Rabbi Magal's Drashot for High Holy Days 5781 - 2020

                        Photo taken by Beverly Copen from computer during recorded service

Rabbi Alicia Magal’s Drashot for

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur 2020    5781

This year because of the isolation and distancing necessitated by the Covid 19 pandemic I had to ask myself what the essence of the High Holy Days are and how to “translate” them through Zoom, Livestreaming, or pre-recorded services.  

I wrote out a few of the essential elements of the High Holy Days and the soul work of the Days of Awe. My task was how to express them in new ways through virtual technology … not just at the services but throughout the month of Elul leading up to the Ten Days of Awe.

 

Community and Connection

Transformation

Growth

Study

Celebration

Prayer

Music

Self-reflection

Sense of renewal, new beginnings

Traditional Foods

 

And so… I decided to  coordinate a series of experiences, including a Honey Cake Bake on Zoom; individual Tashlich guide; a 3-congregation Zoom session on Kindness, Self-care, and Mitzvot; a Second Day Rosh Hashanah study discussion on Jeremiah and prophecy; afternoon discussion on Zoom to share past Yom Kippur memories and aspirations for the coming year, etc. and called it:

A Journey through the High Holy Day Season.

 

 

 

 

Theme: Breaking down and remaking: overcoming challenges

First welcome at beginning of Erev Rosh Hashanah service

 

Shalom to every person joining us to begin our celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. I stand here in our sanctuary, and it is empty. No bustle of greetings and hugs or reunions after people would be returning from summer vacations,  trips, or cruises.  And yet, I feel your presence, and reach out to you in your homes which are now an extension of this sanctuary.  Each person‘s home is considered a mikdash me’at.  A smaller model of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle in the desert, the glorious Temple that stood in Jerusalem.  I invited everyone to create consciously a mikdash me’at in preparation for these High Holy Day virtual services… Perhaps you draped your chair or table with a pretty cloth, or took out a Kiddush cup, candle sticks, or other Judaic ceremonial objects to make this space not a workspace but a prayer space for the duration of these Ten Days of Awe.

 

We are actually lucky.  There are some of my colleagues who cannot even get to their sanctuary or their Torahs which are now in storage. They will be reading from the printed Tanakh, Bible, rather than from their Torah scrolls.  Let’s be grateful for what we can do to pray together under these extraordinary circumstances.  We are using the technology we have mastered and have developed new ways to connect with our congregation.

 

This year for our services, we have sent everyone a pdf file of a Machzor, an edited prayer book for the High Holy Days.  But we will also be sharing many of the pages on the screen so that you don’t have to refer to that file on another device or print out so many pages. Let’s find value and comfort and delight and gratitude for what we ARE able to do during these Ten Days of Awe, a time of honest reflection, and hopeful renewal. 

 

 

 

1.   Erev Rosh Hashanah

 

At each of our holy days and festivals we look back at our history because we are re-enacting the journey and lessons of our ancestors.  At Passover it is as if we ourselves are being released from slavery and entering the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land. At Shavuot we stand at the foot of Mt. Sinai and receive Torah all over again.  At the pilgrimage festivals we take time to consider our personal harvest and, though we cannot walk miles to the Temple in Jerusalem to make an offering, we can do the contemporary equivalent, which is to feel gratitude for our bounty, and make donations to support the needy in our community, and to ensure the continuity of our synagogue and Jewish institutions. At the High Holy Days, we reconnect with how Jews throughout history took stock of themselves personally and as a community, reviewed their actions over the past year, made amends with people they may have hurt, even inadvertently, and prayed sincerely for forgiveness for their failings and mistakes. 

So we too each year come to the New Year and set aside our pride and our certainty that we are “good people” and truly ask ourselves, “Where have we missed the mark, or failed to help where assistance was needed, or caused pain to someone by our words or deeds?  The shofar signals us to wake up and hear the sometimes uncomfortable truth about ourselves.   So I ask you to turn a true soul mirror to yourself and ask “What do I regret doing or failing to do in this past year?” No one else has to hear your words, but you must have the courage to say them! 

