Although this year we won't see each other in person, we are in this together. So reach out to a neighbor. Send flowers to someone you love. Have fresh baked challah delivered to a friend or family member. Use the resources below to help us stay connected, even while we're apart.
Roses for Rosh Hashanah
Make Someone's Day
Through Mon / Sep 14 / 3:00 pm
The Men's Club is once again pleased to encourage you to surprise a friend, honor a family member, or treat yourself by ordering roses for Rosh Hashanah. Roses may be delivered to anywhere in Manhattan.
Order Your Roses Today!
Challah for the Holidays
Women's Network Challah Sale
Through Fri / Sep 4 / 12:00 pm
Prepare for the holidays and do a yummy mitzvah! Choose between plain, poppy, raisin, and whole-wheat challahs from the local William Greenberg Desserts. A portion of the proceeds from your purchase will go toward Project Prom.
Elul Kavanot
Rabbi Witkovsky: Together in Teshuvah
August 21, 2020/1 Elul 5780
Elul is the month to begin practicing teshuvah, repentance for misdeeds. We know that there are two kinds of misdeeds, and thus two directions for our teshuvah. For sins we have committed against no human but against our religion, our morality, our physical environment, and ourselves we must ask God for forgiveness. For sins we have committed against our fellow humans, we must make amends with those individuals we have wronged.
I have been of the opinion that asking another person for forgiveness was about making things up to them. They were the wronged party and therefore only they know how to make restitution. Or perhaps the need to address the person you have wronged is meant to be punitive: It is much harder to face the person you have wronged, remind them of the wrong, and then ask forgiveness. S.Y. Agnon offers a third option. In his book Days of Awe, he tells a story in the name of Rabbi Hayyim of Zans:
A man had been wandering about in a forest for several days, not knowing which was the right way out. Suddenly he saw a man approaching him. His heart was filled with joy. “Now I shall certainly find out which is the right way,” he thought to himself. When they neared one another, he asked that man, “Brother, tell me which is the right way. I have been wandering about in this forest for several days.” The other said to him, “Brother, I do not know the way out either. For I too have been wandering about here for many, many days. But this I can tell you; do not take the way I have been taking, for that will lead you astray. And now let us look for a new way out together.”
Perhaps the reason that we must apologize directly to those we have wronged is that by making ourselves vulnerable in front of them and admitting our guilt, we can both find a new path out of the woods together.
Rabbinic Intern Viktoria Bedo: To Be Present
August 24, 2020/4 Elul 5780
I turn to this poem in Elul as I look for guidance to achieve the greatest (and hardest) goal this month: to be present. May the sound of the daily shofar help us become “more awake to ordinary moments.”
Presence
by Marcia Falk
We spend much of our waking time overtaken by busy-
ness, overwhelmed by the world roiling around us, pulled
in all directions at once. Yet we are also capable of being
focused, keenly alert and aware – present of mind and
heart.
Such presence may be brought upon us by a source
outside ourselves. We may be stunned into alertness by
a dramatic event – a birth, a death, a grievous loss – or
stirred to it by an encounter with beauty. At times we are
suddenly awakened by something small appearing in our
path – and at once, the world becomes new.
On days when nothing extraordinary seems to happen,
we have a chance to be more awake to ordinary moments.
Being present to the moment brings about a near-
magical transformation, by which ordinary life becomes
extraordinary.
Josh Rosenberg, Cantorial Fellow: Hashiveinu Adonai V'nashuva: We Return
August 25/5 Elul 5780
This moment of the year always calls us to return to the places we call home and the people we love after a summer's rest. But this year more than any other, we return with trepidation. We return to work unsure of how safe our physical workplaces will be. We return to school with little certainty of where and how we'll learn. We return to family members and pray that only love accompanies us into their homes.
Hashiveinu Adonai v'nashuva: return to us, God, and we will return. This year, let us return to love, of ourselves and of one another, regardless of physical space. Call friend; write a letter to family; or grant a gift of time, skills, or resources to show your love for those you don't know.
