Seaside Jewish Community - Kol Nidre Service at EUMC

now oh so so uh it's [Music] so 251 [Music] [Music] i [Music] foreign [Music] yeah to invite president joel simon up to begin us with a few words good evening welcome good jantip welcome to our satellite campus of seaside jewish community here for high holiday services and uh holiest night of the year called nidre um just going to give a quick little safety briefing uh what we want to do is make sure everybody is safe here that are in person here at epworth and uh first of all it is a very very safe building that's the first thing i want to share but if you do see something that seems out of place our mantra is to say something so find one of us you saw the folks that were in as ushers at the beginning you know me anyone that's wearing one of these little nifty name tags you can see it around the tallest you'll know that they are a board member or a committee chair be glad to help this building also has four primary exits two on either side of the lobby that can be accessed through the five rear doors that you guys would have come into one of those into the sanctuary uh and you can see that as well as these two dwarves on the right and left of this sanctuary here there's an ad device that's over towards the entrance that you guys came in uh when you entered here into upworth there's a first aid kit that's back in the kitchen through the lobby of the fellowship hall if we were so inclined to need that hopefully we don't need any of these types of things there's fire alarms throughout the building again it's a very safe building one of the notes for our participants tonight anyone's participating in services tonight and also if you're participating tomorrow make sure that you use these side steps i was modeling the behavior you come up these side steps sanitize over there and then if you're doing a speaking part you would be coming to this podium thank you and a good janta thank you we begin our service on page 251 as we sing about how light is sown for the righteous and for the upright in heart [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] and as we sing about light we start our service we start all of our holiday and shabbat services with light we ask anita smulian to lead us in the blessing over the light candles and lead us in the blessing [Music] [Music] [Music] or read the english what sam used to do for do me that's the one yeah [Music] okay may god so light i have to hold it off may god so light in us on this hopeful night when the holy one promises to forgive us all and may that light guide our way to joy and health and peace in the year that lies ahead amen on page 252 i'm going to read the first lines together by the authority of the heavenly court and by the authority of earthly court with the permission of god the ever-present and with the permission of this congregation we who ourselves transgressed declared lawful to pray with others who have wronged either god or human beings we pledge to pray both for ourselves and for the others around us who have fallen short [Music] [Music] m read responsively on the page on the bottom of page 252 we need to make vows in the heat of convictions born of this weighty day to make promises that shall bind us even when the days that follow yom kippur have cooled our passions down how shall we feel a month from now or when spring has come around what new terrors what great madness now unseen will roll down in torrents on our lives in months ahead before which must hail the solemn hopes of this earnest day we cannot know what will befall our vows when we have separated from each other when the year begins to color in the changes that it has in store and so on this atonement eve we would make our promises and yet promise in the same breath that if time invalidates their meaning we shall change our promise and feel no guilt to vow in the face of change yet to change the face of vows when times new knowledge has changed the meaning of the vow that is the double courage we see would seek tonight this night of colony dre when all vows all bonds all devotions promises obligations penalties and oaths are there before us to be undertaken but which time must unvow or vow differently as truth reveals itself anew may all whatever it shall be come to us for good i'd like to call up our court our bait din uh who will be our presidents who are our past presidents who are with us this evening president president joel simon immediate pass lisa simon before her was her father-in-law joel's father ed simon and then before that was jason bradley so we invite you to come up to the to the bema and as they open the ark we rise as the torahs are taken out run page 256. [Music] m [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] sorry [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign foreign [Music] [Music] little [Music] [Music] y [Music] need [Music] [Music] [Music] together the english all vows bonds devotions promises obligations penalties and oaths wherewith we have vowed sworn devoted and bound ourselves from this day of atonement to the next day of atonement may it come to us for good all these we repent they shall be absolved released annulled made void and of no effect they shall not be binding nor shall they have any power our vows shall not be bows our bonds shall not be bonds and our oaths shall not be oats [Music] [Music] [Music] as moses pleaded forgive the wrong doings of this people and all who dwell in their midst according to the greatness of your covenantal love for in all of us your people is their unwitting transgression transgression and adonai replied i have forgiven as you have asked me [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] ah [Music] [Applause] [Music] we are blessing our thanks to god for giving us life for sustaining us and for enabling us to arrive in this moment ask you to remain standing as the torahs are put away the ark is closed and we begin the maori service with the call to worship the baraku on page 261. ah [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] you