TBT Blog

It has truly been such an honor to spend the High Holidays with you. In case you missed a service (or want to re-watch!), we hope you will take time to listen/watch on our YouTube channel. To accompany your watching, here is the 1-sentence CliffsNotes (are those still a thing?) version for each of our sermons:

• Erev Rosh Hashanah: We need to be our authentic selves and love who we are; it is time to figure out what are the sum total of our parts, and honor them.
• Rosh Hashanah Morning: Let us create scenarios for our futures (individually; congregationally) to prepare for what’s ahead.
• Erev Yom Kippur: God is like an e-bike: there is a “hand” at our backs helping climb up life’s hills, if only we engage it (God).
• Yom Kippur Morning: It’s time for a system upgrade, to embrace change, and to see each of our steps as progress, not necessarily as failures.
• Yom Kippur Yizkor: When we lose loved ones, we have broken open hearts, where the goodness of our relationships are revealed; we should cherish having hearts that break open.

These were our truths, what Rabbi Molly and I wanted to communicate as our Torah (so to speak). As your rabbis, we hope these Torah truths resonate. 

But we believe that each of us has Torah to teach.

Which…is why we invited Nestor Quijada, who has taken care of our facilities for more than 25 years to share his Torah truths with us on Shabbat Shuvah (it’s definitely worth the 12 minutes to watch/listen). Click here to listen (the video is pre-set to start when Nestor speaks). 

…and it’s also why we invited 18 members of our community to teach their Torah truths, as part of our Yom Kippur Afternoon Torah service. You can watch/listen here and each of their 180-word messages will be shared online in the near future.

But…we want to hear YOUR Torah, as well.

And that Torah comes in the form of our Shared Visioning project.

Take all 5 of our High Holiday sermons, put them in a blender and smoosh them together. What’s the message that emerges? Simply put, each of us has a path on which we walk, which reveals our gifts, our challenges, our hopes, and dreams. When we consider those aspects that are less obvious and those that are more, what emerges is a way of looking at the world that is unique.

We value that perspective and believe that it is essential in understanding who and what we are as a sacred community. And that is why we – as a congregation – have embarked on our Shared Visioning project.

As Donna Blankinship, chair of our project, wrote to the congregation, “our goal is to gather and express our communal beliefs about who we are, what is important to us, and where we want to go from here.” And we want – we need – your unique voice to be added to this conversation so that you can share your Torah truths with us…those core beliefs that are so essential for us to possess and embrace as a community.

If you haven’t been contacted by our Shared Visioning interviewers, and would like a one-on-one conversation, let us know and we will put you in touch.

In November (we are still working on the date), we will gather as a community to talk about our congregation, transitions, and those moments of meaning that perpetuate the ethos of TBT. Our goal will be 3-fold: 1) to offer an “executive summary” of what we have heard; 2) understand how communities grow and change; and 3) engage in a conversation about rabbinic leadership.

So, keep an eye out for our November Shared Visioning gathering. Until then, here is some homework! Ask yourself: “What is my Torah? What is my truth? What are the essential elements I need for my Jewish sustenance and growth?”

Your answers will be yours…and they will be right…and we want to hear them.