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Maybe what this means is that being in community is more important than ever. Maybe this is just the time when we need to put our personal agendas on hold and come together as community in humility and in prayer. I'm hoping that these upcoming High Holidays will serve that purpose for us individually and collectively.
Meanwhile, let's remember that, even while we may despair about events in Israel and Lebanon and Iraq, we can make life different right here; we can provide messianic moments for one another—and for displaced Israeli and Lebanese families—through our random—or not so random—acts of kindness. What better way is there to prepare for the Days of Awe? Meanwhile please write down and send them in to me, so we can read them aloud and send them heavenward on Rosh Hashanah.
This year we will have more persons
involved in leading our High Holiday prayers than ever before—and isn't this exactly what a congregation like ours should be doing?! Our founders would be so pleased to see that the original "Brattleboro Experiment" envisioned by many of them—an experiment in which we collectively "do" Judaism rather than having it done for us by a rabbi—is thriving so richly.
Additionally we'll have a rich array of sermons, one on Israel by an Israeli, one delivered by our dear Reb Rebecca linking Yom Kippur with the angst of King Lear, one simply titled "Yes or No? What is the Answer," and one, referred to earlier, written by all of us on the subject, "What Happens When We Pray?"
So at a time when hopes are hard to come by, here are mine: That by the time you open your next newsletter, there will be less killing in the Middle East, concrete steps will have been initiated to provide a more permanent peace, our Greenleaf shul will have been dedicated with joy and gratitude, and we will be launched on a New Year and fresh beginnings better bonded than ever.
L'Shana Tova in advance to all of us,
Jim |