may be seated so yom kippur has officially begun we've done the traditional three repetitions of the cole nidre thank you rabbi kevin beautiful rendering we thank our beptin our present and past presidents for serving as our holy court witnessing all of our releasing of our bonds our oaths our vows and now we're ready to engage in the regular part of the service which is filled with blessings i talked about blessings on rosh hashanah morning we recited the shahianu again if you were here or if you were listening or heard it you heard me talk about how every moment is really a shahianu moment and we're actually going to have another shahaki on a moment tonight when the person who is with us this evening to be our our giver of of words of advice and to deliver the message we have reverend marjorie belmont burns with us i'll introduce her later but but she is wearing a talit that was given to her by a congregant who had gone to the holy land and she's never worn it before so tonight she'll will get to say a shahianu with her as she comes up to the altar to deliver words of of torah to us pay attention to all the baruch because when we say baruch we're offering a blessing our service is filled with blessings the amidah is filled with blessings blessings are all around us and blessings are important to give no matter what as i said either in our hearts or even verbally we give blessings to all for everything that we have we start with a blessing for creation for the evening we'll read together the alternative ravine responsibly on page 262 263 sorry there was darkness once before the world began not like tonight a great black quilt all stitched with stars to snuggle sleeping earth against the void once the void was all there was dark sky dark water only the breath of god rippling the waves until that breath formed words and let there be light and darkness fled into the shadows of the light plotting its return once brightness dimmed god dispersed the light throughout the void sowing stars and picture patterns on the fabric of the night cutting out round moons and crescent shapes to relieve the power of the black expanse embroidering gold strands of day into the darkness threading purple darkness in today we are the void dark sins dark cruelties only the breath of god rippling our lips until that breath forms words returned to me our job on this yom kippur is to return to shiva when we say a blessing when we have prayers in our service there's an ending always to the to the prayer to the blessing whether we say it in english or we actually say it in hebrew there's always an ending it's called the hatima it's the the ceiling it's the the finishing of of the blessing it's basically a notice to us that okay we've finished that blessing we're now moving on to the next one so throughout our service rabbi kevin will be doing the various khatimotes to end some of the prayers that we are saying in english so the hatimah for the evening prayer for creation is on page 262. it is five hebrew words up from the bottom of the hebrew layer [Music] we offer a blessing of love god's love for us we're reminded of god's love every time we engage with torah the words and messages and teachings that god inspired ahavato page 264. [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] and we offer the blessing that expresses our love our love for god through the shema page 267 [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] a is [Music] continue on page 270 reading responsibly in english the second paragraph or the second blessing incorporated with the shema if we can hear the words from sinai then love will flow from us and we shall serve all that is holy with all our intellect and all our passion and all our life if we can serve all that is holy we shall be doing all that humans can to help the rains the flow the grasses to be green the grains to grow up golden like the sun and the rivers to be filled with life once more all the children of god shall eat and there will be enough but if we turn from sinai's words and serve only what is common and profane making gods of our own comfort or our power then the holiness of life will contract for us our world will grow inhospitable to reigns from heaven and the produce of the earth will not be ours or worse it will be ours unjustly and our acts shall isolate us from the flowing waves of green and gold let us therefore lace these words into our passion and our intellect and bind them all of us as a sign upon our hands and our eyes writing them on for our doors and gates teaching them to our children listening to our children teaching us that our generation may be as numerous as the stars of heaven and the dust of the earth as faithful as the living waters that unite them all and the third blessing the third paragraph of the shema is one where we refer to the sit sit on our talit and our practice has always been to look at them and whenever we say the word to kiss it however the one time we don't do that is on call nidre khon nidrei is the only night when we wear a talit when we put it on before we began the the khul nidre before we began the day because yom kippur is viewed as one full day together so in the night time our contemporary world we're able to see we have light in ancient time there wasn't necessarily light so even though a talit might be warned they couldn't look at their fringes and see and be reminded of the symbols that these seats refer us to all of the deeds that we're supposed to do but we say the third paragraph anyway and we're going to chant it in torah trump in english on page 273 god said to moses let israel throughout her generations make seat seat cords with the thread of blue on the corners of her garments to look at and remember all the meats votes of god and do them otherwise all of you will follow only what your eyes see and your heart's desire forgetting that everything you see and whatever you desire are sirens of my presence in the world but look at the knotted cords you'll remember as a knot around the finger that everything you see