Keeping Connected  September 2023

Dear Friends,

Over the years you have perhaps learned that my soul is time and again inspired by nature and observation. There is so much wisdom, sometimes beautiful, sometimes poignant, to learn from the world around us. As I prepare for the Yamim Noraim, the High Holidays, both as a rabbi and as an individual on her own spiritual journey, I am especially attuned to what is going on around me, looking for inspiration. All summer long I feel as though I am squirreling away ideas, thoughts, images and more, all with the hope of being able to share with our community experiences and words that might stir and motivate you in your own inner work of these Days of Awe. Early in the month you will receive a letter with the details of our service schedule, but in the meanwhile, I would like to turn away from logistics and share a poem that I recently read; one that I found personally meaningful. I hope in some small way it inspires you too and that this new year will bring you renewal, growth, hope, and purpose.

L’shanah Tovah,

Rabbi Shoshana M. Perry

A Prayer for the New Year
a poem by Rich Orloff

As the New Year approaches, I pray:
May I be more open to love
Recognizing it in its myriad of disguises
Letting it sneak through guarded borders to soothe my wounded soul

May I be more open to life
Not comparing it to my unreasonable fantasy
Of what life should be
But embracing life as one would a tender child doing their best

May I be more open to myself
Admitting my foibles and respecting their place in the constellation
May I deepen trust in my friends
And notice every time I meet a trustworthy stranger

May I let go of grievances that have become relics of history
Accepting that the past can never be changed
May I lose my attraction to suffering
And resist its seductive lure

May I nurture and encourage others
May I enjoy forgiveness
May I embrace grace
May I allow love to inspire action

May I be inscribed in the Book of Life
But as importantly
In each day and with each breath
May the Book of Life be inscribed inside me

April 2022. Keeping Connected

Dear Friends,

In just a few week’s our congregation, along with Jewish communities around the world, will be celebrating Pesach. The spiritual and moral themes of Pesach have always been profoundly meaningful to me, but this year the messages of freedom, liberty and welcoming the stranger feel particularly resonant. Last week I participated in an on-line meeting hosted by the World Union for Progressive Judaism. Together with Reform rabbis from around the world, we listened to our liberal rabbinic colleagues from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It was a powerful and humbling experience to hear their personal stories. These rabbis and their congregants are facing challenges few of us could ever imagine. Because of issues of security all of those participating in the call promised not to quote anyone directly, to share the speaker’s names or their current locations. I have been provided a summary of their stories and requests for help. In this brief note, I will try to highlight some of the important points and information.

            Please reach out to me directly if you would like to get more involved.

            L’shalom and Chag Pesach Sameach,

            Rabbi Shoshana M. PerryMore

February 2022   Keeping Connected

As I sit to write this letter, we are all expecting another “bomb-cyclone” which seems to be the new dramatic terminology for a huge blizzard. By the time this newsletter arrives in your inbox we will all hopefully have fully dug out and have power. Also, for those of us who like football, we will now know who we will be watching on February 13^th in the Superbowl!

During the High Holidays, I spoke about the spiritual and emotional power of having a sense of purpose. Since then I have tried to be more intentional about some of the choices I have made with my time. What activities could I participate in that would bring me a deeper sense of meaning, as well as knowing that in some small way I had made a difference in someone else’s life? Perhaps these ideas will spark your desire to get involved in a similar vein or motivate you to reflect on what new opportunities and goals you might pursue.More

December 2021   Keeping Connected

Dear Friends,

This week, as we have been celebrating Chanukah, I have been thinking a lot about the symbolism of light and the power of illumination. The Torah opens with God’s first act of creation. “God said, ‘Let there be light.’” God needed the light to separate light from darkness. God observed that this primordial light, this first act of illumination, was good. Later, in the Talmud, there is a debate about how to light the chanukiah. It is written in Tractate Shabbat 21b:5-7, “Beit Shammai say: On the first day one kindles eight lights and, from there on, gradually decreases the number of lights until, on the last day of Hanukkah, one kindles one light. And Beit Hillel say: On the first day one kindles one light, and from there on, gradually increases the number of lights until, on the last day, one kindles eight lights. The reason for Beit Hillel’s opinion is that the number of lights is based on the principle: We increase holiness, we do not decrease.”

Beit Hillel’s insight feels both profound and simple at the same time. As we go into the darkest days of winter, it seems obvious that we would want to increase illumination and to diminish some of the oppressive darkness of the shortest days of the year. Perhaps this is why winter festivals of light are so universal across religious and cultural traditions. We feel moved to bring the light of hope to our spirits when the days are dark and cold. Rabbi Larry Milder understands that the act of kindling light has more significant moral and spiritual overtones as well. He writes, “Adding one candle each night represents the deeds that we must undertake to restore healing to our world. In matters of sanctity, we do not diminish our efforts. We increase our commitment, we redouble our efforts, we do all that we can to keep ourselves and others safe, and to work toward a brighter day.”More