Theme: 5776: Gateways

Erev Rosh Hashanah Sunday evening, Sept. 13, 2015

Rabbi’s Message #1 --- Shalom and L’Shana Tovah to each one of you who came this evening to enter together into the New Year. What does it mean “to enter”? I have been thinking about this for several months, gathering ideas for my theme this year, which is GATEWAYS. Certain places have been named Gateways… such as St. Louis, Gateway to the West, since explorers and settlers began their journey West from there, a setting forth point. Other gateways are at the entrance of a special place, like the magical feeling of passing through the gates of Disney’s Magic Kingdom.

I’d like you to picture a gateway – it could be of any material – stone, wood, iron, wood, painted, weathered, an arbor with vines… Is there any sign or name on the top of the gateway announcing what is within? Does your gate have a door or is it open? If it has a door, is it locked? See yourself with the key or the code to open the door if that is needed, and see yourself entering through the gate. Are you approaching a house, a structure of any kind, a garden, a meadow? Are there trees? Plants? Animals? What is beyond your gate? Focus on something of value, pleasant, intriguing, and bring it back, or bring back the sensation or memory of what you saw, heard, smelled, felt there.

In our Elul Workshop we did this exercise and then described to each other the varied types of gateways people imagined. Then we looked at the approaching new moon of Tishri ahead as a gateway to the rest of the year. On colorful half sheets of paper, each person created a diagram of their own gateway to the New Year, with the major goal, hope, prayer for the coming year written on time of the gate. On the sides, they described what they saw, heard, felt, and some way they would celebrate the fulfillment of this goal. Healthy self-care. Letting go of inhibitions, Connection, Tranquility. Hope after loss, Shalom, Safety… and then envisioning entering through that personal gateway to rejoice, dance, and celebrate. Some of these gateway drawings will be displayed in the Meditation Garden behind the synagogue on Yom Kippur. By that time, many of you may well feel you have entered fully through the gateway of this new turning which is the root meaning of Shanah,year, (L’Shanah Tovah) a turning and change, shinui.

It is worth noting that many ancient Hebrew texts, as well as contemporary prayer books, have the word GATES in their title: Shaarei Tefillah -Gates of Prayer, Shaarei Teshuvah - Gates of Repentance, The Talmudic Baba Kama, (First Gate), Baby Metzia (Middle Gate), and Baba Batra (Last Gate) – with Baba being the Aramaic word for gate.

I find it interesting that so many chapters should be called “Gates”:

#1 Shaar HaYichud - Unity of God introduction to God

#2 Shaar Bechina - Gate of Examination waking up. essential foundations.

#3 Shaar Avodas HaElokim - Gate of Service of God more on waking up. more essential foundations.

#4 Shaar HaBitachon - Gate of Trust in God the most necessary of all things in the service of G-d

#5 Shaar Yichud HaMaase - Gate of Devotion introduction to falsehood and the evil inclination

#6 Shaar HaKnia - Gate of Submission "the beginning and root of repentance"

#7 Shaar HaTeshuva- Gate of Repentance the conditions and requirements of repentance

#8 Shaar Cheshbon Hanefesh – Gate of Spiritual Accounting exercises for internalizing the book

#9 Shaar HaPerishus - Gate of Abstinence and self control cultivating self control and total focus

#10 Shaar Ahavas Hashem - Gate of Love of God

We speak of Shaarei Tzedek – the Gates of Righteousness (from Psalm 118 - Open for me the Gates of Righteousness… I will go through them and offer gratitude to God). There is a sense of anticipation when at a gate, a kind of feeling of being almost there… Are we there yet? You can see the house, meadow, garden, temple, goal -- but you aren’t yet there. This preparation heightens the sense of excitement. There is something very important that sits deep in our memory – of pre-holiday preparations, the very basic physical ones, cleaning the house, cooking soup and delicious foods, maybe brisket, or a family favorite you come to expect each year, inviting people to share the meal or knowing you will see relatives and close friends, the smells of polish for silver, copper candlesticks and serving dishes and silverware, the buying of something new so that you could say Shehechiyanu… the acquiring of a new Jewish calendar and seeing what the large number of years is up to – 5776 this year. And if you didn’t grow up with these home rituals, extended family gatherings and special holiday recipes, or High Holy Day royal melodies, then we are creating those memories here now at our Jewish Community of Sedona and the Verde Valley. We are holding each other’s hands as we enter the New Year together, the gateway to deeper connections with each other and with joyous, juicy Judaism.

