Shabbat Shalom and Happy Sukkot from Rabbi Arnow 10/2/2020
Dear Kol Rinah Family,
Sukkot coming on the heels of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is a time to experience gratitude and joy after having our sins cleansed.
So, I want to take a moment to say thank you to EVERYONE who helped out over the course of Kol Rinah's High Holiday experiences. I'm not listing names now, with one exception--Bill Kaufman, who organized and supervised and implemented the production of our High Holiday services. You've heard it before and you'll here it again. Bill is a quiet hero of competence and calm. We owe him an enormous debt of thanks.
But it was a big team effort, from the staff, to the High Holiday Task Force, to all those who called/emailed/texted congregants, all those who dropped off High Holiday bags, all those who participated in services, the Ritual Committee for their help in finding participants, Kol Rinah's leadership for giving us the resources and support we all needed to make this happen, and each one of you who tuned in.
Rabbi Shafrin's Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur sermons are available here and mine are here.
We do know that some people had trouble streaming Kol Nidre. Shulcloud, our website hosting company, went down Sunday evening for a while, and links sent in emails through Shucloud didn't work for some people. Many other synagogues were affected too. So frustrating, and we're so sorry.
Sukkot is also about a sense of fragility, of not being in control, and we've been experiencing that so much of late.
(The Hebrew word is "Sukkot.")
Speaking of Sukkot, the holiday will not be the same this year. While we can still welcome in the mystical guests (ushpizin) we imagine joining us in our sukkot, the human guests will be missing. This is the first year probably in a hundred years that Kol Rinah (or its legacy congregations) is not building a sukkah, for all kinds of safety reasons. There will be no parading around with lulav and etrog. This season of our rejoicing will be missing many of the experiences we know and love. Also, coming off the High Holidays, some of us are holiday-ed (hollow-ed? holy-ed?) out.
So what to do? Here are some ideas, in no particular order.
1. Enjoy and love Sukkot and do what you can and embrace the joy at a dark-ish time.
2. Go through the motions because we're supposed, and maybe you'll feel something.
3. Innovate! Have virtual guests, virtual, outdoor dinner parties (with or without a sukkah)!
4. Spend a lot of time outside, even if you're cold. Feel the outdoors, nature, the fragility of being out of the house.
5. Focus on the food (and drink!) that you can have to make the time joyous. New or classic recipes...
6. Have a multimedia Sukkot experience. Listen to this great Sukkot Spotify playlist. Watch the great Israeli Sukkot movie Ushpizin (available on Amazon streaming for a few dollars). Think about other movies with Sukkot themes...
7. Go camping! (Totally not my thing, but maybe it's yours?)
8. Bake challah in the shape of a lulav & etrog.
9. Take a news/screens holiday.
10. Give tzedaka to help alleviate uncertainty/fragility/vulnerability of those who are homeless and/or hungry.
11. Dedicate yourself this week to whatever kind of justice work or systemic change work you can do to create stable, just structures for our society.
12. What else?
Today at noon I'll be leading Torah Talk on Zoom, where we'll study a whole bunch of different ideas about what the four species (arba'at haminim-palm, myrtle, willow, etrog) represent.
At 5:30pm on Zoom, we'll have mincha and "Kabbalat Sukkot," since we don't do a regular Kabbalat Shabbat with Sukkot beginning as well.
Candle lighting is at 6:24pm.
Tomorrow, we'll be streaming services for Shabbat/Sukkot Day 1 starting at 9:30am.
Candle lighting Saturday night is after 7:20pm.
Sunday, the 2nd day of Sukkot, services at our new building at 9:30am. We have a few spots left, and you must rsvp (email nancy@kolrinahstl.org by 1pm today!).
Sukkot ends at 7:18pm Sunday evening.
Next weekend, Saturday we'll be streaming Shabbat/Shemini Atzeret services that will include Yizkor. We're not having regular Simchat Torah servies but we will have at 7:30pm Sunday evening, after the holiday has ended, a special Simchat Torah Zoom program--details next week!
For Simchat Torah, take a short video of you (and others) dancing with a Torah (or anything!) and email it to Melissa Bellows (melissa@kolrinahstl.org). Send it by Tuesday, 10/6! We'll be making something special out of these.