This song, We Return by Elana Arian and Noah Aronson, calls us to return to love this season. Perhaps with a little more love and connection, we will be able to renew our days as they once were.
Rhonda Sexer-Levy, Bnei Mitzvah Manager: Holiday Sugar Cookies
August 27/7 Elul 5780
I have been making shaped sugar cookies ever since my children were young. It started with Chanukah shapes, as those cookie cutters were easy to find. We would sit around the kitchen table with ramekins full of sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, and colored baking sugar. When they were little, I would find sprinkles on the floor for weeks after the holiday. As they got older, the cookie decorating became more serious, and I would search for holiday-themed supplies.
I found some Rosh Hashanah cookie cutters a few years back. The package included a shofar and a torah. Unfortunately, we can no longer find them. So in a Rosh Hashanah baking panic – my extended family has become used to having these cookies decorating our holiday table – I found an apple cookie cutter and now use that along with the traditional star. I recently bought colored sugar, which I now use to color the apple cookies yellow, green, and red, using black for the stem.
As my children, nieces, and nephews went off to college, I started sending them holiday boxes with the cookies, honey straws, bags of dried apple, and more. The biggest challenge is getting the college boys in the family to pick up their mail and packages! I hope they, too, will keep this tradition when they have their own families.
L'shanah Tovah!
I am including the recipe that I have used for years. I would credit the recipe but I do not know the source. It is handwritten in my recipe binder.
Makes about 60, depending on the size of your cookie cutters.
Rabbi Cosgrove: Better Than Good Oil
August 28/8 Elul 5780
“Tov sheim mi-shemen tov”
“A good name is better than good oil” (Kohelet 7:1)
According to tradition, the most valuable thing in our possession is our name. Wisdom, wealth, and health are not always ours to control, but our deeds – good and bad – reflect on the qualities associated with our reputation. No wonder that Pirkei Avot (4:13) teaches that of all the crowns a person can wear, it is the crown of a good name that exceeds them all.
Just as we must work to protect our good name, so too should we be careful about potential harm to other people’s reputations. Human as it may be to want to gossip (or post on social media) about another person, careless words can lead to irreparable damage to another person’s name.
None of us really had a choice in the names we were given, but all of us have a choice to live in a way that brings credit to the names possess. As the Hebrew Poet Zelda wrote, “Everyone has a name . . . given by parents . . . given by the way one smiles . . . given by neighbors.”
So what is your name? And now ask yourself: What are the attributes you want associated with it in the year ahead?
Cantorial Intern Mira Davis: Listen to the Caged Bird's Song
August 31/11 Elul 5780
Caged Bird
By Maya Angelou
“A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.”
This except from Maya Angelou’s “Caged Bird” is relevant now more than ever. We as a society are grappling with our long-held prejudices, and we as Jews are working to shed our sins and seek forgiveness and change during the month of Elul. Let us all aspire this month to always hear the songs of the caged birds in our world, and to listen to what they are saying.
Ellen Alt, Artist in Residence: Renewal
September 1/12 Elul 5780
I wanted to share this art piece with you. It is called “Renewal,” and I think it speaks to this month of Elul. I see it as a churning mix of microcosm and expansion, just like our current lives. The center is about the constant mix of the everyday actions, encounters, frustrations, and good moments, while the larger picture swirls around, bringing glimpses of the greater perspective. Our holidays provide the necessary, cyclical framework for both centering and vision. Hopefully this piece will provide a visual experience for your personal rejuvenation in preparation for our New Year.
Renewal, 2020, acrylic on Yupo paper, 11” x 14”
Anna Genoese, Development Coordinator: L’dor Va-dor
September 3/13 Elul 5780
When any holiday comes around, I think about my ancestors, but especially during the High Holidays. I think about the wrongs they did me and the wrongs I did them. I forgive them and myself, over and over again, every year, for not being perfect humans. I meditate on the things I was able to learn from my living ancestors and their stories about the ones who passed away before I was born. I try to take at least one day – usually Yom Kippur – to focus on l’dor va-dor, what I can continue to learn from what they’ve taught me, and to appreciate that I am Jewish, that we are Jewish, and that we are all connected.
