PREPARING FOR THE HOLIDAYS Feeding the spirit
Preparing oneself for the High Holidays means more than cleaning the house and raiding the kosher aisle at the local grocery store. To find out what Jews can do to prepare themselves spiritually and emotionally for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we asked Connecticut rabbis. Here is what several had to say:
By Rabbi Debra Cantor
B’nai Tikvoh-Sholom,
Bloomfield/West Hartford
My love for Judaism was shaped by a book. When I was a small girl, my mother (of blessed memory) would begin her preparations for each Jewish holiday by sitting down with me to read a chapter from Sadie Rose Weilerstein’s “What the Moon Brought.” Each month, the twins, Ruthy and Debbie (who shared my name!), would look eagerly up at the sky in anticipation of the next Jewish holiday.
As an adult, I find that I also scan the evening sky in search of the moon. Especially during Elul, the month preceding Rosh Hashanah. That first bright sliver in the dark fills me with a mixture of regret and excitement. The Elul moon usually arrives in late summer. Its appearance signals that soon, very soon, summer will give way to a more serious season; that we had better get ourselves and our souls in gear for the new year.
There’s outer work to be done: cleaning the house, calling friends, ordering a brisket. And, especially for rabbis and synagogue leaders, there are meetings – endless meetings! – and lots of organizing and sprucing-up chores. It’s easy to let the inner work, the important stuff, get lost in the shuffle.
I begin by doing what I learned from my mother. I get out my books and make some time to read them. Classics like Agnon’s anthology “Days of Awe” and Maimonides’ “Hilchot Teshuvah” (Laws of Repentance) and favorites such as Rabbi Alan Lew’s beautiful book, “This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared: The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation.” Actually anything by Alan, my wonderful rabbinical school classmate who died too young, is inspiring. And then I study the mahzor, the High Holiday prayer book, and explore themes that pull at my heart: compassion, forgiveness, memory, longing for God’s Presence. Every year, different prayers leap out at me: Psalm 27, Sh’ma Kolenu, Unetaneh Tokef.
Amazon loves me at this time of the year! I order lots of new books to help in my personal preparation… and of course, to help spark sermon ideas! Here’s the truth: you can’t write compellingly if you’re not passionate about the idea or the text. I’m looking for what engages and moves me, and then have to trust that I can convey some of that feeling to the congregation.
I’m also on the lookout for teaching topics (on the second day of Rosh Hashanah at B’nai Tikvoh-Sholom (BTS), we hold a Community Text Study, free and open to all.) I scour the Internet for poems, readings, articles, meditations. Some of these will even make their way into our High Holiday services. (Check out www.tobendlight.com, www.jewelsofelul.com, www.myjewishlearning.org)
It’s essential to set aside quiet time to pray, to meditate, to reflect. Some people find that it’s helpful to write about their goals for the new year. (Go to www.doyou10q.com ) Others need to walk, to be out in natural surroundings.
Scientists tell us that in order to change our brains, we need to act. So I ask forgiveness. Try to make amends. Reconnect. Do an extra mitzvah. Or two.
Wake up! In Elul, we consider where we’ve fallen short and reconsider a new direction for our lives. The shofar is a tool for that. Don’t wait for Rosh Hashanah! Go out and buy a shofar and blow tekiah all month.
Music helps: I play CDs that put me in a contemplative mood; Barbra Streisand singing Kol Nidrei, melodies both poignant and festive (I love BJ Tekiyah: High Holy Days.) And I keep looking up at the moon. When you read this, the moon will be full. As it wanes…may we grow!
Rabbi Marcelo Kormis
Congregation Beth El, Fairfield
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