Summary of Rabbi's High Holiday Messages

October 15, 2008

Summary of High Holiday Messages for 5769/2008

There is a pause between Yom Kippur and Sukkot.  A breath that rabbis, cantors, soloists and choirs take.  We look back at what we provided to congregants; reactions gleaned; a sense of their effect and hope that we made a difference for those whom experienced services with us.  Services are not a performance.  Rather they are ways to help you and us to reach towards that holiness which seems closer during the High Holiday season.

We shared a lot.  On Erev Rosh Hashanah, I spoke about our Failure to Use Time Well.  Included in that list of four areas of For the sins of “sinning” including: rushing, multi-tasking, not planning, and for not paying attention to those we love.  Which one are YOU working on now?

On the morning of Rosh Hashanah I spoke about A New Start as follow up to my first  sermon at temple early July.  I suggested that even our name - Reconstructionist - implies active participation in a shared process – “re-construction.”   And Reconstructionist Judaism is no mere passive adjective describing a ‘type’ of Judaism.  Our name says that each of us engages in the reconstruction of Jewish life and tradition to integrate it with the particular lifestyle each of us chooses.   Being authentic Reconstructionist Jews will give us a new start – but that means far MORE than just paying dues.  And I quoted, “The Reconstructionist community is not a body of synagogues and rabbis that others merely support.  It is rather a COMMUNITY in the full sense of the term, it’s a COMMUNITY in which no one’s duty may be done vicariously by others.  You’ve got to get into the game and have “skin” in the game.

At Kol Nidrei I spoke about the Netaneh Tokef and the “severity of the decree” as the prayer explains.  While it’s difficult to believe that participating in tefilah (prayer), teshuvah (repentance) and tzedakah (charity) will help to AVERT the severe decree (it won’t), engaging in them will help the severity OF the decree to pass easier.

Finally on Yom Kippur morning, I shared four of God’s questions asked after our death when we appear before the Heavenly tribunal.