Shabbat shalom Chag Sameach, and see you on Zoom/Livestreaming,
Rabbi Noah Arnow
Sukkot coming on the heels of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is a time to experience gratitude and joy after having our sins cleansed.
So, I want to take a moment to say thank you to EVERYONE who helped out over the course of Kol Rinah's High Holiday experiences. I'm not listing names now, with one exception--Bill Kaufman, who organized and supervised and implemented the production of our High Holiday services. You've heard it before and you'll here it again. Bill is a quiet hero of competence and calm. We owe him an enormous debt of thanks.
But it was a big team effort, from the staff, to the High Holiday Task Force, to all those who called/emailed/texted congregants, all those who dropped off High Holiday bags, all those who participated in services, the Ritual Committee for their help in finding participants, Kol Rinah's leadership for giving us the resources and support we all needed to make this happen, and each one of you who tuned in.
Rabbi Shafrin's Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur sermons are available here and mine are here.
We do know that some people had trouble streaming Kol Nidre. Shulcloud, our website hosting company, went down Sunday evening for a while, and links sent in emails through Shucloud didn't work for some people. Many other synagogues were affected too. So frustrating, and we're so sorry.
Sukkot is also about a sense of fragility, of not being in control, and we've been experiencing that so much of late.
(The Hebrew word is "Sukkot.")
Speaking of Sukkot, the holiday will not be the same this year. While we can still welcome in the mystical guests (ushpizin) we imagine joining us in our sukkot, the human guests will be missing. This is the first year probably in a hundred years that Kol Rinah (or its legacy congregations) is not building a sukkah, for all kinds of safety reasons. There will be no parading around with lulav and etrog. This season of our rejoicing will be missing many of the experiences we know and love. Also, coming off the High Holidays, some of us are holiday-ed (hollow-ed? holy-ed?) out.
So what to do? Here are some ideas, in no particular order.
1. Enjoy and love Sukkot and do what you can and embrace the joy at a dark-ish time.
2. Go through the motions because we're supposed, and maybe you'll feel something.
3. Innovate! Have virtual guests, virtual, outdoor dinner parties (with or without a sukkah)!
4. Spend a lot of time outside, even if you're cold. Feel the outdoors, nature, the fragility of being out of the house.
5. Focus on the food (and drink!) that you can have to make the time joyous. New or classic recipes...
6. Have a multimedia Sukkot experience. Listen to this great Sukkot Spotify playlist. Watch the great Israeli Sukkot movie Ushpizin (available on Amazon streaming for a few dollars). Think about other movies with Sukkot themes...
7. Go camping! (Totally not my thing, but maybe it's yours?)
8. Bake challah in the shape of a lulav & etrog.
9. Take a news/screens holiday.
10. Give tzedaka to help alleviate uncertainty/fragility/
11. Dedicate yourself this week to whatever kind of justice work or systemic change work you can do to create stable, just structures for our society.
12. What else?
Today at noon I'll be leading Torah Talk on Zoom, where we'll study a whole bunch of different ideas about what the four species (arba'at haminim-palm, myrtle, willow, etrog) represent.
At 5:30pm on Zoom, we'll have mincha and "Kabbalat Sukkot," since we don't do a regular Kabbalat Shabbat with Sukkot beginning as well.
Candle lighting is at 6:24pm.
Tomorrow, we'll be streaming services for Shabbat/Sukkot Day 1 starting at 9:30am.
Candle lighting Saturday night is after 7:20pm.
Sunday, the 2nd day of Sukkot, services at our new building at 9:30am. We have a few spots left, and you must rsvp (email nancy@kolrinahstl.org by 1pm today!).
Sukkot ends at 7:18pm Sunday evening.
Next weekend, Saturday we'll be streaming Shabbat/Shemini Atzeret services that will include Yizkor. We're not having regular Simchat Torah servies but we will have at 7:30pm Sunday evening, after the holiday has ended, a special Simchat Torah Zoom program--details next week!
For Simchat Torah, take a short video of you (and others) dancing with a Torah (or anything!) and email it to Melissa Bellows (melissa@kolrinahstl.org). Send it by Tuesday, 10/6! We'll be making something special out of these.
Shabbat shalom Chag Sameach, and see you on Zoom/Livestreaming,
Rabbi Noah Arnow
Thu, April 25 2024
17 Nisan 5784
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Thu, April 25 2024 17 Nisan 5784