Shabbat Gathering: Time travelling together.

Gud Shabbos Khaveyrim, as is our custom, we will gather tonight at 5.45p ct to welcome Shabbat. These are the coordinates:

Zoom
Meeting ID: 883 8469 4181
Password: 822665
Phone: +1 312 626 6799

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Pre Postscript: Today is Reid's birthday. Celebrate accordingly.

Here we go.

The current Jewish month, Tishrei, is exhausting.

Soooo many holy days. We start with apples and honey on Rosh HaShanah and we end a month later with dancing, dancing with Torah on Simchat Torah. And there are so many holy days in between. I think these holy days are important in and of themselves, but are even more important to us yidden in diaspora.

The words we use over and over again during Yom Kippur — repair, return, repentance — are in first person plural. We are meant to be a community. Our own calendar moves us, as a community, through time itself. Every week, Jews around the world read the same portion of Torah. And we gather. And we study. And we feast. And we weep and mourn. Never apart. All together.

Jews on Mars.

Tishrei compresses that notion — a community moving through time — into one single month. We are in Jerusalem, Dar es Salaam, Brooklyn, and even Madison. Wherever we are, we are at once there and connected to the chevra around the world. Once upon a time, the NYTimes had a traditional starting assignment for foreign correspondents just arriving in a new country: write a story about the Jewish community where they were just assigned. Reports were posted from more places than you can possibly imagine. For years, I clipped those stories and filed them in a manilla folder labeled “Jews On Mars.” Wherever we are, we stand together. Moving through time.

And may it be for all of us a blessing.

See you tonight!

Mit vareme grusn,
(With warm regards,)

All my love,
brian.

PS

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