13 minute read
Religion
Wishing you a very happy, healthy, sweet New Year! L’Shana Tova Tikatevu.
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Paths into the Rosh Hashanah mindset
By Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer Kveller
The Jewish month of Elul is here. It’s a time leading up to Rosh Hashanah to tune in to our spiritual concerns, reflect on our dreams and challenges over the year that’s gone by, and consider areas for change and growth in the new year.
I didn’t grow up with an awareness of a month of preparation leading up to the High Holy Days. But in discovering Elul as an adult, I embrace this time for spiritual reflection, and I’ve noticed how it’s deepened my experience of the holiday season.
Taking a little time and space for spiritual practice can give us renewed strength, energy, and self-compassion as we navigate this new year.
Here are five ways we can make some time and space for Elul reflection this year. 1. Make a special playlist
Music is one of the most immediate ways that I access my deepest feelings and spiritual connections. I make playlists for occasions like holidays and birthdays, and I listen to them while I’m doing chores like walking my dog, folding laundry or chopping vegetables for dinner — essentially, times when I can tap into the music’s energy and message. I created a Spotify playlist for Elul with songs that stir my soul and help me think about the big questions. 2. Reach out to loved ones
Elul is a month to consider our connections to our spiritual lives as well as to friends, family, and community. During the pandemic, so many social connections have been interrupted, and many, many people experienced isolation on a level they had never experienced before.
If you have a friend you’ve lost touch with and have been meaning to check in on, this is a great time to send a text or email asking how they are and letting them know you’ve been thinking of them. 3. Embrace free writing
Writing is one of the practices that I use to connect to what I call my inner wisdom — the voice that I don’t always hear when I’m busy with the demands of parenting and work. I take 10 minutes several times a week to do some free writing, during which I sit down with my journal or a blank Google Doc and just write about whatever comes to mind.
I always feel much better and more connected after those sessions. The easiest way to do this is to schedule a few writing times into your calendar over the next few weeks. Then, open a blank document and use prompts like: “This year I hope to…” “One thing I’ve learned this year is…” or “My prayer for the world is…” 4. Reassess your schedule
One thing I’ve learned about myself over the pandemic is that I thrive with more downtime. As such, I am entering this year with the intention and awareness that becoming “too busy” — even with good things — takes me away from feeling my most grounded and healthiest, and it also creates unnecessary pressure in my family. Use Elul to consider what you can take on this year, and what you can say no — or not yet — to. 5. Include your family
Rosh Hashanah probably feels very far away. But you can bring your children into your Elul practice in fun, gentle ways. If you’re out enjoying nature, for example, take a moment to mention Rosh Hashanah, the world’s birthday, and invite them to share what they’re most grateful for in the natural world.
Bring out your favorite Rosh Hashanah books and start reading them. If your kids enjoy art, start making some homemade cards to send to family and friends.
How not to ask for time off for the holidays
By Eli Gottlieb, JTA
“Hey Allies: Please don’t schedule meetings or events on the Jewish holidays!” So says a meme that has circulated widely before the dates for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah.
Seems like a pretty harmless and potentially helpful message to post on social media in the run-up to the High Holidays, right?
I’m not so sure. I, too, have often had to seek special consideration from employers and colleagues for my religious observance. Indeed, being able to live my life by the rhythms of the Hebrew calendar without having to explain myself constantly or play catch-up on lost work days is one of many reasons I moved to Israel from the United Kingdom in my 20s.
However, as a scholar of identity, a builder of pluralistic institutions, and an adviser to organizations on issues of diversity, I believe posting such messages can do more harm than good.
Former Late Show host Craig Ferguson has a great rule about when and when not to speak. Ask yourself three questions, he suggests: “Does this need to be said? Does this need to be said by me? And does this need to be said by me now?”
The “Hey Allies” meme, which bears a badge indicating it originated with an Orthodox social justice organization, fails on all three criteria.
First, it doesn’t need to be said. Few Jews in the United States observe the Jewish holidays in ways that clash with their work commitments. Fewer than half of America’s Jews fast on Yom Kippur. Many of those who do fast also abstain from work that day and at least the first day of Rosh Hashanah. But it’s a much smaller minority that won’t work on the first two and last two days of Sukkot. Suggesting otherwise betrays our own diversity.