and whatever you desire can be seen and done as one of my meets behold thus will you share the holiness of god who saw you as slaves in egypt and desired you to become a people of god [Music] our faith is true everything we have said this evening can be sustained adonai alone is god and we israel have proven by our life our survival as a vibrant people through all our tragedies that we remain a people loved protected by god and so we sing in joy who is like you god page 276. [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] a prayer a blessing a prayer for peace on page 278 will chant the fourth english line down and then the hebrew that kind of stands alone in the middle of the hebrew 278 spread over us your peace will soon go that through your good counsel we might be repaired spread over us [Music] we might be repaired [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] and we offer a blessing to acknowledge that this is the day of atonement page 280. we read together the english on this day atonement will be made for you to purify you from all your wrongs in the presence of adonai shall you be pure i am [Music] [Music] [Music] m is [Music] [Applause] [Music] m [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] a we've reached the central prayer the central component of blessings in our service the amidah it is said in the evening silently it is said standing for those who are able to stand in personally and and physically and who stand in their hearts we'll start on page 285 at the bottom we'll read together and when we finish reading this paragraph i'll ask you to please rise and you can then go on and read the contemporary words that are written on the next few pages to page 296 if you want to daven the traditional amidah it's found on pages 222 to 244 we ask you to take as much time as you need and don't forget that there's prayers that are in your own heart so on page 285 we'll read the paragraph and then we'll will rise as it is with human beings and god or with each other is it the same with peoples and nations how many people of a different color have we wronged how many poor people how many have a different sexual orientation than our own how many oppressed jews in other lands have we ignored how many disabled people have we stared at or turned away from how callous we have been to starving people all over the globe to the fragility of our earth and air what unconcern we've shown to the continuing danger of nuclear weapons which could destroy the earth and the air rich and poor jew and gentile in a single horrifying moment young people comes to turn us away from complacency to a realization that too many things are endangered in the world and that if we are in earnest this call nigerian night we shall vow to work at rescuing this poor precious world so long as time and we remain please rise as you are able [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] me [Music] i am honored i am privileged to invite reverend marjorie belmont burns to the bema to the altar to offer us some teachings some messages some words reverend belmont burns is the pastor at what is called the lewis united methodist church it is made up of two congregations the faith united methodist church and of rehoboth and the israel united methodist church of lewis delaware faith united methodist church is our neighbor they're literally right around the corner and we have over the last couple of years established a group of multi-faith congregations and most recently the the group invited the lewis charge and reverend belmont burns to join well obviously she is a woman who likes to get involved because she stepped in for the last couple of years and is now heading up the clergy group of the steering committee of the six faith groups that have joined together in this multi-faith community and the six households houses of worship are just so that you know jewish seaside jewish community islam the islamic society of central delaware episcopal saint peter's and three methodists epworth united methodist church our our host our family for for our high holidays uh israel and faith united methodist churches so reverend belmont burns i'm going to ask you to come up because i did mention that we want to say so please come up to the to the bhima so before you start we're going to sing we're going to sing the blessing that we've already sung tonight once but we will sing it again the the blessing that asks that thanks god for bringing us life for sustaining us and for enabling us to reach this occasion and this season so we sing that for two reasons number one for your first time being with us i think my microphone keeps cutting in and out probably need to see um pastor bo um and for the talit that you are wearing for the first time that was brought to you from israel and it gives us a lot of pleasure to be able to do that [Music] [Music] [Applause] ah welcome good evening and i'm going to call you my sisters and brothers because you are my sisters and brothers it truly is an honor for me to be before you this evening when we be back asked me to speak this evening on your holy night i cried because i truly feel honored and humbled and she asks we have been together for a few months more than a few months and have enjoyed one another's company and lively conversations spirit-filled conversations a part of your neighbor's faith conversations and she asked that i speak tonight on a presentation that i gave in may entitled your beloved building the beloved community and as i was reading the prayer this evening it only says a building the beloved community and so i'll just take a few minutes well more than a few minutes but i'll take some time not too much dr martin luther king used the words to create his vision of the beloved community and he said our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives for dr king beloved community meant people and relationships would be transformed and in doing so we would have communities created in agape love communities created in trust and encourage and reconciliation in authentic