Rabbi Howard Morrison

Dear Congregational Family,

During this month of Elul, I have had the privilege of sounding the Shofar at the conclusion of daily morning services. The custom of sounding the Shofar for a month is meant to stir our souls toward repentance before the High Holy Days.

Over forty years ago, I went shopping for my very first Shofar. I went to a Judaica store on the Lower East Side of New York. I tried sounding one Shofar after another until I succeeded with the very last one in the store. I bought that Shofar. What a memory to this day.

Years later when my parents were too ill to attend shul, when Yom Kippur ended, I would go into my shul office, call them on the phone and sound my Shofar for them. In the 1990's, they lived in Boston, and I lived in New York. What a memory to this day.

Of course, the Mitzvah is hearing the Shofar and apprehending its piercing sounds as a means to refining our lives.

I hope and pray that we will hold on to past Shofar memories and create new ones.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Howard Morrison