Donations of Food
As in past years, we collected two truck-loads of donations of
non-perishable food items for the Brattleboro food pantry to
assist in their efforts to meet significant community need.
Visiting Shut-ins
As has been our tradition, we visited the homes of individuals
who could not get to services. This has been a rich tradition;
at each visit we’ve
done together some portion of the Yom Kippur liturgy. Please
join us next year, if you can. In the meantime, if you'd
like information about visiting home-bound individuals
any time during the year, please email jim@bajcvermont.org
or give us a call.
Abraham and Isaac
This year we were treated, as a Prelude to the Yom
Kippur Neilah Service, to something very special indeed:
a musical performance of Benjamin Britten’s Canticle
II: Abraham and Isaac for Alto, Tenor and Piano. The Akedah story
about Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son Isaac has
traditionally been an important part of High Holiday observance
and is the Torah reading for the second day of Rosh Hashanah.
Britten’s music, a moving depiction of the story,
was offered by our own Phyllis Isaacson together with
alto Cathy Hess and tenor Walter Cramer. We are enormously
grateful to Phyllis, Cathy and Walter for this wonderful
gift.
High Holiday Choir
Once again, our High Holiday choir was actively involved
in our services. Please contact Jim (jim@bajcvermont.org)
for information about joining the choir or for copies
of the music.
High Holiday Sermons
This year Faith offered the Rosh Hashanah morning sermon
on the subject of the building of community and the building
of our new home. On Yom Kippur morning, Moss and Elizabeth
spoke with us about the extraordinary experience
of deciding on and then going through the brain surgery
operation of their daughter Elkanah.
Jim offered the sermons at the evening services. On Erev
Rosh Hashanah the sermon considered
Shabbat: Not
Because We Have To. On
Kol Nidre, the sermon was on the subject of Jews
in the world today.
High Holiday Seating
We succeeded with something a little new this year, in order
to make the services a little more comfortable and smooth.
The first few rows of chairs on the
right wing of the sanctuary (as you face the bimah) were
saved for members of the choir and their families. The
space to the left of the bimah, near the swinging door
to the kitchen, was available for families with babies
and young children, as this location is convenient for
swift, unobtrusive exits when needed. Finally, we were
blessed and honored this year to have a number of our senior
members participating in aliyot. The first row in the center
of the sanctuary was available for these members.
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