Kol Nidre Service Wednesday, September 15, 2021 at 6:30pm

i [Music] [Music] i [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] i [Music] [Music] cold knee tray a holy evening in which we come together as community to acknowledge the goodness of belonging to community with words that waft across generations call nidre as we as community come together and link ourselves to each other to god page 204. [Music] so [Music] so [Music] my [Music] so [Music] um [Music] [Music] [Applause] uh [Music] [Music] my [Music] me [Music] [Music] so your daughter [Music] [Music] no [Music] foreign [Music] by the authority of the court on high and by the authority of the court below with divine consent and with the consent of this cahal this congregation we grant permission to pray with those who have transgressed in [Music] is [Music] m [Music] down is [Music] ah [Music] little [Music] [Music] she [Music] time [Music] me [Music] is [Music] my [Music] so um oh [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] i [Music] [Music] [Music] said [Music] new [Music] [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] um [Music] my [Music] [Music] ah [Music] hmm calm down [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] the [Music] they are [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] me [Music] [Music] oh my god [Music] [Music] you can sing with me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] lord [Music] my oh [Applause] [Music] oh has ah [Applause] [Music] connie dre begins our day of repentance our day of asking for forgiveness connie dre with the holding of the torahs symbolizes that we stand before a court of our peers asking that our words looking forward in our pledges to god be not necessarily held accountable knowing the frailty of our human condition as we begin this day a fast as we begin this day of turning inward of penitence in the opening that we just shared the punchline is given adonai and god the ever-present one said i will forgive you as you moses have asked that phrase occurs in the bible at the lowest point of the relationship with god even lower than the golden calf is when the people panicked and said we can't go into that promised land the people are too mighty for us and those people who said that god would say will not enter into the promised land and yet in bamidbar the line is shared that moses asked god to forgive to enable a future and god said as you asked i will do and so as we begin our yom kippur we do so with contrition with awareness that we could be better and yet the awareness that god is loving compassionate and when our heart is opened will forgive our service of call to prayer we rise for the bahu page 207. [Music] i [Music] [Music] i [Music] however [Music] [Music] whose word brings the evening dusk whose wisdom opens the gates of dawn whose understanding changes the day's divisions whose will sets the succession of seas and arranges the stars in their places in the sky may your rule be with us forever and ever baruch who brings each evening's dusk [Music] um [Music] [Music] [Music] our educator the teacher of our teachers and our students rabbi robin fumberg so before the shema we read in the evening and in the morning these prayers are very old composed around 150 ce the source of these blessings is even older they come from the book of jeremiah god says i have loved you with everlasting love and therefore i have drawn you with loving kindness and the lord goes on to say i will give my torah within them and on their hearts i will write it and i will be their god and they shall be my people the rabbis of 150 ce wrote these prayers in response to the tragedies that were happening at that time the people had just lived through the destruction of their temple they had seen the failure of the bark bar revolt and the rabbis needed to tell the people and remind them of god's god's great love for them and ahavato god's everlasting love for them speaks of studying the decrees and laws for they are our life in the length of our days we aren't asked to simply believe in god but instead we are asked to learn and to do with our whole heart our whole soul and our whole being these blessings before the shema bring us into god's classroom we are grateful to god for giving us torah the textbook of our lives all of us here can describe a favorite teacher a teacher that inspires us that is knowledgeable that was caring and compassionate someone who made an imprint on our hearts and on our lives and perhaps sometimes that teacher was strict and demanding but that's because they were pushing us to be our very best and always doing so with ahava rabbah with greatest love and we loved them and everything they taught us my beloved teacher tamar frankiel writes god is our teacher our teacher who loves their students with all of god's heart love and learning are connected the love between student and teacher is a powerful experience shema israel listen students to me your god who is your teacher listen to the lessons written on our sacred parchment inscribe them on your hearts and teach them to your children live them every day as you go out of your homes and when you return [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] hello [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] time [Music] forever [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] forever [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign foreign me [Music] oh [Music] [Music] my [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] god [Music] [Music] [Music] m [Music] is [Music] i welcome rabbi ben goldstein to do an introduction many of us already have met rabbi goldstein our transition rabbi a privilege to have him amongst us thank you thank you rabbi spitz according to the court of on high and the court below with divine consent and the consent of this congregation we have permission to pray with those who have transgressed it'd be a lot smaller service if we didn't it uh it actually reminds me of one of my favorite uh rabbi jokes which is setting the bar pretty low but uh one of my favorite rabbit jokes is i don't speak a la shanhara or i don't gossip but you know who does we're we're sitting here tonight i like that it's sinking in in different ways oh okay i get it now i was sitting up here and i was looking out watching a little bit we have these kind of unique seats and i realized that some