If I, as your rabbi, have caused you pain by my words or failed to be present at your time of need, I truly apologize and wish to clear up any misunderstandings or hurts.  We often do not realize the impact of our words, or tone, as others hear us.  During the month of Elul was the perfect time to call up people and have the conversation asking for forgiveness, and if we can, finding it in our hearts to forgive others. There is still time to do that.

 

 

 

That doesn’t ever mean to condone grave sins or abusive actions, but it does let us move past these incidents and be free to enjoy the next chapters of our life without the heavy anchor of hurt feelings or depression dragging us down.

 

The shofar breaks open the heavens and, some say, reveals the Book of Life.  Ah, how we hope and pray to be written in that book for the coming year.  I don’t take it so very literally… but rather see the Book of Life as the true record that follows our words and actions throughout the year. Those pages have been written on actually by us.  What our fate is no one can tell, as we say in the Unetaneh Tokef prayer, “Who shall live and who shall die….” but the Book of Living Fully, using our talents and experiences, and qualities……. THAT is up to us to inscribe.

 

This particular past year tested us in completely new ways. Not like a hurricane or flood or earthquake that was a crisis of short duration from which we could recover fairly quickly, but rather a months-long and still continuing change in our social fabric, habits, and freedom.

Tomorrow I will speak more about both the huge costs and losses as well as the surprising blessings, opportunities, and gifts we are finding during this unique time.

 

 

 

 

 

2.     Rosh Hashanah morning

 

This morning as we connect through the magic of recordings and internet, we are also connecting back through history to our most ancient roots.  Actually we are reading about Creation, the very beginnings of our world.  If we trace our history, we see so many times when life didn’t go smoothly, when there was The Flood, and mankind began again, when our people were enslaved and needed Moses to break free and head toward the Promised Land.  There were also times of building up, settling, creating systems of judges, living under an ethical system with the Temple in Jerusalem as the central holy place for bringing offerings at appointed times.  

And then there were times of brokenness, none so great as the Destruction of the First and later the Second Temple, with the city of Jerusalem in ruins.  By 70 CE this was a moment of brokenness and could have signaled the very end of our people’s history.  But Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai got himself smuggled out of Jerusalem by his students in a coffin, made his way to Yavne on the coast, and went to the Roman general Vespasian, hailed him as Emperor (which title actually came to pass) and only asked “Give me Yavne and its scholars,” a request that was granted. 

From that modest beginning came a huge transformation of Judaism from Temple-centered to decentralized synagogues; from ceremonies performed by an inherited dynasty of Cohanim, the priests and Levites, to rabbis who, from any level of society, by study and moral learning, could be granted leadership roles; and instead of the sacrifice of animals, grain, and fruits, Jews brought the offerings of their heart in prayer and Tzedakah, righteous giving to support the poor, the orphan, the widow, and the ones without protection or voice.

This is a Yavne moment for us.  We must do as they did, and instead of dwelling on what we can no longer do as we did before, must look up with faith and resilience, and say, “How can we remain true to our tradition and the essence of its teachings but in a whole new way? It is easy to list all the ways we cannot perform our services and communal gatherings as we did last year, but let’s look at how, in so many ways, we have honored and fulfilled the essence of what these High Holy Days ask of us and what we yearn to accomplish through them:

 

We have prepared our homes and our hearts for this time of Teshuvah, of returning to our best values and teachings, we have found ways to connect through Zoom and livestreaming technology even for funerals and shiva minyanim, we have sought ways to pray together, keeping our morning minyan going without a break, reaching out across the miles through our computers, ipads, and phones. We have learned together bringing in speakers and people from other congregations and communities and have kept in touch with members who have moved away through technology that never would have been possible just a few years ago. We have found ways to keep our community connection strong, to celebrate Seders and simchas, Friday nights and Havdalah, and created new avenues of expressing our need to be together for joyous and sad times, and we succeeded.

I’m sure that some of these avenues will remain open and appealing even when we once again can safely congregate. We will have added to our repertoire as Jews, we will have brought new layers of meaning and mastery to our tradition.  We will have learned from our difficult and inspiring history and will claim this Yavne moment as another turning point.  We, as a people, survived the Holocaust, established the modern and miraculous State of Israel, and are committed to proclaiming all the positive reasons we are proud of our identity as Jews. We can overcome every obstacle if we continue to look in every age at how we can improve, heal, and repair what is broken.

