Sukkot is a holiday with many mitzvot, shaking the lulav and etrog and building a sukkah are easily the most prominent. Yet, my favorite mitzvah on Sukkot is the commandment to be joyful. Yes, on Sukkot, we are commanded to be joyful! However, this joy is not like Chanukah, Purim, or Pesach. Typically, Jewish holidays that emphasize joy also emphasize drinking, but not so in the case of Sukkot. Our sages teach us that Sukkot is different. Our joy on Sukkot should not come from wine or any kind of alcohol. Instead, our joy should come from service to God. One interpretation of how we serve God best on Sukkot is to welcome guests into our Sukkah. At Temple Emanu-El, we take this commandment to welcome guests seriously. Earlier this week, thirty Temple Emanu-El members celebrated Sukkot with dozens of members from the Istanbul Cultural Center in Alpharetta and St. Luke's Presbyterian in Dunwoody. In the spirit of the holiday, we celebrated outdoors by the sukkah, ate a harvest-themed … [Read more...]
It’s Time We Start Again!
Sukkot is almost here and Simchat Torah is right around the corner. This Friday night (09/29) we're going to bring in the first night of Sukkot and Shabbat. Then, on Friday, October 6th, we're having a BIG Simchat Torah celebration and a congregation-wide Friday with Friends dinner. We will unroll the entire Torah scroll in the sanctuary and consecrate our youngest learners' Jewish journeys as they formally begin their Jewish education. If you've never been, it is a sight to see and an energy to feel. Click here to register for dinner at 5:45 p.m. and services at 6:30 p.m. For those who attended Yizkor at Yom Kippur: Saturday, October 7th, is another time in our Jewish calendar to hold Yizkor services. I know many of you will say, "Didn't I just do a Yizkor service at Yom Kippur?" The answer is yes, AND, this is another time to remember your loved ones (brief service at 8:30am). Following the Yizkor service there will be a unique Torah study at 9:00am. While typically offered … [Read more...]
Open the Gates!
We are now in the midst of the yamin noraim/ the Days of Awe, those ten days that begin with Rosh HaShanah and end with Yom Kippur. Our Sages describe Yom Kippur as a 'doorway', an existential threshold from which we can pause, look back, gaze forward, and fortify ourselves for what is to come. Judaism has always held doorways as places of vulnerability because they are liminal, the space between here and there. This is why Jews in ancient Babylonia buried bowls of water underneath their doorways, and Jews of ancient Egypt put lamb's blood above their gates, to keep their spiritual thresholds strong, and misfortune from entering their homes. It is why we Jews today put a mezuzah on our doorposts, with prayers inside that contain the letters for the Divine name of Shaddai, an acronym for Shomeir delatot Yisrael- Guardian of the doorways of Israel.[i] Doorways are symbolic markers between boundaries. Yom Kippur is the gate that separates who we were last year from who we can be in the … [Read more...]
A New Year’s Resolution to ‘Do Good’
Dear Beloved Temple Emanu-El, Tomorrow night begins Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year, and the start of our High Holidays. The year will be 5784, which means that we Jews have been here for a VERY long time. Whether you believe it or not, we have been telling ourselves that God has tapped us to be God's partner, in order to take the world from where it is, to where it ought to be from darkness to light, from brokenness to wholeness, from injustice to justice. This is known as tikkun olam, and it is part of the Jewish raison d'etra. When we talk about the 'meaning of life', THIS is part of the Jewish conversation. Tikkun Olam is part of 'why' we are here. Towards this goal, every Jewish generation is supposed to do its part. And every individual Jew is supposed to do their part to move the proverbial needle. This does not mean that other peoples cannot do this work… please (!) there is so much to do; but it does reflect our mission, the one that we believe (and have believed … [Read more...]
Something Worth Doing
Ok! I'm going to invite you to something incredibly cool, and meaningful, that we are trying out here at Temple Emanu-El. Saturday night, September 9th, we are going to have our S'lichot service outside, under the stars. S'lichot is what I call 'the soft opening' for the High Holidays and is meant to put us in a certain headspace a few days before Rosh HaShanah. Your rabbis have spent considerable time finding poetry[i] from contemporary poets to weave between the beautiful traditional prayers that are sung as we prepare for the High Holidays. We will include the age-old custom of changing our Torah covers to their white mantels, representing purity and the wish that through our 'internal wrestling', our slate will be once again clean (white as snow" -Isaiah 1:18) And… we will introduce a 'new custom', one that involves fire! As part of our (short) service, you will have the chance to write down your regrets from this past year (what you would like to change about yourself, … [Read more...]
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