This picture is four generations of my family together many years ago, and I look at it every year during the High Holidays and remember.
Rabbi Savenor: The Breath of the Shofar
September 4/14 Elul 5780
The kabbalistic tradition holds that every human soul is akin to a shofar, animated by the breath that flows through us. With the proper attention and intention, we have the power to give voice to joy and jubilation as much as pain and suffering.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel writes that the commandments are “like a musical score, and their performance is not a mechanical accomplishment but an artistic act. The music in a score is open only to him who has music in his soul. It is not enough to play the notes; one must be what he plays.”
The month of Elul affords us the opportunity to prepare not just for the Days of Awe, but also for the chance to be a daily source of comfort, change, healing, and inspiration every day of the year. Our words and actions can serve as musical notes creating harmony amidst the cacophony of life’s competing demands. Tekiah!
Rabbi Philp: A Very Narrow Bridge
September 8/19 Elul 5780
As each of us prepares for 5781, we are confronted by the uncertainty of what the new year may bring. Perhaps you, like me, are afraid that it will be a continuation of these past few months: a world brought low by disease, a nation struggling with the legacy of racism, systems of governance stymied by infighting and ignorance. Our reservoirs of compassion and resilience have become drained by the relentless cycle of bad news.
Yet we are called by our tradition to hold on to hope. Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav teaches that the world is a very narrow bridge - one misstep and everything we know will change - yet it is essential that we not give in to fear. Our people have crossed oceans and deserts, survived exile and persecution chasing the promise of a better world. We have walked the long arc of history and understand that it slowly bends towards justice. In our own lives, each of us has overcome heartbreak and loss, challenges and obstacles to reach this very moment. Our hope springs from the understanding that we have traversed this narrow bridge before.
We do not have to journey alone: we walk hand-in-hand with God, with our ancestors, and with each other. I offer these words, beautifully arranged and sung by my colleague Rabbi Yosef Goldman, as a blessing for 5781: As I walk along this very narrow bridge, I will not be afraid knowing You are with me.
Hadley Rolf, Director of Development: A Love of Poetry
September 9/20 Elul 5780
I have a Google Doc that I began in college called “A Love of Poetry.” Every time a poem speaks to me, for whatever reason, I copy it into this precious document, which I visit often. These visits frequently coincide with moments when my own words have failed me, whether due to immense joy, deep pain, or sometimes even complete boredom.
During these months of shelter-in-place, I have bookmarked the page and read through it a few times a week in the way I might have previously visited a friend for a coffee. Below is one that has brought me consistent comfort: “Elegy” by Aracelis Girmay. I hope it brings you peace, as well.
What to do with this knowledge that our living is not guaranteed?
Perhaps one day you touch the young branch
of something beautiful. & it grows & grows
despite your birthdays & death certificate,
& it one day shades the heads of something beautiful
or makes itself useful to the nest. Walk out
of your house, then, believing in this.
Nothing else matters.
All above us is the touching
of strangers & parrots,
some of them human,
some of them not human.
Listen to me. I am telling you
a true thing. This is the only kingdom.
The kingdom of the touching;
the touches of the disappearing, things.
Ross Abelow: A Lesson from My Grandfather
September 10/21 Elul 5780
I was born into a Zionist family. My uncle left school and joined the nascent IDF in 1949. He stayed and fought again in 1956. Unlike some American Jews, who did not immediately warm to the new Jewish state, my grandfather – who left Poland in the 1920s because of constant anti-Semitic violence – was proud that the Jews had a homeland. He visited Israel in the early and mid-1950s, traveling by boat. Israel was something that he talked about often.
He also brought me to synagogue with him – a lot. Indeed, some of my earliest memories are of spending the High Holidays with him at the United Synagogue of Hoboken. In the 1970s, the Jewish community of Hoboken was in the middle of a steady decline, and the pews were maybe half filled, even on Yom Kippur. My grandfather was there when services started, and he often led morning services. When I got bored of sitting in the pews, I would roam the synagogue and often ended up in the balcony. I would sit up there and watch my grandfather daven.