friendships and respect and support and empathy and even agreeing to disagree and truly appreciate diversity and so the title of my conversation also comes from dr miguel de la torre who was one of the presenters for vital conversations on race culture and justice which is an initiative from the united methodist church general commission on religion and race dr miguel de la torre is the author of several books and is considered and i quote an expert commentator concerning ethical issues related to hispanic latino religion the lbgt crew civil rights and immigration rights and he is also known for his unique approach of of applying religion and with social issues from the perspective of looking at it from the disenfranchised and the dispossessed so in his video and this was a some sessions that we also did with edward but in the video building the beloved community dr miguel de la torre focuses on the church's role and because it was united memphis it was specifically geared to united methodists and it was in embracing marginalized communities and cultivating a true spirit of multiculturalism and for me i said it can go beyond the united methodist church it can apply to all faith communities and he states that racism is a sin and that sin transpires across all religious houses he says there is racism in the church there is racism in our world there is racism in every faith community and then he asks the question that pertains to all faith communities how much is the institution willing to die to itself to become a new local church or a new local faith community where all can come and we're all welcome and so as i reflected on that question i turned to our the united methodist church's social principles and and i quote our social principles began by saying we the people called united methodists affirm our faith in the living god who created everything that is and called it good and created human beings in god's own image and being created in the image of god we are to live in covenant with god and the world we honor the dignity of all beings and affirm the goodness of life it is god's grace that enables us to confess our sins as we did tonight we have failed to love god and our whole heart souls with our whole heart souls and minds and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves we have participated in unjust and life-destroying social systems we have failed to be faithful stewards of creation we have not shown god's extravagant love to the least of our sisters and brothers and we have closed ourselves to god's guiding spirit in our daily interactions with the human family and the earth we've fallen short and yet god loves us still and yet god calls us to be like his son jesus christ to do justice to love kindness and to walk humbly before god and yet god calls us in our quote to recognize that the body of christ has many parts and all are valuable and yet we are to respect differences within the body of christ including differences in understanding and expressing faith and gifts and practices of ministry and in life experiences is shaped by cultures and races and communities and abilities in age and sexual orientation and gender differences are a precious gift and they also are a daunting challenge they can stretch a faith community's capacity to live and minister faithfully yet god calls our church every faith community to difficult discipleship with jesus as our god and the spirit as our daily strength with god's help we accept the challenge to follow the high calling as in micah 6 8 and i'll say it again to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with our god i also read and i said that night john wesley's general rules continue to inspire not just united methodists but i'm going to say all faith communities to faithful practices that do no harm do good and follow the ordinances of god we recognize the challenges before the church to engage with honesty and compassion through deep listening hard conversations and shared ministry even when we do not agree on all matters and that is a short version of our social principles so in essence we are all called to be the beloved community and so here we are in september and in may i said rising from a pandemic we're going back not rising a pandemic that clothes houses a worship a pandemic that doesn't seem to go away but has now caused us to meet by invitation we had to find and we had to find a new way to be faithful faith communities all in the midst of alarming deaths all in the midst of floods all in the midst of hurricanes all in the midst of schools closing and reopening and closing business is closing and some never to reopen medical inequities reaching an all-time high there are still shortages of necessities and all in the midst of escalated racial and faith and political division yet every faith community we are still called to love god to love our neighbor and pray seeking god's will and god's way and be the beloved community so how do we persons of many faiths of many races build a beloved community together there are many who would say that's impossible but i say i beg to differ i and several others many many others speak to differ that we can have here on earth a beloved community it is possible and so the question is not it's not basically it's not a question but it's that's not possible but we have to ask ourselves do we even want to bother to build a beloved community are we uncomfortable yet comfortable within our own faith community and in the past few years my church my denomination the united methodist church we have become very intentional about breaking down the walls of racism of sexism and human sexuality it has cost many of us to be uncomfortable because we had to face our own individual racists discriminatory arrogant superior views attitudes thoughts habits and opinions and dr miguel de la torre asked the question once again how much is the institution willing to die to itself to become a new local faith community where all can come where all are welcome and i do a lot of sidebars when i talk so i'm going to