This Shabbat is a breath between the heaviness of the Day of Atonement—with its focus on the difficult work of teshuvah (repentance) and s’licha (forgiveness)—and Sukkot, our Festival of Joy which, amongst other things, is a celebration of the fall harvest of grapes and olives, symbols of gladness and peace.
Sukkot is also very much about gratitude. (Rabbi Sari’s sermon from Kol Nidrei captures this beautifully and suggests how Sukkot is a “holiday of vulnerability” which can teach us to appreciate opportunities to build and re-build amidst the brokenness of our world.)
As I reflect on the past few weeks, I am filled with thanks for our community, our leadership, and our staff.
I am grateful to the thousands of you who joined us in person on our campus for the High Holy Days. You braved the traffic, trusted that there would be enough parking and enough shuttles (there were!), and you made your way to our mountaintop. You found the right link, downloaded the right app, and joined us online from wherever, connecting with your community in the way that was comfortable for you. It was truly an honor to have you with us for these Days of Awe.
I am grateful to our volunteers and lay leadership for working with us as our partners over the past many months of planning for these special days. Your wise counsel, your trust, and your generous support made the hard work easier and more pleasurable.
I am grateful to our extraordinary staff who toiled so hard on behalf of our Wise community. Every department contributed to the effort from our membership and communications to our CYE and Wise School staff to our security team and—especially in terms of the enormous physical task of readying our campus for your visit—our amazing operations and maintenance department. Our wonderful tech crew worked tirelessly to make sure that every moment could be streamed to those who couldn’t be on the campus in person. (All of these recordings are available on our website. I encourage you to take the time to be inspired by the teachings, worship, and music of your clergy. You can access all of our videos from the Holy Days HERE.)
A special word of thanks to my beloved colleagues who are my partners in leading our community in worship on these High Holy Days and throughout the year for Shabbatot, festivals, and life cycle moments. Every sermon, d’var Torah, and iyyun t’fillah (teaching about our prayers) from Rabbis Knobel, Laufer, Stern, and Woznica is a gift to our community. Our music team, led by Cantor Emma Lutz and Director of Music, Tali Tadmor, was simply magnificent. Joined by Cantor Tannoz Foruzanfar, our Stephen Wise Temple Band and other musicians, our amazing choirs, and our interns and soloists, our community was comforted and inspired in equal measure with familiar melodies as well as compositions that were new to our community.
We are fortunate indeed.
As we prepare to welcome our Festival of Joy, let us rejoice and give thanks for our many gifts. I am grateful for the tremendous kavod (honor) it is to serve as Senior Rabbi of this extraordinary community.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yoshi