We are in the midst of those 40 days when Moses was back up on Mt. Sinai receiving the second set of tablets after he had broken the first set in anger when he came down the first time and saw the Children of Israel worshipping the Golden Calf.  According to tradition, he ascended on the first of Elul, and came back down on Yom Kippur, a sign that we were forgiven, and our greatest gift from God was restored.  Do you know that we kept the broken tablets in the ark along with the complete second set and carried both the broken and whole in the ark through the wilderness!  It is a lesson that we too carry our brokenness with us and honor the lessons we learned from our failings and mistakes and even sins, since they form a part of us. If we embrace all of who we are and all that we have done, then we can move forward in our own search for forgiveness and wholeness.

 

3.     Kol Nidre

 

This service is the Eve of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, but we usually call it by the important music we heard at the beginning of the service, Kol Nidre, which means All our vows.  One can imagine that during the Crusades and the Inquisition and other times of horrendous oppression and danger that our people were forced to make vows they did not mean and would not keep.  In our day it has come to mean that we look at the promises we made or might make and though we may try our very best, we may find it impossible to keep, sometimes through no fault of our own.  How many plans were changed, canceled, and impossible to fulfill this past year because of the pandemic.  That is why it is traditional to say I’ll see you on Thursday, b’ezrat Hashem….  with the help of God, because who knows what might prevent me carrying out that promise from now to then?  We say, “Bli Neder,” without making a vow. Any of our plans, schedules, promises, are only intentions, and we can never be sure they will come to fruition.  So, this release of vows even now when we all live in freedom is still so compelling.  The music is haunting and brings us to tears. 

 

The message is a softening of our self-image. We are not perfect. We will mess up. We are human. And we will keep on trying, but we should be very, very careful not to assume that we are totally in control.  We have free will, and yet, things will happen to upset our plans.  There will be storms, illness, loss, unexpected reverses of fortune, a pandemic like this year which upended most of our plans and for the most part kept us from seeing loved ones and friends.  So this is a time when we let go of our mask, our Facebook selfie image we usually project to the world, and we contemplate what really really really matters in our life. We need to be a little broken tonight, a little vulnerable, a little open to seeing our cracks, without explaining… or defending… or excusing.

 

 As Leonard Cohen sings in Anthem about cracks…

Forget your perfect offering, there is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in. That’s where the light gets in. Let’s let in that light through our prayers, our asking for forgiveness, our admission that we can yet improve and that we raise each other up as a community no matter what the obstacles are.

 

Our brothers and sisters in Israel face huge obstacles and constant attacks but yet show creativity –in the arts, inventiveness in technology and agriculture, and a willingness to help even those nations which don’t recognize Israel’s legitimacy.  Rather they make constant attempts to make peace with neighbors in the region. With all their complexity, they deserve our support and honor.  We join with Jews all around the world to stand up proudly for our heritage and mission.

 

Let’s keep on promising and planning, and making our lives a blessing, even as we realize we may not complete our tasks.  The important thing is to know we have a soul mission and keep on trying again.

 

May we be written in the book of Living Fully for this coming year.

 

 

 

4.     Yom Kippur morning

 Looking forward, what we gained, learned, decided, how we grew…changing our perspective. What did we regret most, and how did we show our resilience.

 

This whole day until sundown tonight is a continuation of the Day of Atonement that began last night.  We sincerely ask for forgiveness with an open heart, and with the faith that we will be granted forgiveness.  By the end of the day we will be able to look forward, filled with a sense that we did our soul work, we gained understanding, we have grown, we have changed our perspective. That’s not easy to do -- to overcome habit and routine, and our own unconscious bias and blindness.  Our people have suffered throughout history, and have also had some periods of relative freedom and success, and always emphasized learning and study, both through the good times and the bad.  We have offered our hands to help the needy and the oppressed, and continue to do that in our own day. Going through an alphabetical list of a range of sins, of ways we failed to act from our very highest values, is humbling, but allows us to admit what we most regret, and now how we resolve to do better, to make real and positive changes, and show resilience. God does not expect us to be perfect, only better.

