Beloved Friends,

Today we will enter the second Shabbat of Elul. The High Holy Days are fast approaching, and we are planning for beautiful, meaningful, and enriching worship experiences. Worship will be offered in person in the Schreibman Sanctuary as well as in a large tent in our south parking lot. Each of these will also be offered digitally via YouTube.

As I shared last week, this year we are focusing on the High Holy Day poem Unetaneh Tokef. This poem most often evokes a strong response to its dire message of life and death hanging in the balance for us on these Days of Awe. As we engage in our own spiritual preparations, I share with you a commentary on Unetaneh Tokef by Rabbi Brent Chaim Spodek and Ruth Messinger riffing on a teaching of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev, “Adonai is your tzeil (shadow) at your right hand” – as the shadow follows a person, so it is with the divine:

Just as the shadow of a person does whatever that person does, so, too, does the divine do what we do. Divinity is the shadow of human action. If we save a human life, so too does God. If we decide to end a human life, God does also. At some level, the utter transcendent divinity is right at hand, for the divinity we hope to worship is a shadow of ourselves, our best parts and our worst. If you want to see God save the innocent, you need to get off the couch and save the innocent. If you want God to feed the hungry, you need to feed the hungry. If you want to see God stand by while the innocent suffer, all you need to do is stand by and do nothing yourself.

Here is what you and we need to know for this High Holy Day season of 5784:

  • To view our multi-access worship schedule with details about time and setting, click here.
  • To register your guests for the High Holy Days, click here.
  • While the deadline for our printed Greetings and Remembrances book has passed, you may still share a greeting or remember loved one in our digital book by completing this form: click here.
  • To send us Yizkor photos, if you did not do so previously, click here.
  • To complete your membership renewal, click here.
  • Pick up for Name Badges, Greetings and Remembrance Book, and High Holy Day care packages begins Wednesday, August 30th during normal office hours. If you are unable to pick up, please contact our Executive Director, Danny Glassman.

In this New Year let our words and our deeds reflect the best that is in us, finding the divine as the shadow “at our right hand.”

Cathy, Jacob and Elana, Eli, Anna, and Hope join me in wishing you and your dear families Shabbat Shalom and Shanah Tovah,

Rabbi Paul F. Cohen, D.Min., D.D.