This Shabbat we take a deep breath following the grandeur of the High Holidays and celebrate a day of rest before the Fall holiday season concludes with Sukkot. Our service is on ZOOM and begins at 6:00 p.m. Our Hebrew College Rabbinic Intern Lisa Feld will lead the davening and offer a D’var Torah.
Join us for candle lighting, blessing one another, kiddush, motzei and invoking an angel to bless us during the week ahead.
Our Friday night services are on Zoom and begin at 6:00 PM. Zoom Link Meeting Id: 978 470 037 Passcode: 183618
Shabbat Morning: Parshat Haazinu – Moses’ farewell song
Services will be on ZOOM and begin at 10:00 a.m.. Cantor Grossman will be with our children at Religious School in the Synagogue, and Marc Silver and I will lead the service on ZOOM, starting at 10:00 a.m.. We begin with checking in around 9:50 and services end around 11:30 with kiddush and motzei and a chance to wish each other a Shabbat Shalom!
As we approach the final portions of our annual reading of the Five Books of Moses (Torah) it is time to reflect on Moses’ life and legacy. We are told that Moses lived to the ripe old age of 120, a number symbolizing wholeness and completion (12 being the number of months of the year and the zodiac signs, a frequent symbol in ancient synagogues). While Moses dies on the far side of the Jordan River his life is whole, his legacy secure. When Moses passes on leadership to Joshua it reminds us all that life is a relay race. We pick up the baton of those who came before us and pass it on to the next generation.
As Rabbi Tarfon says in Pirkei Avot (Sayings of the Sages 2:21): It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task, but neither are you free to desist from it.
If you want to follow the service in the siddur from home, please arrange with the office to borrow a prayer book and humash, purchase a set on line, or download the siddur PDFs, availabe by clicking here.
Zoom Link Meeting Id: 865 3190 1552 Passcode: 183618
Sukkot
Next week, we begin the holiday of Sukkot. Eve of the festival services on Monday and Tuesday nights are at 6:00 p.m. on ZOOM and replace our usual 7:30 p.m. weeknight service. Services on the first morning of the holiday are HYBRID and on the second day are on ZOOM. We will take up the lulav and ethrog, and those in person will have a light kiddush in the synagogue Sukkah (which will be decorated this Sunday, join us). Sukkot is the culmination of the season of repentance that began in August. We have done the work of Teshuvah, now we prepare to bless the New Year as a year of prosperity and health. Shabbat shalom and early wishes for a Hag Sameach.