do a sidebar tonight well i did not quite understand everything that was being tanned i did understand because i prayed and asked god to help me understand and i felt welcome i feel a part of this community of faith because i also believe there are many people within our faith houses and outside of our faith houses that strongly desire to be builders of beloved communities and yet if we are to be effective if we are to be fruitful if we are to be graceful and exhibit agape love we must first recognize my sisters and brothers there are some prerequisites of building the beloved community first individually our hearts and minds and spirits must be open to the god that we serve secondly we must individually take a deep look within and name our sin or and or our sins that hinder us from being like the gods we serve first third we must have a desire and a deep passion to be transformed even if it means we lose some people along the way we lose some well-meaning friends and family along the way and finally we must be willing to participate in interracial dialogue about race by having courageous conversations i'm also a part of another group with indian river high school indian river school district and we are looking at how we can break down the wall the racial wall within that school district and so we are studying from glenn singleton's singleton's book courageous conversations about race a field guide for achieving equity in schools and in that book he outlines four agreements of courageous conversations that that go beyond our school districts first he says stay engaged he says meaning not let your heart and mind check out of the conversation while leaving your body seated at the table you know what i mean we're having a race a dialogue on graves and all of a sudden we're there but our mind is somewhere else then he says speak the truth which is hard to do when it comes to talking about racial issues as a society we have learned not to say what's on our minds we have avoided speaking our troops and so as a result as he says this often leads to deeper confusion and mistrust and misunderstanding because many beliefs concerning race are based on misconceptions and half truths another part true story my daughter in march married a white young man and he is from wisconsin yes well that's the conversation for another day but but his mother was a stay-at-home homemaker and she's never really she's never had interaction with african-american men and before the wedding she said to my daughter i am afraid of african-american men and my daughter noelle asked why why are you afraid of african-american men because guess what my father is african-american my brothers i have others in my family who are african-american and mrs milestone reaction was her her response was because i see what they are on television and in the movies our beliefs concerning race are based on misconceptions and half truths speaking our truth means being absolutely honest about our thoughts and our feelings and opinions and not just saying what we perceive others want to hear too often my brothers and sisters we don't speak our truth out of fear of offending because we don't want to offend pastor burns out of fear of appearing angry or sounding arrogant and so we go on we go for keeping our peace over sharing our internal truths but until we can become completely as he says and audibly honest about intel interracial dialogues about race the dialogue will remain limited and ultimately ineffective and then he says the third thing is experience discomfort he says everyone must individually agree to experience discomfort so that they can deal with the reality of race and racism in an honest and forthright way the uncomfortable conversation require we open up and we look at our individual core racial beliefs values perceptions and behaviors and when we do that it leads to real real growth and it also leads to authentic relationships in any senses the last one is expect and accept non-closure do not expect a quick fix we will not reach closure and our racial understandings are in our interracial interactions we cannot discover as he says a solution to a challenge if we have not been able to talk about it to talk specifically and intentionally about the challenge solutions are always changing and always forming so it is important that we commit to an ongoing dialogue and in embracing these prerequisites speaking the truth staying engaged experiencing discomfort expect and accept non-closure we are able to become builders of the beloved community embodying first corinthians 12 4 6 which reads now there are a variety of gifts but the same spirit and there are varieties of services for the same lord and there are varieties of activities but it is the same god who activates all of them in every one unity is possible here on earth so i leave you with these questions in your opinion what would be some challenges in building a beloved community made up of many faiths and many people of color and what do we need to change in order for us to create a beloved community in this area because it can be it can be done if we have the desire and a passion even if it's five that's five that have started planted a seed and given what you've heard tonight about the beloved community is it safe to say that none of us really belong to a beloved community but we can but we can so i close with this these words pinned by the late dynamic john lewis and i call him the good troubled gentleman my brothers and sisters you are a light you are the light and never let anyone any person or any force dampen dim or diminish your light study the path of others to make your way easier and more abundant lean toward the whispers of your own heart discover the universal truth and follow its dictates release the need to hate to harbor division and the enticement of revenge release all bitterness hold only love and only peace in your heart knowing that the battle of good to overcome evil is already one choose confrontation wisely but when it is your time don't be afraid to stand up speak up