 

Perhaps you are fasting.  That is harder when you are home and not at synagogue all day, but even if you just reduce the amount of food, and even if you are not allowed to fast for medical reasons, you should still feel elevated and more spiritual, not concerned with regular physical tasks. We wear white, no leather shoes, and  we fast so that we are more like the angels – we are closer to our spiritual selves, more like the biblical patriarch Israel - his spiritual name - rather than Jacob, his earthly name. Perhaps if you have a Hebrew name, use it today. My Hebrew name is Amalia, which translates as “worker of God.” It was my mother’s mother’s name, and I carry that lineage of my namesake who perished in the Holocaust. 

 

This afternoon at Yizkor we will remember ALL those whose names and memories we carry. 

 

I invite you to take out pictures of loved ones who have passed away, and put them near the memorial candle that you lit last night… and which will continue to burn all day.

 

Our job is to allow ourselves to be broken, yes, broken, like those shattered tablets, and to feel sorrow, and remorse, and then to do the healing and repair necessary to reawaken our sense of aliveness and joy.  This is time-out-of-time set aside for each one of us but with the loving support of the whole community. 

 

We take that journey together.

 

Let this truly be a day of at-one-ment.

 

 

I can't believe I haven't written on my Blog site since 2016.  So now I'll start again during this pandemic of the Corona Virus in March of 2020.  
This is what I wrote in our synagogue newsletter:

Ma Nishtanah… What is different?

EVERYTHING is different!! We will not be having a Community Seder or a Women’s Seder, and perhaps your Seder will be different from any you ever had before in your life.   

We aren’t going out except for necessary shopping.  The movie theaters, some restaurants, all schools, are closed. We cannot hug or shake hands as we used to.  If we touch any surface we have a sanitizing wipe or spray on hand so as not to spread or pick up this insidious virus. Our generation has not experienced this kind of global calamity, this level of emergency, that changes all our previous expectations about how we can make schedules, travel plans, or be in charge of our lives.  We just do not know.

So what can we do?  We can call on our very highest selves and offer help to those whose immune systems are compromised; we must be extremely careful since we can no longer visit elders in assisted living or really have contact with seniors to whom we might bring an infection.  But we can do errands, deliver, and wipe, wipe, wipe with strong antiseptic solutions.  We can reach out by phone and email and any other way possible.

There are an increasing number of classes, meditations, programs, and services online.  We, at the JCSVV, are experimenting with live streaming through a closed facebook group.  You already have gotten instructions and invitations to join that group.  I am working with Helen King, our JCSVV president, with Sheryl Tuchman, who has graciously taught me how to arrange live streaming of Erev Shabbat services, and with other members of our Board and our congregation on seeking ways to support each other and stay connected, which is the major mission of our Jewish community.  I have reached out to each member, including our associate members living elsewhere, and have heard so many encouraging examples of how you are staying balanced, upbeat, wisely safe, and “hunkering down” – that expression was the one I heard most often.

So, as we are all in the wilderness of just not knowing, let’s keep in mind the shining example of walking toward the Promised Land, which, in our case, might mean once again being able to congregate in our sanctuary and social hall, enjoy the enlivening experience of group gatherings, and oh, will we ever appreciate all that we took for granted, just a few short weeks ago!

The physical synagogue building might be closed, and the planned-for schedule might be postponed, but our connection is solid, and we will find ways to stay “in touch.”

Blessing for Nissan. (March 26 – April 24, 2020)

During this time of uncertainty and forced isolation, let us draw on the faith and strength of our ancestors who weathered many disasters and dispersions, so that we stay whole, in the best possible health, and remain a community that reaches out by any means to each other to support and uplift each other.   –Amen.

Rabbi's article and blessing for December issue of synagogue newsletter

Blessings for Unity

How blessed we are in our day and time!  We are free to study about Jewish tradition, learn something of the Hebrew language, offer traditional blessings for babies, for youth at bar or bat mitzvah, for a wedding couple under the chuppah, offer a Jewish purification and burial, and celebrate holy days and Shabbats together. No one stops us or has laws against gathering for worship or classes, or puts us in danger for identifying with our religion, as has happened so many times in our history. 