To help us find our way through the Gateway onto the path beyond I have prepared several gifts and guides: (show examples of each)

You can take them with you after the service: - A home ceremony which many of you already used tonight at your table to usher in the New Year with blessing and sweetness; the other side contains a brief Erev Yom Kippur home service before the fast begins. - A Book of Life journal for writing very brief notes about the past year with hopes for your New Turning in the coming year. (There is a “seal” glued on the back so that at Yom Kippur when we say “May you be written and SEALED in the Book of Life” you can peel off the seal and close this Book of Living Fully. - A Jewish calendar that enables you to anticipate and plan for each Jewish holy day and festival, and let family and friends know when Hanukkah and Passover and the other important dates on the Jewish calendar will fall this coming year. - A Traveler’s Prayer in anticipation of a trip, since so many of you travel during the year. Keep that with you. - At home you can use our JCSVV.org website as a gateway, a portal, to discover what is coming up in our programs, services, and celebrations, and a way to order on Amazon that benefits the synagogue as you explore the vast array of products you search for and buy.

During the year there will be many gateways through which you can enter the realm of Jewish community. Choose your gateway. Follow the path ahead. Find treasure and value and a sense of safety and growth. Enter with me. Let us enter the gateway to the year ahead.

L’Shanah Tovah – wishing you a sweet and good new turning.

-Amen.

Theme: 5776: Gateways

Rosh Hashanah Day Monday, Sept. 14, 2015

Rabbi’s Message #2

Boker tov. Good morning, on the First Day of Rosh Hashanah. You have heard, said, and sung so many prayers, blessings, and readings this morning, in Hebrew and in English, spoken and chanted. I spoke to you last night, as the New Year began, about GATEWAYS, my theme for these Days of Awe, as the 10 days from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur are known.

I was a licensed tour guide during the years Itzhak and I lived in Israel, and was always struck by the feeling of anticipation and expectation when I took groups through the gates of the Old City of Jerusalem. There was a sense of “Now we are going back in time. Now we are about to enter a sacred area toward which we have been turning in prayer for years. Now I am about to step on ancient stones containing millennia of history.” Once we moved to the United States and established our home in Los Angeles, I had to find new gates, new ways to bring the joy of our Jewish heritage to people. I did this as Museum Educator of the Skirball Museum, at that housed on the Hebrew Union College Campus near USC college campus. My tools were the art and artifacts – menorahs, ketubot – decorated marriage certificates), ancient archeological finds of pottery and metal, as well as contemporary expressions of Jewish culture in fiber arts, works in glass, silver, and ceramic. With each tour, gallery hunt, or school program, I found ways to make Jewish culture come alive by entering through the gateway of art, architecture, archeology, and artifacts.

Later as Program Director in a large synagogue in Beverly Hills the gateways I offered were through adult education and holiday celebrations for youth, adults, and elders.

The gateway that I yearned to find was the gateway of BLESSING… and that I slowly found through my studies in Rabbinical school and as a volunteer chaplain in hospitals in L.A. Now as a rabbi, I am able to offer these gateways to you as a tour guide, not of the land of Israel, not as a museum guide, not as coordinator of studies and programs, but as a tour guide of the soul, offering blessings as you come up to Torah, as you come to simcha Shabbat and receive blessings for birthday, anniversaries, births of grandchildren, or other joyous occasions. I am transformed by bringing down blessings when anyone is ill, or when a visitor comes to the sanctuary and we open the ark and stand together next to the open ark wrapped in a tallit. The gateway of blessing, Shaar ha-bracha, is where I stand, and I invite you to enter and feel the power of blessing, and continue through to the sacred land beyond the gate, where you belong, where your soul is home.