of you probably haven't seen each other in two years that it's been two years since we've seen each other so i know we're all masked and i know you know touching will turn us to dust and all that but before you leave if there's some there's there's a thing we say right if we haven't seen somebody in a while we say the shahianu thank you god for allowing us to arrive this moment but if we haven't seen somebody in a year let alone two years there's actually a different prayer we thank god for takriyat hamaitim for bringing back someone from the dead and while none of you i hope have had that experience yeah okay good there was a little piece of us last year that died and we've got it back yes is it perfect does it look perfect is it different yes it's different and it's imperfect and some of you are not here but we have this ability to come together to pray and in just a moment we're going to do individual prayers in a group and if you look at the prayers we're going to say none of them are singular we're going to pound our chests and ask for forgiveness for sins we've committed and we may not have committed the sins as you hand off as you go down the list if there's something you haven't done maybe your neighbor has if there's some skill or some strength you lack maybe your neighbor does we're told that god is present whenever 10 people come together because we none of us are perfect but the imperfections we have and the goodnesses we have fit each other and we com not to be jerry maguire but we complete each other in this community and when we pound our chest there's another piece that you may not know you know about the pounding of your chest but it's told that we're supposed to actually be a little prostrated a little hunched over and what i love about this i don't view the pounding of the chest as self-flagellation i view it all as humbling ourselves that we take this time to realize we are not the masters of all we cannot control everything just think about where we were two years ago and where we are today think about this thing you're praying with on your face as rabbi spitz said on rosh hashanah this is a holy object this is a religious statement and as we do that surrender yourself we can surrender ourselves to the power of god with our humility and our ability to take a moment to pray for ourselves and for others and those around us the traditional greeting and closing on yom kippur is not good yanta for for me it's may we be maybe we finish well so for the next 25 hours may we pray well may we come together and see those we haven't seen in two years and may our hearts sing with joy gamar khatimatova top of two twelve [Music] [Music] um [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we rise the private amita pages 213-221 so uh [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] i [Music] mark twain said among the animals only humans blush or have reason to what is distinctive about being human that's the question i want to explore on this the night of yom kippur in which the goal of these hours before us is to go inward and ask are we living our best self are we being our most humane are we being a being that rises to its potential i had a wonderful teacher rabbi abraham twersky who was also a psychiatrist who sadly passed this last year from covet in jerusalem the age of 91. rabbi twersky who did come and spend one evening here at binet israel years ago dedicated his life to working with those who struggled with addictions of every kind in that sense he was truly the religious person who walked the talk deeply pious in his own observance coming from aristocracy of hasidic lore on both sides he dedicated his life to working with the down and out and he said if you want to understand what is spirituality what it is that separates us and elevates us the place to begin is to ask what's distinctive about our consciousness our awareness we we share much in common with the rest of the created world with the animals we share our physical needs our instinct to survive our emotions of love and even of embarrassment although they don't blush but you know that animals can be embarrassed too and before i talk about what rabbi twersky's had to say about what's distinctive i do want to acknowledge that that's not just for good what's distinctive to being human it's also for bad animals don't engage in mass slaughter animals if they engage in a fight it's to preserve themselves or to preserve their land to engage in a belief system that sees the other as less than worthy of life that is also the potential of humanity you know years ago i gave a high holiday sermon about my spiritual crisis there were a number of people who complained they said when i come to high holidays i come to be inspired not to listen to the rabbi's problems it was after sabbatical in which i encountered many religious leaders with clay feet and became aware that religion to some degree is a response to our own fragility our own fears which is to be alive and to be human but when religion or any belief system is driven by fear as its main juice it often leads to wishful thinking and even to hatred the reason i remained religious despite a real crisis of faith is because i've also grown to believe and see that the best of what it means to be human is also evoked by faith and so what i want to share is what does it mean to be human at its best what is distinctive to quote rabbi twersky that defines our spirituality and tonight there are a number of those reminders the first is our moxor we humans uniquely have books right can transmit conversation poetry insight struggle culture from one generation to another that is enormously powerful we're not just driven by instinct we can learn from those we never met the wisest among us and grow on their shoulders that's the gift of torah the legacy of a people of a book that continues to challenge and to inform and so in our hands is a conversation inspiration across generations tonight enchanting and hearing words we have chanted before and that were chanted generations before us is to be distinctly spiritual because it means also to be distinctly human my mouth is already getting dry and i'm aware that i've begun to fast the torah says five places in describing yom kippur it links it and says you shall afflict your soul it doesn't define what that means and again the possibility of conversation across