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Opening the Gates to Repentance & Renewal

09/09/2020 12:53:21 PM

Sep9

Rabbi Sam Trief

The High Holiday Season is Truly Upon Us. 

I find myself really looking forward to this Saturday night. After all, this Saturday night, all four members of our clergy team will be together on the bima.  During any other year - this fact would not deserve mention - but this year, as we know, is different. It will mark the first time in many, many months we will stand together in unison (of course with 6 feet in between us)!

This Saturday night, we will join together for the most sacred of tasks: changing the Torah covers from their beautiful, year-round coverings, to the white, pure, mantles that usher in the New Year and the Days of Awe. The changing of the Torah Mantles signifies that we are starting fresh, giving us hope that perhaps this year will be better than the last. 

Yes, that time is drawing near. The slightly cooler air of this week signifies the changing of the seasons- bringing me back to so many childhood memories centered around these Fall holidays, and my most favorite ritual: Tashlich.  As a kid, I looked forward to Tashlich because I would get to atone for the “sin” of repeatedly locking my sister in the basement at our grandparent’s house. 

The idea of throwing my stale bread under the Brooklyn Bridge’s murky water filled me with a sense of excitement, a sense that I can still feel in my heart if I try hard enough. I took this responsibility so seriously in a way that only a child can. I would always feel a profound sense of relief as I washed my sins float down the East River...never to return again. This year, we will be able to partake in this ritual through a fun and exciting Congregational Drive Thru Tashlich. For information and to register, click here

These opportunities for worship and congregating give us hope; they show us that we are slowly (and safely) resuming the process of communal gathering. Sacred experiences such as Selichot and Tashlich represent our chance to find renewal from a year that has been challenging and strange. These rituals prepare us for the journey toward forgiveness. They remind us to be kind and compassionate to ourselves. They remind us that, while God will forgive misdeeds directed at God, God will not forgive offenses between two people. We must do that hard work ourselves. 

I share with you all a meditation to get us started as we embark on this High Holy Day journey as a Community: 

In the twilight of the vanishing year, I lift my heart to you, O God. 

I give thanks for all the blessings which fill my life with joy, for the love of family and support of friends, for the comfort others have given me in difficult moments, and for the privilege of life that you have granted me. 

Now the time of repentance and renewal has come. These days of awe provide me with moments to meditate on the meaning of my life, on the worth of my deeds, and upon the regrets that mock my noblest intentions. No human being lives without failures. No year passes without its disappointments, its sorrows, its sins.

On this eve of the New year, awaken me to the wisdom of my faith and people. Let the sacred days remind me that life is your precious gift and that you have allied me to your service. You have made me in your image, a fragile soul empowered with goodness and truth, justice and love. 

So turn me to You now. Open the gates of the New Year and grant to me, to my loved ones, my people and all peoples: life and health, contentment and peace. (Wilshire Boulevard Temple High Holiday Prayer Book)

Together, I look forward to walking through those open Gates with YOU. 

Shabbat Shalom and Shanah Tovah.

Rabbi Sam Trief

Thu, March 28 2024 18 Adar II 5784