Serving a new community in the time of a pandemic is surely no day at the beach. Still, I feel we’ve developed a good relationship, one that will deepen over time. I look forward to continuing to work with you on our many sacred tasks.
HanukkahPalooza
One reason I’m happy to be a part of this congregation comes out of our planning for Hanukkah. This year the pandemic makes our traditional gathering impossible. So a couple of us came up with the idea of holding a number of programs using everyone’s new best friend, Zoom. And so for this year you can look forward to such things as: a Hanukkah bag with goodies delivered to your door, nightly candle lighting, song sessions, an art class, a play, a concert, a lecture, a magic show. The schedule should be finalized by next week.
But that we are doing this is not my point. My point is, rather, that as we went about building participation in this series of events, everyone we asked to participate said “yes” without equivocating. And a couple of folks volunteered without being asked. Understand, to pull this off requires a great deal of help.
Tefilah Tuesdays
In the interim between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur I offered a brief evening service to which a number of you came. We said a few prayers, chatted a bit, and I always had a bit of a drash. After the holidays, I kept one weekly service, which I called Tefilah Tuesdays, so called as a way of reminding you what day this meeting was to take place. And so, every Tuesday at 7 pm we continue to gather to say farewell to the day with prayer, song, and a few brief words. If this sounds like this is for you, I’ll be on the Zoom come next Tuesday at 7.
So I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving. Stay very healthy.
Shalom u’v’rachacha,
Phil
Rabbi Phil M. Cohen