generations it's later rabbis commenting on the sacred text who will say that means to fast and so why do we fast because our ancestors understood that that's what the torah what god expected of us on this the tenth day of tishrei but it's more because the tenth day of tishrei became understood as a day of self-correction what is distinctly human is the ability not to satisfy an immediate need to drink and to eat to meet a hunger but to say for symbolic reasons i'm going to wait i'm going to have a dry mouth for let 25 hours yet ahead as a statement of contrition as a statement of cultures a statement of belonging is a statement of self-discipline and that's the added peace because if we are able to choose to overcome instinct if we can choose the self-discipline of not eating or drinking that gives us self-confidence that we indeed can distinctly as humans overcome instinct can choose a turn to shuffle in how we wish to live our lives the kittle that i wear is also something distinctly human only humans wear clothing when adam and eve were expelled from the garden of eden the last thing god did before god booted them out is became lord and taylor it says literally in the text that god no less than god sowed for adam and eve garments of leather they had their leaves to cover them before but god in order to prepare them to live life on the other side of the garden gave them garments that would protect them leather garments and one other deeply important teaching god gave them a lesson in compassion god said before i boot you for having violated my trust with the one rule i want you to know that i can forgive your life is different on the other side but we still will have a relationship and i will give you garments that uniquely among humans and it's almost so primal our reproductive organs we call our privates in colloquial speech we have a sense that there's something about our physicality that is self-defining as is our sexuality self-defining and our clothing becomes a source of humanizing us separating us spiritualizing us and defining us the clothes we wear the clothes we choose not is it is a statement of identity and so this garment that we wear tonight traditionally the kittle that spelled chex's kitten the kittle that we wear has no pockets it's a smock a simple white garment that traditionally is a shroud for yom kippur and again what is to be alive to be human is to be aware that we're here for a visit that our years are limited and that's why we need on a yom kippur to pause and reflect how are we using the years that we were given the days that we were given the relationships that we have and so yom kippur these are the days of self-reflection to use reason to plan to express what is human for that is what is spiritual and that is what allows us to be our most fully ourselves and one more important ingredient and that's prayer itself again we don't know the animals pray but we surmise that it's an extension of our own use of language we pray because we have a need to express gratitude beyond just saying thank you to another person when a child is born when somebody looks at us and cares for us we feel the goodness of life the miracle of life and we say reflexively thank you god we may not know theologically what god who or god is martin buber and carl jung the great theologian and the great psychologist had a letter exchange and martin buber said there's a difference between theology and prayer theology is like therapy it's talking about the relationship at arm's length trying to understand it and has value but it's very different than being in a relationship to be in a relationship at its best as martin buber would emphasize is to be in a relationship of i thou where there is no ulterior motive and god is found in the between and so he said theology is valuable but it's not why we pray we pray to be in a relationship and so i want to share with you a prayer we have a lot of prayers that we will be sharing this one is distinctive in that i believe it's the only prayer i have written i wrote this prayer recently to conclude my study of the hundred and fifty psalms and spending 16 months analyzing those prayers those words before god i was motivated to give it a try to express i mean i often conclude my sermons with words to god but it's very different than to write them for what i learned in writing and reading the psalms is that their every word matters they're often evocative of a moment in jewish history they're written like finely crafted art pieces with repetition of words for emphasis and so in the bookmark that you've received tonight when you came in is a prayer you see on the top is an oil lamp and i want to say a word about that here's the oil lamp so pictured one of my collections are ancient oil lamps from israel this one's from about the third century oil lamps are another expression of what's distinctive to being human it's to control light before there was electricity when the sun went down it was dark still dark when the sun goes down but the great innovation was to create a vessel and then inside the vessel the second innovation particularly in the middle east was to crush olives to make olive oil you'd pour the olive oil in this hole and then you'd put a wick in the little hole this one was actually used you can see it's a little bit black and this would be carried from room to room soon we will be praying a beautiful poem based on jeremiah yotsair as clay in the hand of the plot potter who thickens or thins it at will so are we in your hand guardian of love and so the image is that god is our potter that god crafted our physicality but delight that olive oil is a product of partnership this is a product of partnership too it took a human hand to take from the earth from the mud to craft it and to decorate it but the olive oil it's the olive oil that gives it light we are told that our soul in proverbs is the light of god and so my prayer that i'd invite us to read first in english is a prayer that begins with this image that each of us is but a clay vessel but a clay vessel with the life experience to create the olive oil that burns but it's a prayer it starts with me but then it shifts to the we it's a prayer it asks god and then with gratitude seeks to serve god our cantor amy robinson katz has prepared one of the phrases of this particular prayer that she when i finished reciting it for you in hebrew