Last week, the air turned cooler, the smoke cleared, and the
first leaves of autumn began to turn.
For us, too, the time for turning has arrived. On Wednesday night, we will welcome in the
new year, 5778.
I look forward to seeing many of you for the first time
since returning from my sabbatical. Over
the course of the fall holy days, I’ll be sharing some of my experiences in
Lithuania as part of a sermon series that I’m calling “Turn. Pray.
Liberate.” It’s based on the central
line of the Unetaneh Tokef prayer,
which teaches that teshuvah (turning),
tefillah (prayer), and tzedakah (acts of justice) have the
power to mitigate the severe judgment of the season. My experience while paddling the rivers of my
ancestral homeland—and meeting the people there—illuminated that teaching for
me, and I’m eager to share the stories with you.
In the meantime, here’s a poem by my colleague Rabbi Alden
Solovy that expresses my hopes and dreams for our CABI community during the
Days of Awe:
Sweet Cake
Give me a drop of
honey,
And I will give you
the harvest moon.
Give me a silent tear,
And I will give you
the roaring sea.
Give me a cup of milk,
And I will give you
the rising sun.
Give me your secret
prayer,
And I will give you my
broken heart.
Give me a drop of
honey,
And we will make a
feast of this life.
Sweet cake,
To feed ourselves with
joy and love.
Sweet cake,
To feed the world with
awe and wonder.
Sweet cake,
Of milk and honey.
Sweet cake,
Of prayers and tears.
L’shanah tovah tikateivu.
May we all be written and sealed in the book of life for a good year.
No comments:
Post a Comment