TBT Blog

August. It’s the time that families think about that last summer vacation before school starts. It’s when companies rethink their 2nd-half-of-the-year sales strategies. It’s when folks begin to realize the days are starting to get shorter.

And for rabbis, it’s the realization that the High Holidays are only 6 weeks away!

In truth, your rabbis (Rabbi Molly and me) have been thinking about and planning for High Holidays for the past 3 months. Working with Cantor Kay Greenwald–our guest cantor for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur–we have been imagining and re-imagining what our High Holiday experience might look like.

In the next week or so, each household of our congregation will receive a packet of information with details on our Fall Festival observances–from Selichot through Simchat Torah. In addition to Cantor Greenwald joining us (to learn more about her, click here), we are delighted that our TBT choir will be included in both Erev Rosh Hashanah and Erev Yom Kippur services. Our cantor Emeritus David Serkin-Poole will also be joining us for our Selichot service. We will introduce a new Shofar service, which was written by Noah Aronson (who will be with us for Shabbat, Friday and Saturday, August 18-19), with my collaboration, for my former synagogue in Kansas City.

However, the most important aspect of High Holidays will remain unchanged: an opportunity for each of us to connect with our family…our congregational family…our Jewish family.

And that is what I am most excited about. Not only will this be the first time that I get to meet many of you, it will be MY opportunity to experience the warmth and welcoming in a grand way that I have heard so much about over the last several months. What I have seen in small ways is what I anticipate during our High Holidays…people joining one another, greeting, praying, singing, being uplifted together as we look into our souls and celebrate the essential goodness of each of us…and of Temple B’nai Torah.

So, as August begins and our minds begin to think about the changes that are coming in the fall and winter seasons, I am going to encourage each one of us to do three things:

1. Email Donna Blankinship (donnablankinship@gmail.com) and volunteer to have a Shared Vision conversation with one of our “listeners.” (Don’t know what this is about? Watch Rabbi Nemitoff's sermon or announcement video). We need your help to change.
2. Reach out to ONE non-TBT (and non-affiliated) family and invite them to join you for a Shabbat service in the next few weeks (Our August 18-19 events would be an awesome opportunity, check out our newsletter for details). We need your help to grow.
3. Commit to participating in ONE more High Holiday observance than you normally do. If you only come to either the evening or morning service…consider coming to both. Don’t normally participate in Sukkot? Try it just this year. We want to help you change and grow for the good.

As I have said over the last several months, I do want to get to know you and your story. Please call/email/text me. Let’s get together – at TBT, at a coffee shop/restaurant, at your home (whatever is most convenient for you) – and meet. Let me get to know you and for you to know who I am and why I am so passionate about TBT. My cell is: 913-735-3545. Call or text. Or email me: rabbinemitoff@templebnaitorah.org. I look forward to speaking with you. And together, let us change…let us grow!