Please, please, take advantage of this precious freedom, of our teachers willing to pass down our heritage to each other and to the next generation of students. Please bring your own unique presence, talents, and insights to discuss the Torah portion of the week, or to take advantage of the many educational offerings planned for the coming months, or support the variety of cultural activities and social groups of our congregation.

Our country, and indeed the world, is in a tumultuous time of change, with unexpected events happening all around us, violence done to people of color or wearing an ethnic head covering, and amplified by the nightly news and headlines.  Let us unify as a community, and stand firmly for communication, compassion, and cooperation.  I will be wearing a safety pin on my clothing, a signal that is spreading as a symbol of a “safe person” who will come to the aid of anyone who is facing discrimination or attack.  I do not live in a large city and am not on busy streets or in subways or other public transportation, so I do not know how effective this symbol will be, but I hope the idea spreads and we all take responsibility for caring for the stranger, the minority person, the woman... anyone who finds him or herself in a hostile situation.  I call on my congregants, my clergy colleagues, and all in the wider community to proclaim our highest values and not let violence or discrimination be tolerated in our midst.

Let’s be positive and kind to each other….  a light to the nations.

And, in that spirit, you are invited to come to celebrate Hanukkah, festival of light and freedom, on Monday, December 26 at 4 p.m.

Blessing for Kislev  5777 (December 1 - 29, 2016)

At this darkest time of the year, we light candles to bring in light, symbolizing freedom.  May we all gather together to kindle the light of the Hanukkah candles.  May we be like the Shamash, the helper candle that is used to light the other candles, and kindle the soul-spark in those we encounter.  Our own light is never diminished by giving light to others.    – Amen.

Rabbi's article and blessing for December in synagogue newsletter

Blessings for Unity

How blessed we are in our day and time!  We are free to study about Jewish tradition, learn something of the Hebrew language, offer traditional blessings for babies, for youth at bar or bat mitzvah, for a wedding couple under the chuppah, offer a Jewish purification and burial, and celebrate holy days and Shabbats together. No one stops us or has laws against gathering for worship or classes, or puts us in danger for identifying with our religion, as has happened so many times in our history. 

Please, please, take advantage of this precious freedom, of our teachers willing to pass down our heritage to each other and to the next generation of students. Please bring your own unique presence, talents, and insights to discuss the Torah portion of the week, or to take advantage of the many educational offerings planned for the coming months, or support the variety of cultural activities and social groups of our congregation.

Our country, and indeed the world, is in a tumultuous time of change, with unexpected events happening all around us, violence done to people of color or wearing an ethnic head covering, and amplified by the nightly news and headlines.  Let us unify as a community, and stand firmly for communication, compassion, and cooperation.  I will be wearing a safety pin on my clothing, a signal that is spreading as a symbol of a “safe person” who will come to the aid of anyone who is facing discrimination or attack.  I do not live in a large city and am not on busy streets or in subways or other public transportation, so I do not know how effective this symbol will be, but I hope the idea spreads and we all take responsibility for caring for the stranger, the minority person, the woman... anyone who finds him or herself in a hostile situation.  I call on my congregants, my clergy colleagues, and all in the wider community to proclaim our highest values and not let violence or discrimination be tolerated in our midst.

Let’s be positive and kind to each other….  a light to the nations.

And, in that spirit, you are invited to come to celebrate Hanukkah, festival of light and freedom, on Monday, December 26 at 4 p.m.

Blessing for Kislev  5777 (December 1 - 29, 2016)

At this darkest time of the year, we light candles to bring in light, symbolizing freedom.  May we all gather together to kindle the light of the Hanukkah candles.  May we be like the Shamash, the helper candle that is used to light the other candles, and kindle the soul-spark in those we encounter.  Our own light is never diminished by giving light to others.    – Amen.

Rabbi Magal's Talk Notes at International New Thought Alliance conference, Scottsdale, AZ July 12, 2016

For New Thought talk at INTA conference, July 12, 2016

Embassy Suites Scottsdale

Rabbi Alicia Magal

Jewish Community of Sedona and the Verde Valley

It would be very hard to enter on stage in a New Thought audience and be as colorful, forceful, and dazzling as Bishop Dr. Barbara King….

