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Number 613September 2010/Tishrei 5771
My summer sabbatical was filled withopportunities for learning. One body of work I wasable to explore more deeply was the world ofHasidic Torah commentary. Here’s a Hasidicteaching for the New Year, from Rabbi Pinchas ofKoretz (1726-1791):
When a person sees himself as nothing, the decrees nolonger hold sway over him. It says in the Midrash,“On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the JewishPeople becomes a new creation, as it is written, ‘A people newly created will sing the praises of Yah.’”Why should we see ourselves as nothing? Because “onRosh Hashanah, the curvier the better.” That is, wemake ourselves so small that we disappear, and thenwe are created anew, like a seed in the ground which first decomposes, and only then sprouts.
Three elements make up this teaching: a biblicaltext, a Talmudic text, and an observation from thenatural world. Each requires some explanation.The biblical text is fairly straightforward. On theverse (Psalm 102:19)
am nivra t’hallel yah,
“a peoplecreated to sing Yah’s praise,” Rabbi Pinchasemphasizes the word
nivra,
“created,” to supportthe idea that the people are newly created for thatpurpose. He connects this verse to Rosh Hashanahand Yom Kippur, our special time devoted torenewal and rebirth.But how does that renewal happen? By “gettingsmall.” Thus, the move toward a Talmudic passage(BT Rosh Hashanah 26b), which considers theproper shape of the shofar. It teaches that a straighthorn (from an antelope) should be used forannouncing the jubilee, but a curvy horn (from aram) should be used on Rosh Hashanah. It seemsthat the medium is the message: jubilee is aboutwalking unbent into freedom, while RoshHashanah is a time for submission, embodied in theact of bending and taking up less space.How “bent” should we be? The Talmud says, “thecurvier, the better,” and so Pinchas takes theteaching all the way. We should make ourselves sosmall that we actually disappear! Like the seedwhich disintegrates before becoming a newcreation, our work on Rosh Hashanah is to be likethe shofar that bends in on itself to the point ofvanishing.And what of the “evil decrees”? Things thatpresented such problems when we were big (in ourminds) have no power when we get smaller. (Thinkof the way a good martial artist just “disappears” inresponse to an attack, causing the opponent to fallout of balance). And after we’ve reemerged fromour smallness, we’re someone else entirely, a newcreation in the fullest sense. The plant is not theseed from which it came, and the person whoemerges from the drama of the High Holidaysrenewed is not the same one whose ego vanishedinto the undifferentiated Whole. That the decreesno longer have an effect is a direct result of theperson’s re-creation.In this season of renewal and rebirth, the staff andleadership of Temple Mount Sinai and our familieswish you a year that is fresh and new, filled withgrowth and reaching toward the light!
Shanah Tovah,
Rabbi Bach
Renewal and Rebirth
Page 2
September 2010/Elul 5770-Tishrei 5771
Messages from the Mountain
Worship Schedule, September 2010
September 3-4Parashat Nitzavim-VayeilechFriday, September 3
Candlelighting, 7:10pm
Oneg Shabbat, 5:45 pmFamily Shabbat Service, 6:15 pmBirthday Blessings and Anniversaries
Saturday, September 4
Torah Study, 9:30 amShabbat Moring Service, 10:30
S’lichot Service, 10:30 pm
September 8-9 Wednesday, September 8Erev Rosh Hashanah
Evening Service, 8:00 pm
Thursday, September 9Rosh Hashanah
Family Service, 9:00 amMorning Service , 10:30 am
September 10-11Shabbat Shuvah/Ha’azinuFriday, September 10
Candlelighting, 7:01 pm
Oneg Shabbat, 5:45 pmKabbalat Shabbat Service, 6:15 pm
Saturday, September 11
Torah Study, 9:30 amShabbat Morning Service, 10:30 am
Wednesday, September 15
Kever Avot
Memorial Service, 6 pm (at the Cemetery)
September 17-18Erev Yom KippurFriday, September 17
Candlelighting, 6:52 pm
Kol Nidre 8:00 pm
Yom Kippur
Saturday, September 18
Family Service, led by mini-MSTY 9 amMorning Service 10:30 amStudy and Conversation, early afternoonAfternoon Service, led by MSTY 3 pmGrief Support 3:30 pmYizkor, Memorial Service 4:30 pmNe’ilah, Concluding Service 5:15 pm
Wednesday, September 22
Erev Sukkot
Festival Evening Service, 6:15 pm
Thursday, September 23
Sukkot
Festival Morning Service, 10:30 am
September 24-25
Chol Hamoed Sukkot
Leviticus 23:4-14
Candlelighting, 6:42 pm
Friday, September 24Oneg Shabbat, 5:45
Sukkot Service & Consecration 6:15 pm
September 25
Torah Study , 9:30 amShabbat Morning Service, 10:30
Wednesday, September 29
Simchat Torah
Simchat Torah, 6:15 pm
Thursday, September 30
Shemini Atzeret
Festival Morning Service/Yizkor 10:30 am
Page 3
September 2010/Tishrei 5771
Messages from the Mountain
September Birthdays
September 1
Limor BelkinAdam Nazarian
September 2
Jackie Gulbas
September 3
Greta DuranDavid Novick
September 4
Cindy (Louis) CohenKatie Schmidt
September 5
Rosalie KaufmanSteve LauterbachCameron Mansfield
September 6
Olga KoshelevaNancy Schwartz
September 7
Lori GamanGabriel Levin*
September 8
Bill BelfordSylvia KrapinAnn LauterbachLouann PransesBen Puschett
September 9
Salomon HolaschutzZach KrasneAnat Reiter
September 10
Marlene FassMark FenenbockPeter Herman Jack Heydemann
September 11
Jeremy Gopin*Brent GulbasRichard KatzVladik Kreinovich
September 12
Tova Herman*Elaine Rosen
September 13
Jamie Tennen
September 14
Ross Blackburn*Alan GamanEllen Goodman
September 15
Alan KrasneArlene SonnenBob Washer
September 16
Zachary DucorskyBill GoldfarbSara Rueff
September 17
Barry Kobren
September 18
Carsen CulterSid KligmanPhillip Tennen
September 19
Ricky Rosales
September 20
Ed BabencoBecky HorowitzWilliam KleinAmelia KrohnDouglas LeffmanAl SchlusselbergSarah Velasco*Sylvia Wechter*
September 21
Bita MobbsElise PuschettCraig SchecterMuriel Tucker
September 22
David EisnerKen GivenQuyen NguyenIrma OppenheimAmanda RobalinAlex Stein
September 23
Lynn Ames*Suzi DavidoffSeptember 24 Jamie FrankFred MarcusHelene Solomon
September 25
Aaron Goodman*
September 27
Haidi AppelSy Ash
September 28
Amanda Metrikin Jean Scherotter
September 29
Mike Robalin
September 30
Andrew Marcus*David Pearlman*Asa ShiloffSammy Westermann Jo Witkoff
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