But the story doesn’t end with their fast — it ends with the question of whether Jonah, and we, truly understand God’s compassion. In that spirit, today is our opportunity to put compassion into practice — to live the values we affirmed in the sanctuary and the tent.

Will we be a little more patient with others? A little more mindful in our words? A little more grateful for the blessings in our lives?

Gratitude.  

Gratitude for a clean slate. Gratitude for another year of life, of growth, of possibility. Gratitude those who stood beside us in prayer. Gratitude for the people in our lives. 

Speaking of such, on behalf of the TBS clergy, a heartfelt thank you to EVERYONE who helped to make our TBS High Holy Day services happen and run so smoothly.  Thank you to our daveners, Torah readers, Haftarah readers, shofar blowers, singers, including our choir, Makhelat Bet Sholom, and its director, Rob Ross, and our many volunteers and ushers. Thank you to our President, Jill Hammel, and the leadership of TBS. Thank you to JFED security, to Steve Borenstein for his AV work, to our High Holy Day Ritual Committee: Mike Greenspun, Ally Pollack, Alvin Stern, Robin Kaufman, and Jo-Ann Sutkin, to our Honors Selection Committee: the aforementioned Ritual Committee plus Amy Spiegel, Jonathan Boiskin, and Deb Sukinik, and to our Ushering Committee: Howie Sukinik, Jeff Brenner, Adam Pollack, Nuri Boardman, and David Bannett.  Thank you to our Maintenance Staff: Steve Magowen, Joe Stewart, and Sonia Lopez.  Thank you to our Education and Engagement Staff: Alex Weinberg, Harriet Baker, Michele Hasit Waxman, John Imhof, Zoe Arking, Lee Senderowitsch, Tama-Rose Bazzle, Amanda Kaufman, Karen Malmud, and Minna Siegel.  And finally, thank you to our Executive Director, Ron Safier, and our Office Staff: Susan Aaronson, Laura Padersky, Allison Borenstein, Michelle Shmuts, Lori Clark, Patty Trichon, and Michael Bush.  It takes a village.  And we are most certainly blessed with the best.

Now we turn to the gift of Shabbat followed a few days after by the holiday of Sukkot. We very quickly move from confession to construction. From fasting to feasting. From inner work to outward celebration.

The shift reminds us: the work of the spirit continues in our daily choices. And gratitude is the bridge that carries the spiritual heights of Yom Kippur into the everyday holiness of ordinary life.

So today, the day after, say thank you — to God, to someone you love, even to yourself.  Then take one small step to make this new year a little kinder, a little more just, a little more sacred.

Shabbat Shalom.