Community at Temple Israel
Rabbi’s Message – September 6, 2023
Sometimes, even the simplest of deliveries can change the tenor of a day. Today, we will erect the stage in the Great Hall, completing our setup for the High Holidays. In case you missed the shofar blasts during Elul. stepping into this particular space offers another powerful wake-up call. As soon as you enter the room, everything feels different. An ordinary space is transformed into a sanctuary.
As I walk toward the bimah, I call to my mind’s eye the faces of congregants, past and present. As we are creatures of habit, I easily picture where they would be seated. When I arrive on the stage, I am reminded of the vibrations in my body from standing so close to the soloist during Avinu Malkeinu. And my ears ring with the memory of choral voices in perfect harmony.
Throughout Elul, we have included high holiday musical settings into our Shabbat services. We have also included special prayers and psalms about forgiveness, helping us to focus our minds and hearts on the work of forgiving and being forgiven. This weekend, we take a step further and change another part of our physical space – the mantels on our Torahs. It has been said that a change in our surroundings can impact certain thoughts and behaviors in us. This has certainly been the case with the Great Hall. These environmental cues all work together to help us on our journey of self-reflection.
Saturday night we will come together as a community to welcome in the Days of Awe with Selichot. Together with the Dayton Jewish Chorale we will sing holiday melodies and recite meditative liturgy. And then, we will watch as our Torah covers are changed from their regular colors to white, soon to be moved into the ark in the Great Hall. As we change our environment, we will begin to change our focus.
As I reflect on this tradition, I am reminded of a beautiful meditation by Rabbi Valerie Lieber.
She writes:
“Each year on Selichot we prepare our souls for the High Holy Days, when we will judge ourselves and when God will judge us. On Selichot we also prepare our sanctuary. To help us change and reach toward holiness, we change our Torah covers and bimah clothes to white ones in order to signify purity and sanctity….
As the Torah covers go from dark to white,
So may our motives and our actions
Change from greed to generosity,
From selfishness to compassion,
From fear to faith,
And from indifference to righteousness”
May it be so.
Shana tova u’metukah.