In our Torah study we look at our Torah narratives through the lens of 4 worlds – physical simple story, creative imaginative word play and hint, intellectual understanding and application, and then, the mystical beyond words realm of spirit. I believe I had to go through all the stages of training and work – as tour guide on the land, as museum educator of art and creativity, as organizer of education and programming, to reach this level of tour guide of the soul, or Guide through the gate of blessing.

Come and enter with me. Choose any of the gateways we offer here – leading to the path of social action, prayer, study, music, cultural gatherings, or life cycle celebrations.

May you be blessed as you go on your way… tefillat ha derech. May you enter the gates of this new year and feel blessed on your journey.

(Tefillat ha-Derekh – Traveler’s Prayer, Debbie Friedman) May you be blessed as you go on your way May you be guided in peace May you be blessed with peace and joy May this be your blessing, Amen

Amen, Amen, may this be your blessing, Amen

May you be sheltered by the wings of peace May you be kept in safety and in love May grace and compassion find their way to every soul May this be your blessing, Amen

Amen, Amen, may this be your blessing, Amen

Theme: 5776: Gateways

Erev Yom Kippur/ Kol Nidre service Tuesday evening, Sept. 22, 2015

Rabbi’s Drash #3 -

When I was 12 years old I had an Israeli teacher in religious school – this was The Jewish Community Center, a Reform synagogue in White Plains, NY (later they changed their name to Kol Ami, the Voice of my People). She taught us Israeli folk dances that were popular at the time, and still are favorites today, decades later. This was my gateway into Joyful Judaism, not the heavy burden of being the daughter of Holocaust survivors, but rather the connection to the new, modern, State of Israel that was still so young. Mayim, el Ginat Egoz, Ma Navu, Hora – Hava Nagila… line dances, couple dances, circle dances… I felt something very ancient and communal that I couldn’t quite describe well up in me. I learned the Hebrew songs from the faded purple mimeographed sheets she handed out in transliteration. I actually found one of these in one of my childhood Hebrew books just recently!

So dance, song, music—these were a very delightful gateway for me to Jewish tradition, history, and language.

My father, Alfred Fleissig of blessed memory, had a mentor in Krakow, Poland, before World War II, who moved to Israel just before the war broke out - Mr. Folkman - who sent me a subscription to a Hebrew language newspaper with vowels for beginners each month and a Madame Alexander doll each Hanukkah. We had a few aunts, uncles and cousins who had survived the war and ended up in Israel. That was another gateway for me to Israel … knowing that we had relatives and family friends there, some of whom visited once in a while, and when I lived in Israel, became very important links to the past.

My father subscribed to several newspapers to keep abreast of news in Israel and about Jews around the world. He also read local papers through the lens of how Israel and Jews were portrayed. I could hear him sighing, or laughing, or wiping his eyes according to how the news was reported. He supported many Jewish organizations in New York and in Israel. His Tzedakah, charitable giving, was definitely a gateway of connection for him.

I wonder what your connection is to other Jews… in this community, in America, around the world, and especially in Israel. We, as a people, are very loyal to the country in which we reside, but also have a sense of family connection with Jews everywhere. That is one reason we are so delighted when visitors come to our synagogue. We truly feel they are extended family.

Throughout our complicated and unique Jewish history, even after expulsions and destruction, Jews have entered through gateways of new lands and languages to adapt to their new surroundings, but keeping ties with the earlier gateways of Hebrew, Torah, and learning that bind them together. Looking to one of our foundational stories, the Exodus from Egypt, when we truly formed as a nation, we walked through the desert and saw it not as a wasteland but as the gateway to the Promised Land. No matter how long or far the wandering, what kept both the old and the young generations of the desert fired with enthusiasm and hope, even through terrible setbacks, there was the sense that where they were was temporary, only a gateway corridor to the Promised Land. Under the leadership of Moses, they took another step, won another battle, viewed another miracle, survived another disappointment and loss, and finally, prepared for the next step, they entered the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua. This is a model for us, be fully immersed in our present journey, and yet keep the perspective that this is a gateway to another stage and level on our path, offering hope and anticipation of further growth and transformation. That study of Torah and Jewish history is a gateway to connect with our heritage and keep tradition alive and vibrant. As I say in my mission as a rabbi – to bring joyous juicy Judaism to the next generation.