No radio or television was allowed in my grandfather’s house on the High Holidays, so it was with some shock that on Yom Kippur in 1973, I found myself being quickly dragged from prayer by my grandfather and taken to his office, where he put on the radio. I remember how intently he listened to the voice coming through the airwaves. Someone in shul had told him that Israel had been attacked, he explained. In emergencies, he said, we could listen to the radio for news. He then said that we needed to go back to shul and pray for the safety of Israel. So that is what we did, along with millions of other Jews around the world. I have never forgotten that moment on Yom Kippur, when for me, Zionism and Judaism became merged.
Rabbi Zuckerman: Embrace Your Greatness
Abraham Maslow was a psychologist best known for creating Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health culminating in self-actualization. In writing about what holds us back from achieving self-actualization, Maslow speaks about the Jonah Complex, named for the man who was called by God to be a prophet and instead ran away, afraid of what success might look like.
Does this sound familiar? How often do we do the same? As we approach the holidays, we are inspired to overcome our faults, but at the same time, we are afraid to become all that we aspire to be.
It is not an accident that the rabbis chose to read this story on Yom Kippur afternoon, aware of how pervasive the Jonah Complex is in our lives. Explaining this choice of books, Dr. Erica Brown writes:
“And so we read this short book on the afternoon of Yom Kippur as we think about accountability and all that we are trying to escape from. We contemplate an ancient Hebrew prophet who tried to say goodbye and good riddance to greatness and a God who would not let him do so. We stand at attention on this holiest day of the year, with only a few hours remaining, and ask ourselves why we too run from greatness.” (Jonah, page 220–222)
The text calls to us: Don’t be like Jonah. Stop running. Turn around. Embrace your greatness.
Cantor Brook: Be Astonished
September 14/25 Elul 5780
“Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.”
― Mary Oliver
I love this reminder from my favorite poet, especially in the month of Elul. We tend to describe these weeks leading up to Rosh Hashanah as a time to reflect and turn inwards, but we could also embrace this reminder to turn outside of ourselves, look around at our world in all of it’s complexity, and simply pay attention to what we see. Right now, go look outside your window, find what life is taking place, and pay attention to what you see. What astonished you today? I can’t wait to hear about it.
– Cantor Rachel Brook
Liz Offenbach, Associate Executive Director: Reflections on Gratitude
September 16/27 Elul 5780
In January, now a lifetime ago, I brought in the secular new year with a list of monthly goals. Forgoing unwieldy annual resolutions, I challenged myself to engage in specific tasks for the duration of a single month.
My September goal is to keep a gratitude journal. Each day, I jot down a few things for which I am thankful. Working in a synagogue, the weeks before High Holidays can be hectic, so I timed this goal for a month when some extra mindfulness would come in handy.
When I set my September goal, I – like many of us – could have never anticipated what this year would bring. This intentional opportunity to give thanks, not only during this busy professional period but during a pandemic, has meant more than I would have expected.
During this season of contemplation, I hope you will take time to reflect and appreciate. I know I am asking a lot at a time that has been so difficult for many, but a few minutes of gratitude could provide much needed solace and hope in the new year.
JENNIFER STERN GRANOWITZ, Director of the Congregational School: Old traditions, New routines
September 17/28 Elul 5780
The lead-up to the high holidays, the month of Elul, typically aligns with the start of the school year. As summer winds down, I typically look forward to fall weather, the routine of the school year and back-to-school shopping. As we end an atypical summer, the school year is still approaching, but without the usual routines. While I am sure we will all find new ones, this will take time. And once we find these routines, we might have to adjust yet again.
With little certainty, one constant is the High Holidays. Both Judaism as a religion and the Jewish people have always figured out how to adapt, innovate, and thrive.
Last year, on Israeli radio, there was a new song based on our High Holiday mahzor: “Seder Ha’Avoda.” The song offers a modern sound to an ancient image of the high priest atoning for our sins. While our High Holiday routine will be different this year, different can be meaningful, too.