To my surprise, I find myself tracking the night skies every year as I prepare to lead the High  Holiday services. Right now, a new moon is about to arrive, with the scary reminder (for me)  that the next one will bring in the new Hebrew month of Tishrei and the arrival of Rosh  Hashana and the High Holidays.  

The High Holidays are a whole bunch of things, all of them good. No matter how we have  approached our Judaism and our lives over the past year, it is this holiday which draws us, like  a magnet, to come together in our sanctuary as a community. We find common purpose in  prayer and in our desire to live our lives in better ways, individually and as a community. We  look forward again to traditional prayers and music, and modern interpretations of both.  

And of course, we will do it our way. I will be joined again on the bima by our cantorial soloists  David Vamos and Janet Pelletier Goetze, and by our Temple Shalom choir led by Erica Tallis.  We will all get to know our rabbi-in-training Myriam Saitman just a little bit better. But most  importantly, we get to see your smiles and hear your voices as we walk together into the next  year. Our theme this year? Pitchu lanu – let us open the gates into the new year – is all about  us doing this together, with each of us uniquely finding what we need. 

I recently read about “belonging.” It suggested that belonging is found within and it requires co creation. It is about us arriving at every moment and place genuinely, courageously… and with  an open and grateful heart. If we do so, we remain at home in ourselves, and others can be at  home with us.  

This, to me, has always been at the heart of Temple Shalom. And in this most challenging  year, it may be even more important that we express our belonging by our actions. Let us  choose to belong rather than simply show up. And in the coming year, let us each choose to  co-create our special Temple Shalom community, with an open and grateful heart. 

Wishing you an early Shana Tova! 

Rabbi Allan