~ HIGH HOLY DAYS 5786 ~
Sunday, Sept 21, 11:00 AM
Cemetery Memorial Service
Monday, Sept 22, 7:30 PM
Erev Rosh Hashanah Service
Tuesday, Sept 23, 10:00 AM
Rosh Hashanah Morning Service
Followed by Tashlikh Service and Lunch (?) at Temple
Wednesday, Oct 1, 7:30 PM
Kol Nidre Service
Thursday, Oct 2
10:00 AM - Morning Service
1:00 PM - Afternoon Program/Discussion
3:30 PM - Afternoon Service
5:00 PM - Yizkor Memorial Service
5:30 PM - Ne’ilah/Havdalah
A MEDITATION IN PREPARATION FOR THE NEW YEAR
Avinu Malkeinu/Our Father, our King--
It is said that the hardest part of living is dealing with the people we encounter during our journey. So, I pray to you: help me face those I meet without resentment or disappointment. Help me to see the pain behind their actions, rather than malice; their suffering rather than my anger.
And in myself: as I struggle with my biggest enemy - me - give me the strength to quiet my racing heart, strength to quicken my empathy to act in gratitude rather than need.
Help me to remember that each time I close my heart to another, I add to the darkness that is engulfing the world.
Therefore, help me always to lead with kindness.
HIGH HOLY DAYS HONORS
It has always been the custom at Temple Sholom to honor members of the congregation by inviting you to participate during the services. Invitations will again be sent by email; please respond to the office if you are unable to attend.
CEMETERY MEMORIAL SERVICE
It is a meaningful Jewish tradition to visit the graves of dear ones during the High Holy Days. You are invited to attend this brief Memorial service on Sunday, September 21 beginning at 11:00 a.m. in the Reform Jewish cemetery section of Ferncliff Cemetery.
ROSH HASHANAH EVE ONEG
The traditional apples and honey, as well as cookies and coffee, will be served during the kiddush after the service on September 22. We hope you will join us for this service which begins at 7:30 PM and celebrate the sweetness of the new year.
TASHLIKH ''THROW'' AND LUNCH
Please join us for the ancient Rosh Hashanah ritual of Tashlikh after the Rosh Hashanah Morning Service that begins at 10:00 AM on September 23. Gather at Reid Park (across from the entrance to the Dam) and bring your bread. Rabbi Kozberg will lead in symbolically ridding ourselves of our shortcomings by throwing breadcrumbs in the water. We will then meet back at the Temple for a festive holiday (dairy) lunch.
SHABBAT SHUVAH...
Please join us on Friday, September 26 at Temple Sholom when we will gather for our Shabbat Shuvah service beginning at 6:00 p.m. and led by Rabbi Kozberg. You are then invited to remain and enjoy an oneg in fellowship with our Temple community and friends.
YOM KIPPUR HUNGER PROJECT
Please bring your grocery bags filled with non-perishable foods for donating to the Second Harvest Food Bank. A table will be set up just inside the social hall for your donations.
YOM KIPPUR BREAK-THE-FAST
Following Ne'ilah/Havdalah on Yom Kippur, Thursday, October 2, the Social Committee and Temple are sponsoring Break-the-Fast. Main dishes and bagels will be served. We ask that each of you bring a kugel to share. This is a wonderful way to end the High Holy Days among friends and family.
SUKKOT...
Join us at Temple on Sunday, October 5 at 1:00 p.m. and help decorate the Sukkah. Then, on Friday, October 10, we will celebrate with the Evening service and dinner in the Sukkah.
TODAH RABBAH... Thank You to
-Everyone who helped haul away the debris and clean up the patio and back area of the Temple in preparation for celebrating Sukkot
DEAR CONGREGANTS,
This coming High Holiday season, we have the opportunity to hear the spiritual journey stories of two remarkable individuals from Hudson, Ohio - a couple both from Hispanic backgrounds - who converted to Judaism and are committed to perpetuating our faith and tradition.
The High Holidays are a time for reconnecting to, and being reinspired by, our faith and our tradition; and the story of the Padillas, Jaime (pronounced HYmee) and Sofia, - why and how they decided to drastically change their lives - promises to help us do just that. ***They will be speaking either on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur morning.***
Coming from out-of-town, they will be staying in Springfield overnight. In the spirit of making donations specifically at the High Holiday season AND in order to help the Temple, we're requesting contributions (however modest) to help offset the cost of their travel expenses (hotel, gas, etc). Please make checks out to Temple Sholom and write ''Padilla travel expenses'' on the memo line.
-Many thanks!! Rabbi K
~ RABBI'S CORNER ~
WHEN WORD JUMBLES BECKON…
The USA Today website defines a ''word jumble'' as a captivating word game that sparks the interest of players worldwide. The objective is clear: create words by rearranging a set of scrambled letters...offering a mix of skill and fun.
But when it comes to the Hebrew alphabet, rearranging the letters sometimes not only offers ''a mix of skill and fun,'' but also yields a worthwhile lesson or two (Not surprising when one remembers that legend tells us G-d used the aleph-bet to create the world itself!).
