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All in a Week

13/08/2020 08:06:06 AM

Aug13

Dear Congregational Family,

 

Today, I will be less likely to answer messages quickly. In the morning, I will be officiating a Shacharit Bat Mitzvah service in a family's backyard. In the afternoon, I will officiate at two graveside funerals at the same cemetery, followed by an unveiling at a nearby cemetery. If one considers the outdoor baby naming and outdoor wedding I officiated this past Sunday, I will have experienced the full range of the lifecycle and its emotions in the span of a few days.

A congregation is a community. We do not stand alone. Each ceremony will have had immediate family, extended relatives, and dear friends. At the wedding, dances and toasts take place. At the funerals, touching words are shared by relatives and/or friends. One of the reasons we affiliate with a synagogue is so that we can be supported in times of joy and sadness by our spiritual community.

Last week, we began to hold weekday evening services in shul. In days to come, we will begin to hold weekday morning and Shabbat services. While all services will be broadcast electronically for those who cannot physically attend shul, the main purpose of reopening our sanctuary is to have a traditional minyan. For months, we have been unable to recite the prayers which require a minyan, which is a symbol and microcosm of community. We have omitted such prayers as Borchu and Kedusha, Torah reading, the familiar Kaddish, and more. In the majority of synagogue services held so far, we have not attained a minyan. I wish to encourage those who can to pre-register and help form and augment a minyan on a regular basis.

This week, I will have seen the importance of community for the happy and sad moments of the lifecycle. May we see the same dedication towards re-establishing communal daily prayer emanating from our beloved synagogue.

 

Rabbi Howard Morrison

Thu, 28 March 2024 18 Adar II 5784