But she does inspire us to make a statement in our own style and not hide!

She was amazing at the Parliament for World Religions in Salt Lake City that I attended, and wrote an article for your New Thought Magazine reporting on my impressions of the speakers, and was so impressed with her fierce authenticity and presence.

(Itzhak blows shofar)

The shofar, ram’s horn, is an ancient instrument that sounded an alarm and gathered the people for assembly, and heralds an important moment.  Today the shofar is blown to WAKE US UP from our waking slumber in the month leading up to the Jewish New Year…and on the Holy Day itself, with various sounds like a wake-up call, sobbing in sorrow and repentance, and then a triumphant long blast of strength for life in the year ahead.  It calls us, down to our very cells, to be more aware of our old patterns and break them, to get back on track, to shed the crusty skin that may have hardened our hearts.

New Thought, as Laurel Lee and Joey Gorka described to me in a detailed chart, and as I researched the many strands and threads that grew out of teachings by Emerson, Quimby, William James, Whitehead, Emmet Fox, Mary Baker Eddy,  Theosophy, Metaphysics, Aldous Huxley, Thoreau,  even Eastern teachings of Confucius, Dao, Vedic teachings and Buddhism, and so any more strands that added to the seeking of truth and the divine nature dwelling within, I saw that these teachings and influences branched out into Science of Mind, Unity, and other related organizations.  The Principles include finding Truth by drawing on sources from the West and East, and the overall title appears to me to be not so much New Thought as RENEWED Thought, taking the rich heritage from 19^th century philosophical movements, mind-body connection in healing, and a very wide range of great texts and teachers and constantly seeking to crack open any ritual or shell that has hardened the flowing, vibrant, juicy aliveness of the “AHA” moments that led to these practices. (crack open a nut, loudly. Actually, Itzhak created a really loud racking sound effect as I wielded a huge nut cracker).

In Judaism there are also many streams, one of which has come to be known as Renewal Judaism, in which ancient text and traditions are honored and studied, but the liturgy has been opened up, made egalitarian, with non-gendered God language, not “Him, Lord, Father,” but rather “Holy One, Creator, Source,” all capitals.  Also, ancient practices of Meditation, Chanting, Silence, and mystic practices have been revived and re-introduced along with composing new melodies for verses of Psalms or for prayers on Shabbat and Festivals.  Translating Hebrew prayers into contemporary poetic language also enables people of varying levels of knowledge to “get” the impact of the original Hebrew prayers and biblical verses, and helps cross the language barrier. The intention is to expand the ways in which this generation finds meaning, comfort, and vitality in religion. Part of my mission as a rabbi include “…Bringing Joyful Juicy Judaism to the next generation.”  

In ancient Israel, the Cohanim, the Priestly clan, had the task of lighting the menorah, a 7 branched candelabra, each evening, in the Temple, a constant rededication, rekindling of light.  After the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE by the Romans and most Jews were exiled from the Holy Land, they kept turning toward Jerusalem in prayer, and the customs developed to place above the ark holding the scrolls of the Torah (perhaps like the INTA archives building in Mesa) an Eternal Light which remains constantly lit.  To usher in the Sabbath on Friday evening, or on the eve of each festival, we kindle 2 candles. On Hanukkah we increase the number of candles lit each night for eight nights, with a helper candle that is used to light the other 8 candles.  The Shamash, or helper candle, is used as a metaphor for each of us… we inspire and kindle a spark in others, and our own light is not diminished.

Rekindling, renewing, cracking open a hardened shell…(another cracking sound effect here) these are all ways in which we reconnect with that divine spark of holiness in each one of us. 

How do you do it in your congregations and organizations? 

How many of you are leaders of services?   

How do you rekindle the spark in each of your members? 