and speak out against injustice and if you follow your truth down the road to peace and the affirmation of love if you shine like a become of all the great dreamers and philosophers is yours to manifest in a nation and a world community and a beloved community that is finally at peace with itself thank you thank you um you know we've all learned that when we come to synagogue especially on yom kippur we don't really respond to words which are given somebody said to me after rosh hashanah services i wish i could have clapped because i really resonated with what was said on rosh hashanah morning i know that i'm feeling like i wish i could clap because i think and i've heard this is the second time that i'm i'm hearing uh reverend burns deliver this message um so in in renewal judaism we actually have a way of clapping without making noise and we do it all the time we do this thank you my friend we are about to go into the um the piece of our holy day service our unique holy day services i mentioned on rosh hashanah that we add prayers of of sleekhout of of supplication and of forgiveness we do that on yom kippur as well and we add one more piece on yom kippur so to our supplications and to our prayers of forgiveness we add our confessions because we've also had now this 10 days in between rosh hashanah and yom kippur to hopefully assess kind of where we've been and maybe with the words that we heard from reverend burns there might be others that we might come up with for ourselves as we move throughout this day of things that we have to ask for forgiveness for and things that we need to perhaps confess yom kippur is all about searching our souls and searching our insides and really digging deep and perhaps trying to deal with what reverend burns talks about is some of the uncomfortableness that's within each of us and so in some respects she gave us the opportunity to to do that as we move into the slichot forgiveness and vidoui confessional section of our yom kippur evening service we will start on page 296 with the chanting of a a melody a prayer that appeared that is done on yom kippur because it talks about we think about it at night and in the morning it's there for us as well and hopefully by the time we get to evening we have risen up and and know what we need to do rabbi kevin um [Music] foreign [Music] our longings rise out of the night our knife sharp cries enter out of the dawn [Music] and let our joyous song i i i up here out of the dust may our incantations rise out of the night [Music] our heavenly vindication enter out of the dawn [Music] may the depths of our fast rise out of the night our entries for a pardon enter out of the dawn and let our desperate crisis [Music] i appear out of the dust oh may our covert refuge rise out of the night and enter because of you out of the dawn and let our atonement [Music] [Music] h3o2 the 13 attributes of god we read together in english adonai merciful before we sin adonai merciful even after we sin god of gentle justice filled with mother love and grace slow to anger great and covenantal love and truth keeping love for the thousands within the covenant forgiving perverse actions rebelliousness and the missing of the mark and acquitting the hebrew on page starts on page 3019 [Music] [Music] [Music] i [Music] a [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] we continue with the dewey with the confessional portion of our prayer service we are on page we are doing a sham new on page 305. please rise as you are able in spirit or in body we'll read together the english in the middle of page 305 we have turned aside from your meets vote from your laws which point us toward the good and no good has come to us from our misdeeds yet you do justly with everyone who comes before you for you truth [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] titan [Music] we continue with qaeda on page 307 and we're going to chant all of the al hait in english for the wrong we did before you under coercion or of our own free will and for the wrong we did before you by hardening our hearts for the wrong we did before you unintentionally and for the wrong we did before you through idle talk and meaningless resolutions for the wrong we did before you by using sex exploitatively and for the wrong we did before you in public and in private for the wrong we did before you knowingly and deceptively and for the wrong we did before you by offensive language for the wrong we did before you by oppressing another person and for the wrong we did before you by malicious thought for the wrong we did before you by promiscuity and for the wrong we did before you by confessing it sincerely for the wrong we did before you by contempt for parents and teachers and for the wrong we did before you by violence for the wrong we did before you by failing to be true to our heritage thus defaming your name in the world and for the wrong we did before you by unbridled passion [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] new [Music] for the wrong we did before you by lying and deceiving and for the wrong we did before you by accepting brides for the wrong we did before you by scoffing and mocking and for the wrong we did before you by speaking ill of other people for the wrong we did before you in our work and for the wrong we did before you in the foods we eat and the amount we drink for the wrong we did before you by refusing to be generous and for the wrong we did before you by being proud and haughty the one we did before you in rejecting off our authority and for the wrong we did before you in making hard adjustments on other people [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] by plotting against others and for the wrong we did before you by tormenting others for the wrong we did before you by dismissing serious matters with a joke and for the wrong we did before you by being obstinate for the wrong we did before you by running to do evil and for the wrong we did before you by gossiping for the wrong we did before you by swearing falsely and for the wrong we did