Rabbi's Message

At a time in the Jewish calendar when we think about starting anew, this past week has certainly been a time of new beginnings.  Summer is over, and the new school year has begun.  I enjoyed going into our Eric B. Jacobs Early Childhood Education Center classrooms this week and seeing them filled with excited young students. We are incredibly fortunate to have Alex Weinberg, Lee Senderowitsch, Harriet Baker, Tama-Rose Bazzle, Amanda Kaufman, and their impressive team of teachers who, together every year, sustain and continue to grow our fantastic Eric B. Jacobs Early Childhood Education Center.  Our Rabbi Albert and Sarah Religious School, led by Alex Weinberg and Harriet Baker, and our HaMakom High School, led by John Imhof and Zoe Arking, begin this Sunday.  The classrooms and hallways at TBS are beginning to buzz! I love this time of year!

It was a busy week of new beginnings, which of course included the obligatory first day of school photos. A few years ago, when Meyer and Gavi were starting first grade (yesterday was their first day of fourth grade… how is that possible?!), they inadvertently started what has become a first day of school family tradition.  Proudly ready for a new school year, they begin the photo shoot standing back-to-back with their backpacks touching.  They then proceed to turn around so that they are face-to-face and give each other a kiss.  This yearly tradition is special to me as I not only look at my growing children with pride and love, but I also think about this time of the year and the symbolism of their pose.

We are currently in the month of Elul, the Hebrew month that immediately precedes Rosh Hashanah.  The new year is only a few weeks away.  The Zohar, the foundational work of Kabbalah, explains that at the beginning of Elul we are ahor el ahor (back to back) with God, and by the end of the month, as we bring in Rosh Hashanah, we find ourselves panim el panim (face to face) with God. This teaching offers a significant lesson. Too often in our world and in our relationships, we turn our backs. We turn away from others and from God. We turn away from love.  Even more, when our backs are turned, we have no idea of the state of the other, be it our spouse, our child, our friend, or God. We tend to assume that their backs are turned as well.  The month of Elul offers us the opportunity to turn around. After all, this is the season of teshuvah, of turning. Elul offers us the choice of turning to be “face to face” with all those we encounter. Elul invites us to turn to those we love, and ultimately, to turn to face God.

In what ways can we each work to turn around in the next ten days leading up to Rosh Hashanah?  What is the work we must do to ensure that during this High Holy Day season, we turn towards others, and we turn towards God?

In a simple act of turning to face each other, each year Gavi and Meyer help to remind me of the work of this season.  As we begin the new school year and ultimately the new year of 5786 itself, may we open our hearts to this time of turning.  May we turn to see the faces of loved ones.  May we turn to see the face of God.  May we turn towards our best selves and towards a year of blessing and love. 

Shabbat Shalom.