The traditional Torah reading for Yom Kippur Mincha is Leviticus 18, which lists forbidden sexual relations and activities. Mahzor Lev Shalem, as well as High Holy Day prayer books dating as far back as the 1950’s, offers as an alternative reading Leviticus 19: 1-18, the so-called Holiness Code. Some of you may recall that in the 1990’s, this was the reading we did for Yom Kippur Mincha. This year, Rabbi Julie, with the approval of the Ritual Committee, has decided that we will do the alternative reading. It was felt that the Shomrei Emunah community should be made aware of this well in advance of Yom Kippur in order to understand the rationale behind the decision.

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Elul Message from Guest Prayer Leader Talia Lakritz

The Unetaneh Tokef melody that we sang together on Rosh Hashanah and we’ll sing again on Yom Kippur was composed by Israeli songwriter Yair Rosenblum, inspired by a kibbutz’s heavy losses during the Yom Kippur War. In 1990, Rosenblum visited Kibbutz Beit Hashita in northern Israel, which lost 11 members during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. During his visit, he was inspired to write this melody to Unetaneh Tokef and stayed up all night composing it. The tune is unique in that it contains Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and modern Israeli musical influences. (more…)

Shana Tova! I hope you are greeting 5782 with a resounding “Hineni!”- here I am, ready to take on the New Year with enthusiasm and commitment.

In that spirit, I am writing about the future of the Wednesday Night Minyan. Because of my pandemic work schedule, (teaching on Zoom Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday from 7:30-9:30 PM) I am no longer available to lead the Wednesday night minyan. (Even if we changed Wednesday to another night of the week, all this Zoom time would not be good for my mental health!)  (more…)

Our monthly Wednesday evening minyan wrapped up another successful year.  That’s 13 years –  not bad for a minyan that was supposed to last only one month. We will take a summer break and resume in some form after the High Holidays.

It was quite a year: a Presidential election, a pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, an insurrection on our Capitol where we added the Prayer for Our Country to our regular evening service and a war in Israel. More than ever, we needed to be together and to feel a sense of community.   The Zoom minyan gave us that opportunity.

Thanks to all the participants who made the virtual minyan possible. Special thanks to Rabbi Greenstein, Lisa Z., Geoff, Michael Finck, John Lasiter and Andy Silver for their hard work, often behind the scenes.