Do you have a ritual that you use with kindling light?  In Sedona, my colleague Rev. Janet Kingsley at the Center for Positive Living, lights 5 votive candles for

1-honoring all faiths, paths, and spiritual leaders  

2- all peoples are connected to the One Universal Spirit

3- unity of all life

4- peace and compassion in the world

5- healing for those we love and those around the world in need of healing blessings

Shondra Jepperson, in charge of the music for that Center for Positive Living,  creates and sings music that is inspiring and gets people up on their feet smiling and lifting their arms in gratitude and joy.  Each of you has to find that tension between creating new rituals, music, uplifting messages, and offering the comfort of recognizable symbols and readings that are rooted in your tradition.  How to find that balance?  That is what you and I and, I think, every caring, aware spiritual leader does:  find that constantly shifting balance between the ancient and abiding wisdom, and the newly rediscovered, cracked-open, raw, juicy, authentic “AHA” in this very moment.

We need a tether and a nut cracker!!! Something that ties us to the rich past and at the same time leaves us free to break free and explore! Again and again… because no matter how juicy and fresh a practice is, it too gets hardened and crusty.. So once again, you have to crack it open, peel it back, and break it loose. It is a constant challenge... and that’s why it is called PRACTICE. It is always unfolding.

We need to be very deeply rooted in the gathered knowing we have inherited and studied, and also bravely willing and capable to re-dig the wells of our ancestors, as Isaac did, to dig down to the life-giving water from the wells that his father Abraham had dug before him.  Water is a symbol of life-giving Torah, and re-digging the wells is interpreted as finding our own path back to that basic understanding of oneness and connection, the underlying Source.

So gathering here for this Renewed Thought Alliance is vital, perfect, necessary, for all who have come here, hungry for additional nourishment for their soul, and thirsty for new pathways of finding that word, that song, that light that will open your hearts and elevate your spirit.  Dig deep. Fly high. Reconnect to the teachings that brought you here in the first place.  Be a shofar, realizing that each one has an individual sound, but all are created by the breath, the gift from the Holy One who breathed life into us. 

There is a prayer that I’d like to invoke now. It is for marking a special moment:    Shehechiyanu:

Baruch Ata Adonai, Eloheynu Melech Ha-olam, Shehechiyanu, v’kiymanu, vehigiyanu la-z’man ha-zeh.

We bless you Source of Life, for giving us life, sustaining us on our path, and bringing us to this most memorable and unique moment, right now. 

Amen.

(Itzhak blows shofar)

Had a moment to show my book and talk with people right after the morning session.

With Rev. Larry Swarz of Unity, Tucson, AZ

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 Set up:

Bring:

Shofar,

Menorah – 7 candlesticks

Nut cracker and sound effect of cracking nuts - Itzhak provides!

2 Candles (they’ll have electric ones)

Rabbi Alicia Magal www.jcsvv.org

928 204-1286
blog: http://www.redrockrabbi.blogspot.com


"A Jewel of a Shul"

Mission Statement:
The Jewish Community of Sedona and the Verde Valley is a welcoming, egalitarian, inclusive congregation dedicated to building a link from the past to the future by providing religious, educational, social and cultural experiences. We choose to remain unaffiliated in order to respect and serve the rich diversity of our members and visitors.

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NOTES:

Following is the script for lighting candles at the Center for Positive Living. I will not quote exactly in my talk, but will have it printed out in case anyone wishes to have it.

PS.  Two people did request it!).

Lighting the Flames of Faith – 5 Candles

We are a spiritual community that honors all teachings, all spiritual teachers, and all paths to God.

We know there is no wrong way to deepen our connection to Spirit – whether it be lighting a candle, facing east, repeating a mantra or offering prayer. 

We respect all the ways there are to draw closer to Spirit, for even though there may appear to be great differences in the path, the destination is the same.

And now we begin the ceremony that celebrates the oneness of life as we light the flames of love.

We light the first candle honoring all churches, all temples, and all mosques.  We honor all priests, all ministers, all rabbis and all spiritual teachers everywhere.

We light the second candle honoring and acknowledging that all peoples and all faiths come from the One Universal Presence, which we call Spirit.

We light the third candle honoring the oneness and unity of all life.  We recognize the Universal Presence within which creates, sustains and inspires us all.

We light the fourth candle in honor of peace, of compassion, and of fostering a world that works for the highest good of all.

As __________ lights the fifth candle, the healing candle, you are invited to bring to your awareness the names of anyone you wish to be included in this healing flame of love and light.