before you by hating others without cause for the wrong we did before you by betraying a trust and for the wrong we did before you out of confusion unaware of the significance of our actions for all our wrongs o god of forgiveness forgive us wipe the slay clean grant us atonement [Music] ah [Music] [Music] m [Music] [Applause] [Music] destroy the power of every oppressor and adversary to destroy the power of every oppressor and adversary new [Music] destruction and wrongdoing [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] inscribe us in the book of meritorious [Music] [Music] say [Applause] [Music] [Music] volcano [Music] [Music] [Music] let this hour be an hour of compassion and a time [Music] for we have too few good deeds act toward us with justice tempered by love and bring us salvation [Music] [Applause] [Music] a [Music] [Music] joel simon president gets to come up a second time to deliver some words of appeal good job um here i am again and rev wow this is quite an act to follow i don't know that i can i can match those words wisdom and spirituality i'm gonna do my best um so uh again thank you for allowing me to speak to you tonight this is a follow-up to the appeal speech that i made rosh hashanah so i'm going to build off of what i said on rosh hashanah day and for those of you that didn't hear the speech hopefully it'll bring a little new perspective and those of you that did hear my previous speech hopefully it still brings a little new perspective um i want to thank our rabbis uh beth cohen and kevin bernstein for their leadership and these services yeah i think we can all right yeah um definitely and their leadership of seaside of course uh barry and rivanovic for high holiday logistics our friends here at upworth for hosting us and the the ability to use technology and to reach our friends that are watching remotely as well as all of you here live and the ability to be here together in this beautiful facility um thank you uh peter zoll also for your organization of the ushers and anybody else that i may have forgotten to mention thank you all of course thanking people isn't the main purpose of why i get to speak to you today uh it's my honor to stand before you and again give that appeal speech as i mentioned during rosh hashanah asking others for money is not something that i relish it's not something that i really enjoy doing but in the case of seaside jewish community it's a it's a relatively easy task this is something that i'm passionate about it's a privilege seaside's a place that i love passionately and feel mentally connected with when i spoke with you last week i spent some time discussing my journey to find seaside and how the connections that alyssa and i have built at seaside have been vital to us personally here in southern delaware seaside's a home for our family a place where we feel welcomed loved and part of the tribe so to speak connections is a theme for seaside this year we even put it on our brochure one of the first things i did as president was initiate a marketing group that met for a while as an ad hoc committee during those meetings one word kept coming back again and again and again connections so what is it about seaside that makes us feel connected for me and my family it starts with the people being around others who we feel bond with who make us feel a part of something bigger and yes even occasionally challenge us judaism has always been a huge part of my life and elissa's life so we knew even before we were married that judaism would play a major role in the life that we were going to build together seaside's values consistent for our nearly 25 years of existence have propelled the simon family to continue to support seaside and be deeply involved these values have set the basis for why i love this place and why i feel connected being a part of this community loving and living torah the whole religious experience tikkun repairing the world being an open community with love and acceptance for everyone participation for all the door vador generation to generation educating our young people and the young at heart supporting those who are in need and a general spirit of holiness appealed to me back in 1997 when i first heard of this young seaside jewish community and these values they continue to resonate with me today nevertheless these are just words it's really about the people who live these values every single day seaside's filled with mensches and has been for years our founders built a community for alissa and i and we are doing our best to follow their example and continue to build this wonderful community these values represent our jewishness very well but it's more than just judaism and many people have different approaches to judaism seaside members come from many different backgrounds and bring these very traditions to our place of worship as the only established synagogue in sussex county delaware we have to be careful to stay true to our values and yet offer a wide variety of styles of worship and activities to appeal to the many tastes of our members in preparation for the current rabbi search seaside surveyed our members and came to the conclusion our members want more of everything it does sound funny to say it but the results don't lie some members want more english some members more sorry some members want more hebrew somewhat more music most simply just want more and i'm in the i want more boat even though i want more i know that i can't do everything i put my focus on education worship membership social and community relationships through multi-faith believe it or not that's not all we do these have been the areas that have been my anchors of involvement but only represent portions of what's available at seaside what are your anchors what are your passions and what are the best ways for you to connect at seaside having young children when we joined seaside motivated us to get involved in the religious school as a career educator and a parent the school was a natural for me it connected again the word again connected us to many of the