she will bring to greater light the phrase le chare de la varech may we serve and may we bless the world that you gave to us the echemecha and your name but now i invite you to turn over and to read together the english and then i will recite it in hebrew my god presence before me in mystery you fashioned as a lamp of dust am i as olive oil harvest of nature and personal experience torah of your people and your world illuminate me with love and understanding and uplifted goodness as the glow of kindness and truth guide us to serve and to bless your world and your name please unite us with respect and peace from now and forevermore hallelujah our fasting the kittle and prayer are but some of the tools that we have in order to use these hours to elevate ourselves elohiy hello hi lifanai the [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we will serve we will bless the world you have given us and your name let's try that we will serve we will bless the world you have given us and your day night [Music] is [Music] is [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] of the universe may the words of our ancestors and may our own words be spoken to you unfiltered allowing us to know our yearnings to be aware of how we could grow to be more fully alive more fully alight your life shining with warmth and embrace all of those who need your love may we so serve you amen we're going to continue on page with the outlet we're going to sing the first two and last two verses [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Music] i [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] hey [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] 225 the soul is yours the body is your creation [Music] i am [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] ah [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] mr [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] page 233. [Music] [Applause] thee [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] am [Music] [Music] i am [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] um [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hello [Music] [Music] they [Music] [Music] [Applause] m [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] i [Music] [Applause] a [Music] m [Music] [Music] m [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] 235 [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Applause] [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] she [Music] [Applause] [Music] i [Music] i [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] okay [Music] um [Music] oh [Music] [Music] um [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] page 240 the section bet as we answer responsibly [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] me [Music] yesterday took a long hiking laguna to clear my head and then i called an artist friend in laguna who i had run into in recent months and had shared me that his wife had died i remember once going with linda and his wife an opening night of the sawdust festival to their house to help her bring the trays to present and later on a couple years ago he told me how he had created a van with this wonderful interior that he and his wife were going to be traveling and enjoying themselves this coming year in this coming year she passed from cancer i mentioned that as an introduction to avinu malkenu our father our king to speak of god as our parent is to describe ourselves children aspiring to be and becoming adults knowing that like a parent we have a great deal of control over our lives we can plan we can save we can create relationships mulcainu means even with best efforts you can't control outcomes you can be loving giving parents and your children are their own people they have their own challenges we cannot control outcomes of health as covet has so changed lives and yet we have enormous power power the ability to affect change with repentance with prayer utz with the way we open our hearts and our wallets to others those are our areas of control knowing simultaneously we do not control outcomes the melody of a venu mulcanu is evocative it's a reminder again that we live in a tension a musical note only gets a harmony when it's pulled in two opposite directions simultaneously only then it is taught and that is what comes to teach us about our lives avinu malkenu we control and we can't control outcomes [Music] do [Music] my [Music] my [Music] oh they [Applause] [Music] come are [Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] good day [Applause] [Music] i [Applause] [Music] a [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] again [Music] [Applause] [Music] life [Music] we'll continue on page 243. um [Music] foreign i'm feeling volcanoes slap my heart now you'll repeat after me we're in the middle of 243 of okay [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] um [Music] [Music] um [Music] let's do that beginning [Music] um [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] is my [Music] [Music] [Applause] um [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] m you may be seated we're moving toward the end of the service but there is still an opportunity that's the opportunity not only to engage in teshuva self-reflection and repentance not only to engage in the opening of our hearts with honest self-expression but there is also the opportunity for siddhaka for also giving of ourselves financially our president phyllis abrams thank you happy new year from my home to yours this evening we are joined together inside the synagogue outside on our patio and our jumbotron and from your homes we had hoped even as recently as a few weeks ago that we would be able to join together in person more in person less in technology but while we are not physically together we are a community strong vibrant and most of all healthy in one of my favorite movies keeping the faith ben stiller who portrays rabbi jake schramm raise your hand if you know this movie says that for a rabbi the sermon on colney dre is quote the super bowl of sermons similarly the temptation for the president is to try and list everything you need to know about congregation binet israel and how important the cole nidre appeal is in one long speech well for those of you who know me you know that that is absolutely not my style so let me share why cbi is important to me and how i hope that you will