Second, it doesn’t need to be said by those saying it. Actually, let me rephrase: Those saying it — shouldn’t. What gives traditionally observant
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A fresh start
By Rabbi Haviva Horvitz Temple Beth Sholom, Middletown
Although it may be hard to believe, September is right in front of us! Do you know what that means? That means that the football season has just begun, and the baseball season is coming to an end soon. It also means that it is time to prepare for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The first connection between baseball and the High Holidays that comes to
my mind is the stories of those Jewish ballplayers who chose to/or not to play on Yom Tov, both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. For example, one of the most famous of these stories: in 1965, Sandy Koufax refused to pitch in the first game of the World Series because it would require him to play on Yom Kippur. Instead of Koufax, Don Drysdale pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and he gave up seven runs in two and 2/3 innings.
“I bet right now you wish I was Jewish, too,” Drysdale said when the manager came to pull him from the game. There are many similar stories over the years; Shawn Green in 2001 and Hank Greenberg in 1934, who each chose not to play on the major Jewish holidays, while Harry Eisenstadt in 1935, and Eddie Feinberg in 1938, did play, with very poor results. This is just the tip of the list.
As the years go on, there are frequently players who need to decide what is the right choice for themselves. Similarly, there
Perspectives
are stories of rabbis and communities who have applauded the players’ choices to go to the synagogue rather than the ballpark. In addition to this connection between the High Holidays and baseball, I would like to offer another correlation between the beginning of the year and that of the sports season.
On opening day of the baseball season, each player, no matter the previous year’s record, starts with zeros: zero at bats, zero hits, Rabbi Haviva Horvitz zero runs, a batting average of zero. It is a fresh start and a clean slate. The same can be said with regard to Rosh Hashanah. We ask and pray for forgiveness and understanding, and then we look forward to the new year, full of potential and possibilities.
Whether we are focusing on the year ahead in our personal lives, the school year that has just begun, community programming, or anything else that is being planned for the next 12 months, we are full of anticipation, enthusiasm, and hope.
What do you have planned for this coming year? Will you be taking time for yourself and focusing on self-improvement projects? Perhaps you are thinking of going back to school? Maybe you want to spend more time with family members and loved ones?
Will you be fixing up your house, looking for a new job, or simply working to find a greater sense of fulfillment with the routines you have already established? May I suggest that you take some time to reach out within your community. Due to the Covid outbreak, it has become easy to stay at home. When was the last time you attended services at your synagogue? Or volunteered at a soup kitchen? At my congregation, Temple Beth Sholom in Middletown, for example, we are excited about our busy schedule of activities for the rest of the calendar year. I have no doubt that there are many wonderful, stimulating, and inviting activities at a synagogue near you! It is time to return to the building, time to reconnect with the community, time to once again be a part of something great! Whether you choose to join with a congregation that is new to you, return to the familiarity of a few years ago, or you find something else that suits your personal needs, now is the perfect time to begin. It is easy to wait for an appropriate beginning date, whatever that may be. So often we begin diets on a Monday or wait until the first of the month to start a project. However, there is no good reason to hesitate and stall. The slate is clean. The future is ahead of us. Make today your Opening Day. Set your goals, make your plans, and get things started. This way, when you look back next year at all that you have accomplished this year, you will be pleased with the choices you have made...or have a new clean slate to start again.
Rosh Hashanah
Jewish New Year
Sept. 26-27/1-2 Tishri Celebration of the beginning of the Jewish calendar year. Begins the Days of Awe, a 10-day period of repentance and prayer that ends on Yom Kippur. Celebrated with festive meals, including apples dipped in honey.
