Kol Nidrei Address by Chairman of the Board Mark First
Mark First, Chairman of the Board
September 24, 2023 ~ 10 Tishrei 5784
Last Shabbat our clergy called for peace and harmony in these times of increasing terror attacks across the world. We stand in solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters. Shared experiences bring empathy.
We hope this excerpt from Rabbi Cosgrove's sermon and a duet from Cantor Schwartz and Cantor Brook singing Oseh Shalom calling for peace brings you comfort.
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Each one of us and all of us together live every day with . . . the gap between the world as it is and as it ought to be. . . . This world of ours does not lack for shortcomings, some caused by others, some self-inflicted, and some acts of God or nature. To be human is to contend with the defects of our world and existence.
Laughter is but one of many human responses to the gap between the world as it is and the world that we believe God intended to create. . . . Laughter, tears, prayer, anger, beauty, and others – all very different responses to the shared human attempt to come to terms with the gap between good and bad, between who we are and who we seek to be, between the world as it is and the world as it ought to be.
. . . I was hoping, in honor of the [Purim] season, to give a lighthearted sermon on what makes funny – funny. But then the week turned dark, and we were reminded once again of the hatreds that plague our world, of the persistence of Amalek, of the violence that seems to have become normalized in our world, and of the thin thread upon which all of our lives hang. Most of all, I thought of those fifty souls who, while saying their Friday prayers in the New Zealand mosque, had their lives ripped away by a murderous act. I felt and feel, as I am sure do you, the tears and the anger and need for prayer brought about by the absurd gap between the world as it is and the world as it ought to be. . . .
As caring human beings, as people of faith who treasure our own houses of worship, our hearts are broken at the pain and suffering of last week. We are angry, we are tearful, and we are filled with prayers for lives lost, souls in pain, and for this broken world in such desperate need of repair. We are far from the shallow now. But let’s not forget that we also need a good laugh. We also need a good joke, and we also need a fun song that brings a smile to our face and reminds us of the beauty in this world. Maybe we will share that drink we all need to help make this ugly world of ours a bit more tolerable. It’s not a lot, but then again, it’s not nothing. It even has a name – Purim – and until the messiah arrives, it will just have to do.
Mark First, Chairman of the Board
September 24, 2023 ~ 10 Tishrei 5784
Chairman of the Board Mark First addresses the congregation on Kol Nidrei
Shanah Tovah!
It’s a privilege to be here with you. Whether you’re back with us physically for the first time in almost two years, or one of the tens of thousands of people with us virtually, we should all feel the collective embrace.