younger families and other children with similar ages to ours i've given back as a barn bar mitzvah tutor teacher in the religious school and the school's director for five years alyssa currently serves as a youth education chair and has taught in the school for many years even my 17 year old daughter emily is volunteering this year as she has the past couple few years as a teacher connections we care about these families we care about the kids and we want their seaside jewish community experience to be as valuable and rewarding as ours has been i made a decision many years ago to give to our children with my time with my heart and with my financial support so why should someone give to seaside jewish community and what does it really look like to give i asked these questions last week and i'm coming back to them again the answers may vary for all of you perhaps it depends on your connections your passions your anchors for me giving financially as well as with involvement i see as mitzvot as you can tell being connected to seaside is very important to me my family and i hope it's already or will become just as important to you give of your time your money to the things you care about give to the things that make you feel connected seaside's fortunate to have such generous people who are willing to give either their time their money or both i've chosen to give because this community has given my family alyssa my parents and my children a home a place where we can make a difference within the jewish community as well as in the larger community and feel connected embraced and loved at the risk of repeating some of the same information many of you heard last week here we go again here's my pitch please take this opportunity to give to sjc we're in a period of growth growth is a wonderful thing but it does come with a cost holiday donations are a vital part of our annual budget we do not charge for high holidays we rely on your donations to make what i consider to be the magic happen in order to bring you these services and to provide this way to connect we need support in addition for giving for high holidays this year we're hoping you're going to give to the retire the mortgage campaign these gifts go into a different but also very important fund so we're asking people to look into the hearts and be doubly generous this particular year our new building is absolutely amazing it's a wonderful space to connect with others through worship educational programming community service projects and so much more it is now more than double the size before renovation we raised 1.1 million dollars but we were left with a 300 000 mortgage we want to be able to retire that debt to drain on our resources we want to be able to put our money towards events and activities more and more for the programming needs remember we all want more we've begun to chip away at this debt but we still have a ways to go your generation excuse me sorry about that your generosity would go a long way at seaside we have been fortunate to expand our building without a building fund assessment truly a remarkable and generous showing by our members the continued support of our long-time members as well as our newer members is essential for our sustainability our growth including the building is a result of our founders long-time members and keeping our newest members and the trend of a growing membership in mind thank you to everybody who has contributed already to the capital campaign retired the mortgage campaign many of you have made multiple gifts already to this effort consider additional support to this campaign in order to eliminate any of this debt going forward as i mentioned on rosh hashanah this year miriam and bob zodick and marilyn feldman are going to match the retire the mortgage dollar for dollar up to 30 000 so make your gift count double help us meet this challenge in your prayer books your moxor you have an envelope with donation information feel free to send that back to us with your donation you also can go online to our website and make your donation or find more information for giving there ultimately giving is a personal choice whether you choose to give to the general fund or for a specific purpose it is all helpful alyssa and i have chosen to give what we can for many years we are still giving to the capital campaign and to retire the mortgage effort because we want to ensure a strong jewish community for these years to come we want future generations of young jewish families to have a home a community and to be able to build connections yep there's that word again like we've been so fortunate to do so gemartov may you be sealed in the book of life and i wish everyone an easy fast we're coming to the end we are reminded as we come to the end we're on page 315 we are reminded by elenu that it is upon us whatever it is that you've taken from this service tonight just remember that it's upon you to take an action to take a step and eleno tells us that as we come to towards the end of the service so please rise for eleno page 315. [Music] [Music] [Music] my [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] ah [Music] [Music] as we do in all of our services we take time to remember those who have gone before us if you're a mourner in the period of mourning of seven days thirty days or the first year we say to you hamakom you know may you be comforted among all the mourners of zion and jerusalem and for others who just remains you can either remain standing or you can can return to your seat if it's not your custom to stand for for mourner's cottage we're on page 316. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] if [Music] [Music] [Music] along with my breath god has my body adonai is with me i have no fear the only announcement is we'll be back here at ten o'clock tomorrow morning and may you have an easy fast ja na toba oh you

Channel: Seaside Jewish Community YouTube Channel

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Length: 123min 5sec (7385 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021