find something that will resonate for you and be important to you i've been a member of cbi for over 25 years my first memory of cbi was sitting in the old very blue b street warehouse sitting behind larry wayne of blessed memory and listening to rabbi spitz davin in those days rabbi walked up the center aisle singing the morning prayers kiddush and the own egg were held outside in the parking lot by the time the service was over i knew i had found a home a home that has carried me through some personal trauma a home where i met such a wonderful group of warm and welcoming people a home where i became the first female shamas the coordinator of our shabbat morning services a home where i met my basert my beloved stephen and where we named our two beloved granddaughters zoe and mia and then when i found myself in the sanctuary a shamas one morning chasing my beloved zoe around the room she thought it was a cool game i was less than enthusiastic about the whole thing being president of such a vibrant shul can be a bit daunting no two days are the same i joke with my predecessor mark golden that in some respects he had it easy shutting down due to covid was easy or at least easier but i am fortunate excuse me but opening back up is a bit trickier but i'm fortunate to be surrounded and supported by a very talented and dedicated people to keep us moving forward all the while while continuing to keep us safe so why choose to do it why choose to accept this job my two loudest cheerleaders stephen and my mother of blessed memory claimed i was the perfect person for the job and if any of you ever had the courage to say no to rabbi spitz well i didn't either seriously i accepted the position because i love cbi it is a part of me and it's a part of my family because i thought i could maintain all that we have and all that we have accomplished and while continuing to grow to continue to be as rabbi spitz says cbi at its best i found people and programs and learning opportunities that leave me feeling uplifted and satisfied and at the end of the day i felt that i could make a difference tomorrow as we heard tonight but tomorrow as part of the uttan unitana tocaf we will chant that teshuva tafila and tadaka have the power to transform the harshness of our destiny on cole nidre we ask that you help continue to make cbi at its best membership dues cover some but not all of our expenses the generosity of our members allows us to offer the variety of programs and services needed by our community our board has already made a co-nidre pledge 100 of the board has committed we ask that you join them in making a pledge that is significant to you earlier this week we emailed the link for our 5782 appeal for those of you in person with us here or on the patio you were given a cole nidre appeal card when you were when you arrived please consider making a pledge you can place the envelope in the basket as you leave cbi this evening and for those of you joining us remotely your pledge card will be mailed to you shortly after yom kippur as we begin the start of a new year our hope is that you too will find something at cbi that makes you feel uplifted and satisfied we know that whatever you choose you will make a difference blessings to you and your family a year of goodness and the doing of good start so i do invite you to take out your envelopes if you've received them and we have a few concluding prayers but this is the opportunity hopefully moved by phyllis's words by the flow of our service by the opportunity to be your best to make a contribution of sadaqah we i'm just going to pause one more moment just to give people a chance and then we're going to arise page 246 eleno let us rise [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] you may be seated except those observing a yurt side or who are in mourning as we join together honoring our loved ones 247 karisha tom yitka dal vidkadash is [Music] page 248 is psalm 27 it's the psalm i spoke about on the first night of rosh hashanah we continue to read it until the end of sukkot i'll read in english just the very end and then our cantor will conclude with the last two lines it is you of whom my heart said seek my face it is your presence that i seek adonai do not hide your face for me do not act angrily toward me you have always been my help do not forsake me do not abandon me my god my deliverer though my father and mother abandoned me adonai will gather me in show me your way i don't lie and lead me on a straight path despite those who raid against me do not hand me over to the grasp of those who beseech me for false witnesses and those who seek ill have risen against me if only i could trust that i would see god's goodness in the land of the living place your hope and adonai be strong take courage and place your hope in adonai road [Music] and now our president returns to see if you feel that you did your envelopes and some announcements just a few short announcements i'm sure the hour is getting late and we'd like to just go home but tomorrow services will begin at 8 o'clock with hal hurwitz leading us off the tour of service begins at about 9 30 and we're going to have some youth programs tomorrow carl cedar will be doing our family services at nine o'clock followed by a junior congregation at 10 30 both of those will be held in the family life center and for our teens sherry gallante and rabbi goldstein will be holding another teen discussion in the youth lounge upstairs at 11 45. the rabbi sermon and yiscor will begin at 10 45 followed by moosaf with cantercats at 11 45. at 3 30 we will have a discussion um at the at right after the break uh rabbi spitz will be holding a q a for those of you at home it will be live streamed as well as live here in the sanctuary minha is at 4 45 followed by an uplifting naila yismukhu nila beginning at 6 15. on behalf of my family and all of us at cbi we hope you have an easy and meaningful fast 250. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] he know [Music] um [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] and thank you to our cantor amy robinson katz to the choir to all who participated may we all be inscribed in the book of life for all good amen yeah it's really good

Channel: Congregation B'nai Israel

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Length: 140min 5sec (8405 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021