The Sabbath between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is known as Shabbat Shuvah, or the Sabbath of return. It has a powerful message and this evening we look forward to sharing it with you. I am very grateful to our Adult Choir for lending their harmonious voices and adding beauty to this special service.
Together we will invite the angels of peace in Shalom Aleichem to “Shuvchem L’shalom-to return to us” next week instead of “Tzeitchem L’shalom-depart in peace,” which is so appropriate during this season of T’shuvah. In the T’filah we will sing our favorite melody for Zochreinu and ask God to “Inscribe us in the Book of Life” and we will refer to God as the Holy Sovereign instead of the Holy God. These changes in our Shabbat liturgy will hopefully encourage us to take time for personal reflection and find the courage to begin again, which happens to be the title of the third recording that I am so excited to share with you. It is by Elana Arian who is one the leading voices in contemporary Jewish music. She is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, a prayer leader and recording artist.
Here is her hopeful take on beginning again in 5784!
Amen, we begin again. We begin in hope. We begin with believing. We begin with our hearts staying open to all the gifts we’re receiving. We begin in faith, amen. We begin again. We begin with returning, amen. We begin with our minds broken open to lessons we’ll never stop learning. We begin again, amen. Amen, we begin again. We begin in strength, amen. We begin seeking justice, amen. We begin with our arms stretching open to welcome the weary among us. Begin again, begin again. May the sweetness of this new year never end. Begin again, begin again. May we never take for granted where we’ve been. We begin again, amen. We begin again. We begin in truth amen. We begin with forgiveness, amen. We begin with our eyes focused, open to notice the sacred within us. Begin again, begin again.