On the gate of many Jewish cemeteries there are the words “Beit Hayyim or Beit Olamim. The house of Life… or the House of Worlds beyond time and space…. as our tradition teaches that life is also a gateway to life everlasting. So we are souls on a journey, on this earth, and then beyond the life of the body, constantly passing through gateways to a next stage.

Let this Day of Atonement be a time of opening your gates and seeing beyond, preparing for what lies on the other side of the gates at whatever stage of life you find yourself.

Realize that you are also the gatekeeper, in charge of locking or opening the gateway of liberation and new beginnings.

When I was a child, my parents would drive the long road from White Plains to our summer home on Cape Cod, in those days before the throughway, it took over 7 hours. Impatient and a big motion sick, I would ask, “Are we there yet?” So I answer to that child in myself, and to all of you. We are there, standing at the gates, and they are open.

Theme: 5776: Gateways Yom Kippur Day Wed., September 23, 2015

Rabbi’s Drash #4

I’ve been speaking about the image of gateways, physical ones, and also symbolic ones: Lighting candles is a gateway to Shabbat, and lighting candles last night was a gateway into Yom Kippur. Rituals like candlelighting and saying certain blessings and prayers offer gateways into life cycle moments. The marriage canopy - Chuppah - is a gateway to marriage at a wedding. You enter single, and emerge a wedded couple. In our services during these holy days we have said the Shema, Hear O Israel, God is One, followed by V’ahavta… and you shall love God with all your heart, soul, and might… And you shall put these words on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates. Why gates? Why put these most important torah verses right there on our doorposts and on our gates?

A reminder when we walk by the way when return home, when we lie down and when we rise up. These words of love and connection are the Gate keepers, reminders of how to act at home and consistently out of the house. Another understanding of the gatekeepers are our Senses. If we follow these instructions, we shield and stop evil, negative sights, sounds, words, and actions through our eyes, ears, hands, and entire body…. Creating our own personal gateways in and out.

On your computers, you create passwords as gateways to files and confidential information.

How far are gates from the actual entrance to the house? They are an entryway, and announcement, a place of anticipation… whether by your house, on your computer, or at the outer edges of your body space, the gateway is a space of anticipation, not quite there yet, but in sight.

In a similar way, High Holy Days are the gateway to the New Year, a time of judgment, forgiveness, a new start. My prayer is that we are able to open the gates of our heart in a spiritual sense of allowing the flow of blessing to enter, and feeling safe enough to open our gates to others whom we trust and love. Gates are important as boundaries, they can be locked. But knowing when to open them is vital to passing through and not staying behind closed gates. Open for me my own gates that God can enter. My entering is also allowing others to enter.

Through this day of fasting, or refraining from ordinary work and rhythm, we are allowing ourselves to approach that ultimate gate between life and death. Why do people speak of the gates of heaven? Because there is a sense of boundary between this life and the life beyond the body. At times that boundary is thin, and we feel the gates dissolving , between heaven and earth, between future and past, between old and young… there is only connection. So when we say Please open the gates, our pleas is one of deep connection, let me be there. Now.

At Neilah, the closing service this evening, the Choir will sing “Open for me the Gates,” even as they are closing. We yearn to keep the gates open, still wanting to stay in that space of fluidity, before the gates close. How moving and exciting to stand together while the gates are open, the gates to heaven, to connection, to expanding consciousness, to self-acceptance, and step through together to the path of adventure in this new year.

May you pass through the gateways of this new year, and be written and sealed in the Book of Living Fully.

-Amen.