September Elul/Tishri
Torah Portions
Sept. 3: Shoftim (Deut. 16:18-21:9) Sept. 10: Ki Tetze (Deut. 21:10-25:19) Sept. 17: Ki Tavo (Deut. 26:1-29:8) Sept. 24: Nitzavim (Deut. 29:9-30:20)
Candle Lightings
Shabbat, Sept. 2: 7:48 p.m. Shabbat, Sept. 9: 7:37 p.m. Shabbat, Sept. 16: 7:26 p.m. Shabbat, Sept. 23: 7:14 p.m. Erev Rosh Hashanah, Sept. 25: 7:11 p.m. First Eve Rosh Hashanah, Sept. 26: 8:07 p.m. Shabbat, Sept. 30: 7:03 p.m. Beth Abraham Synagogue Conservative Cantor/Dir. of Ed. & Programming Andrea Raizen Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. 305 Sugar Camp Circle, Oakwood. 937-293-9520. bethabrahamdayton.org Beth Jacob Congregation Traditional Rabbi Leibel Agar Sundays & Wednesdays, 7:15 p.m. Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. 7020 N. Main St., Dayton. 937-274-2149. bethjacobcong.org Temple Anshe Emeth Reform 320 Caldwell St., Piqua. Sun., Sept. 25, 8 p.m. and Mon., Sept. 26, 10 a.m. with Rabbi Samantha Schauvaney. In person & via Zoom. Contact Steve Shuchat, 937-726-2116, ansheemeth@ gmail.com. ansheemeth.org Temple Beth Or Reform Rabbi Judy Chessin Asst. Rabbi/Educator Ben Azriel Fridays, 6:30 p.m. via Zoom. In person, Fri., Sept. 9 & 16, 6:30 p.m. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937-435-3400. templebethor.com Temple Beth Sholom Reform Rabbi Haviva Horvitz 610 Gladys Dr., Middletown. 513-422-8313. templebethsholom.net Temple Israel Reform Senior Rabbi Karen BodneyHalasz. Rabbi/Educator Tina Sobo Fri., Sept. 2, 6 p.m. Fri., Sept. 9, 16, 23, 30, 6:30 p.m. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-496-0050. tidayton.org Temple Sholom Reform Rabbi Cary Kozberg Fridays, 6 p.m. 2424 N. Limestone St., Springfield. 937-399-1231. templesholomoh.com
ADDITIONAL SERVICES
Chabad of Greater Dayton Rabbi Nochum Mangel Associate Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin Youth & Prog. Dir. Rabbi Levi Simon. Beginner educational service Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. 2001 Far Hills Ave. 937-643-0770. chabaddayton.com Yellow Springs Havurah Independent Antioch College Rockford Chapel. Contact Len Kramer, 937-5724840 or len2654@gmail.com.
Wishing You A Happy New Year.
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At the High Holy Days, Remember the Past, Share Joy in the Present.
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How not to ask for time off for the holidays
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Jews the right to speak in the name of America’s less-observant majority? Were a company or organization to black out the 11 dates listed in the meme, it might lead “allies” to wonder why so few of their Jewish colleagues are taking these days off. And that risks exposing any Jew who works as usual on any of the listed dates as somehow less Jewish, or less serious about their Jewishness, than those who observe the holidays.
In any case, those who do observe these holidays have many better ways to make the relevant accommodations in ways that don’t lump Jews together or pry them apart. They can arrange with bosses and colleagues to reschedule, make up lost hours, or use vacation time.
In the unlikely event of such requests being denied, they can appeal to official guardians of employee rights, from HR departments to U.S. courts, which are highly accommodating of religious needs.
I would also argue that having to raise these issues from time to time — and sometimes make difficult choices — is part of what it means to be an observant Jew, and in some ways is as core to our contemporary identity as the holidays themselves.
But the problem is not just who is doing the saying; it’s also whom they are addressing. In the parlance of our times, “allies” is a dog whistle to the woke who all too often see Jews as part of the problem rather than the solution — as a White, privileged class rather than an ethnic minority in need of protection or support. Worse, by appealing to non-Jews for special consideration on grounds of diversity and inclusion while failing to respect internal Jewish diversity and implicitly excluding non-observant Jews, the meme reinforces the far left’s tendency to view Jews as a religious and political monolith.
Third, it doesn’t need to be said now. Uniquely among the biblical festivals, Rosh Hashanah does not commemorate a momentous event in the life of the Jewish people, such as the Exodus or the Revelation at Sinai. Rather it commemorates the world’s creation and God’s judgment of humanity in its entirety. In other words, whereas all other feasts and fasts on the Hebrew calendar are particularist, Rosh Hashanah is universalist.
It is, therefore, a time to reflect on what we have in common, not what separates us; to focus on rights and duties we share with all of humanity rather than on securing special treatment for ourselves.
So how’s this instead: After making your own arrangements for the upcoming holidays, ask yourself whether there’s anything you can do to make it easier for other Jewish colleagues to observe them in the ways they prefer. Conversations will likely be more effective than social media posts. But if you do choose to post, consider something like this:
“Dear friends: Over the next few weeks, many Jews will be observing holidays in a variety of ways. Please be understanding and helpful when a Jewish colleague takes off on some or all of those days, and let us know how we can reciprocate when you observe special days of your own. As Rosh Hashanah teaches us, we’re all in this together.”