As we prepare for the New Year 5786, the jumble-lessons shared here are offered with the hope that they will add to this season of preparation and renewal and help make it more meaningful (Note: if what follows is a bit difficult to understand, please feel free to ask for any assistance.):
I. The fast day of Tisha B'Av is the last holiday on the Jewish calendar and precedes Rosh Hashanah by about seven weeks. The day commemorates the catastrophes that befell our people and when it's over, rabbis begin to prepare in earnest for the High Holidays. Tisha B'Av is marked by sorrowful remembering, while remembering on Rosh Hashanah is part and parcel of a hopeful anticipation. The former focuses on the sorrowful past; the latter on remembering the past in order to plan for a better new year.
But it's not just the focus on remembering that Tisha B'Av and Rosh Hashanah share. They also share a connection to the Hebrew letters: reading them right to left: aleph, yud, khaf, bet.
On Tisha B'Av, the biblical book of Lamentations is read. It begins with the word eikha--How: ''HOW the city that overflowed with people sits alone (referring to Jerusalem)''. Remembering the numerous tragedies that our people have experienced (especially the Holocaust AND October 7), a question often asked on Tisha B'Av is:
Eikha?!--HOW did this all happen?! HOW did we get here? We look for reasons and causes; and, seeking reasons, we often point fingers in the need to blame others.
But the letters aleph, yud, khaf, hey, --also spell the word ayeka, meaning ''Where are YOU?'' Ayeka? is the question G-d called out to Adam after Eve when they tried to hide after eating the forbidden fruit. Indeed, it is a question that continues to reverberate and echo through the millennia. Certainly, at this season when we Jews are encouraged to take stock of our lives, it is a question that has special meaning for each of us:
Where are you? What is YOUR role in how we got to where we are? Are you hiding from responsibility? On what are you focused: on HOW the world got to be the way it is, or on HOW to help to fix it?
Which brings us to jumble lesson #2:
II. According to Jewish Tradition the year that begins this coming Rosh Hashanah is, the year 5786. As is known, each of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet has a numerical value. Thus, 5786 is rendered, read right to left: taf -400, shin-300, ayin -80, vav-6. (The ''5000'' in 5786 is implied).
Rearrange the letters one way and you get the word ta'asu, ''you will do.'' Rearrange them another way and you get the word sha'ot, ''hours''.
Lesson: As we begin a new year, our world still needs ''a lot of fixin.'' But rather than dwell on ''HOW did we get here?'' - which only deflects our focus and seduces us to blame outside forces and therefore hide from our own responsibility - let us heed the imperative of the rearranged letters that beckons us: ta'asu, YOU WILL DO!
And...because the need continues to be imminent, let us also be aware that the number of sha'ot/hours available to each of us to make a difference in the world is unknown. Our time is limited and therefore not to be squandered. As our Sages teach: ''The day is short, the task is great…and the Master is urgent.'' (Pirke Avot 2: 20)
As we hope and pray for a new year of health, happiness and fulfillment, may 5786 be a year when we take to heart such lessons - even those gleaned from the simple jumbling of words and letters. And should life challenges come our way, may such lessons be useful resources in helping us to unjumble whatever chaos and confusion may accompany those challenges.
In this spirit, Sheryl and I wish each and every one of you an unjumbled year of blessing, joy, and peace.
-Rabbi Cary Kozberg
~ CONTRIBUTIONS ~
DIAMOND
-In honor of the yahrzeits for Evelyn Ennis, Theresa Ennis, and Shereen Willens from Barbara Willens
RABBI'S DISCRETIONARY FUND
-A donation to the Temple from Leslie Buerki
SHARON LEE BROOCK FLOWER FUND
-Happy Birthday to Laurie Leventhal from Cathy Bell; Nancy McGregor
~ YAHRZEIT LIST ~
SEPT 5: David Krauss (grandfather), Minnie Weixelbaum, Louis Feinstein, Aaron Isaac Gordon, Alfred Stein, Paul Lewis Stein, Henry G. Stern, Morton J. Weiss (father of Brian Weiss), Moshe Zohar (brother of Itzca Zohar)
SEPT 12: Maurice K. Baach, Sol Dagan, Rabbi C. Melvyn Helfgott, Dora Klein, Lena Reich, Lina Goland Schiff, Julius Singer, Pearl Weinbach, Dan Rich Margolis, Dora Salzer, Caleb Alan Armbrecht, Louis Dollin, Howard Heller
SEPT 26: Fannie Neyer Leventhal, Dr. Robert M. Tannenbaum, Alma L. Weixelbaum, Sheldon Leventhal (brother of Ed Leventhal), Ari Leviatan
OCT 3: Ida Reva Block, Jane L. Ensten, Walter B. Kleeman Sr, Hyman E. Levy, Alan Feinstein (husband of Nancy Feinstein), Max Levitan, Ruth Miller, Seymour Miller, Lester Stein (father of Leslie Buerki)