Shabbat Morning Services - September 11, 2021

foreign [Music] we're going to begin this morning of shabbat very much in between our souls i think engaged in the work of this season of chuval [Music] so we keep that present very much in mind throughout the our prayers this morning it says that uh traditionally when one wears to fill in in the morning on weekdays one has to make an effort to constantly remember that one is wearing twilight which is very difficult because if you want to focus on the prayers themselves it's very difficult to at the same time remember that you're wearing feline and you're fulfilling this mitzvah so many have the word te filin up on top of the page of each page so every time you turn the page you see the word te filin on top and and you keep that in mind as you move through the prayers so i invite you to keep the word teshuva very much present as if it were written and inscribed on the top of every page as we pray our service this morning beginning on page 99 with modernity [Music] my [Music] my [Music] [Music] i [Music] me [Music] me [Music] but [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you may be seated we can see on page 120 or page 50 in the middle of the page reciting some 30 mismo shirt foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] me [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] those who are morning and those who are kayode site are invited to rise if you're here in person you may rise if you are on zoom also rise and unmute if you're saying page 121 or page 52. so okay [Music] [Music] oh oh [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] so [Music] my [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] 80. [Music] ah [Music] [Applause] [Music] i [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign page 141 on page [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] um [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] yes [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] 149 or 340. [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] me [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] very [Music] foreign [Laughter] [Music] foreign foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] um [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign big foreign [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] ah [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] is you [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Music] um [Music] page 159 or 354 then with the auditions for shabbat [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] my [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] he [Music] [Music] a [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] oh foreign you this is now [Music] i [Music] [Music] i [Music] foreign [Music] i [Music] 167 or three hundred ninety two [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] continue with our tour service on page 168 or page 394 in kamojana [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] um [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] me [Music] me [Music] on a beautiful and crisp day morning like this morning september 11 2001 20 years ago exactly today our lives were interrupted by an act of hatred and violence such as this country has never known before our lives were forever changed the world was forever changed at 8 45 8 46 on september 11 2001 the first plane crashed into the north tower in lower manhattan 903 the second plane crashed into the south tower at 9 37 am the pentagon was attacked and 178 people were killed at 9 59 the south tower collapsed more than 800 people were killed including 343 firefighters a 1003 united flight 93 crashed in shanksville pennsylvania killing 33 people at 10 28. exactly twenty years ago now the north tower collapsed more than one thousand six hundred people were killed we're going to stop for a moment of silence and reverence to honor the memories of those who perished to honor the sacrifice of their families and their loved ones who had to move on with broken hearts we honor the heroism the nobility of firefighters police officers emt workers and all first responders who walked in to save lives and who gave their lives for others we honor with our silence also the strength and the resilience of our city and of our country who had to rise from the ashes and from the smoke to rebuild and to live once again for all of that we pause now for a moment of silence and reverence you kindness naomi she have nigh before you know what kindness really is you must lose things feel the future dissolve in a moment like salt in a weakened broth what you held in your hand what you counted and carefully saved all this must go so you know how desolate the landscape can be between the regions of kindness before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing you must wake up with sorrow you must speak to it till your voice catches the thread of all sorrows and you see the size of the cloth then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore only kindness that ties your shoes and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread only kindness that raises its head from the crowd of the world to say it is i you have been looking for and then goes with you everywhere like a shadow or a friend [Music] [Music] oh [Music] god [Music] [Music] o [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] hello [Music] foreign on page 1173 it corresponds to the book of deuteronomy 31. my [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] ah [Music] [Music] [Music] ah [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] my [Music] uh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] chanted about another aspect of the shemitah year every seventh year as the shemitah is proclaimed on rosh hashanah and then comes sukkot and all the people are gathered it was the pilgrimage festival and the community came together in yerushalayim the entire torah in this case it was the book of darim at the time was read in front of the entire people the entire book of the varim was read in the front of everybody and this is another aspect of the shemitah is the reviewing of the teaching the careful listening and reviewing of the teaching by the entire community you can read the interesting note at the bottom of page 1174 how this turned into readings that are regular readings of the torah on shabbat and as well as on mondays and thursdays but the idea is to enter the entire torah every seventh year the entire thing and to internalize it to learn it together as a community such a powerful practice of our people i would add as we were reading it i was thinking about how it's very clear to say that it's everyone in the community that it's the children also and i am waiting for the day this meets a year that we have our entire community back together here i feel i feel very hopeful as we read this to have everyone of all ages intergenerationally praying learning torah being together on shabbat amen amen foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] hello oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] ah [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] m [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] i invite you to rise as we pray for those who are ill please insert the names of those who are in need of healing when i pause foreign be [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Laughter] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] i see that henry is standing there you're going to do andrea so come close to the table henry mir who's been a member bj for decades had at the time of september 11 and for many years he had a business a restaurant city hall right in that area very close to lower manhattan to the twin towers and when this happened henry was caught with other businesses in the area and other restaurants in particular in in this situation and and he offered himself and his kindness and his heart and he did incredible work there for all the people who were working in that area maybe you tell a little bit of just some recollections and some anecdotes of the things that you did at the time in your in your wonderful restaurant city hall well um we were eight blocks from ground zero and um we were the first restaurant to open up after september 11th take over so we can i got a beard and we were with our close relationship to the municipality city hall we fed city hall the mayor and all his staff for about three months i'm as did a lot of restaurants down there that helped ground zero it kind of changed our lives it we created relationships with people fbi agents i mean all these first responders that today to this day i still talk to them there's a wonderful small little story of we were open a couple weeks after and nobody there was nobody really down there and all of a sudden like 18 people walked in and they all had the southern accent and i said can i help you like why are you here and they said well we came to pray with you and i said to pray with us they said well this is city hall right and i said yeah come on in let's so we all so they came they were from um they're from alabama um and it's just a wonderful story it's just beautiful please rise [Music] you may be seated which is found in on page 12 35 [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] david [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] which is found on page 183 [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] me [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] there's nothing quite like playing a game of peek-a-boo with a baby i'm blessed to have a one-year-old at home which means that i've been playing a lot of peek-a-boo over the past nine months covering my face with my hands and saying where's mommy where's mommy and then uncovering my face to say here she is only to see a wide-eyed two-toothed huge grin and to hear a sweet little giggle once my face returns recently the roles have reversed as she begins to become the hider and i the seeker it's amazing i was actually reading this out loud and she was playing with me as i was reading out loud the time this specific time of year often feels like an enormous and complicated game of peek-a-boo we ask ourselves where are you and where have you been we ask others where are you and where have you been we reveal ourselves asking for forgiveness and ask others to reveal themselves in forgiveness this shabbat the shabbat between rosh hashanah and yom kippur is known as shabbat shiva the shabbat of return the words of the prophet hoshaya shuva yes return o israel to the lord your god for you have fallen because of your sin they pierced through our hearts reminding us to return pushing us to continue to do to shiva the work of repentance that we have been toiling over for the past month and which we continue to do a lot more urgently during the asara yamame chuva these 10 days between rosh hashanah and yom kippur the message is that we need to return to god we need to remove our hands from our faces to say both to ourselves to others and to god khineni here i am the person i want to be the person i strive to be but what if we're not the only ones playing this game of peek-a-boo and what if we are not the only ones who need to return what happens when we put the plea of hoshaya in conversation with the theologically challenging words of parshat bayelah the parsha that we chanted this morning in our parsha we read about how god told moshe that after moshe's death which is rapidly approaching at this point in the torah the people would go into the promised land and would go astray breaking their covenant with god and god continued to say then my anger will flare up against them and i will abandon them and hide my countenance from them these mayhem and they shall say on that day surely it is because our god is not in our midst that these evils have befallen us god says when we turn away in sin by hiding our faces from god god too goes into hiding we see here that our game of peek-a-boo has two hiders and two seekers that during this time of teshuva when we try to turn and say here i am we are not the only ones who need to return on this shabbat god we ask you to return to us this is theologically disturbing and before we go any deeper into the concept i need to say that i do not believe i'm saying this very loudly i do not believe in a god who is hiding or abandoning abandoning us because of our sins or our wrongdoings i don't believe in that god what i do know and what i feel is that god is in hiding and that just as i am trying to return this year i want god to do the same i don't think i'm alone and the only one who has been challenged by and personally felt the idea of hesterpanim the eclipse of god's presence in our world we stand here in new york city we took a moment of silence on september 11th which 20 years ago was a devastating terrorist attacks that as felicia reminded us last night nearly killed three thousand people some of who are just now being identified leaving thousands of others in chronic states of mental and physical illness and filling hundreds of thousands if not more of our hearts with fear and with hate it was a beautiful clear september morning really much like this one as i was walking to shul this morning i thought i felt i felt that crispness the sun was shining without a cloud in the sky also like this morning when suddenly the sun was eclipsed first by the two planes and then the ash of the towers crumbling before our eyes the hiddenness was palpable the sense of distance chilling in that moment our city and our world changed forever we have felt distant over and over again with the suffering and ongoing grief loss and fear of this horrific pandemic the xenophobia and the lack of true justice the fires that are burning our earth the floods that drown our cities the wars that kill our brothers and sisters and our children our hafthara this morning continued with the words of yoel who said let not the people say aye elohim where is your god but in myriad ways we ask this very question ourselves where are you god where have you gone we beg saying don't hide your face from us shuba return to us the plea for god to not hide god's face from us is a familiar trope during this time of year specifically in the words of psalm 27 la david the psalm which we have been saying every morning and night during the month of elul and through the high holidays will continue to say it the psalmist writes on your behalf my heart sings and says seek my face seek my face o lord i seek your face we pray to god saying this is reciprocal just as you seek my face i seek yours and then we go on to say don't hide your face from me don't hide from me we insist that god not hide god's face from us and god said in our torah reading this morning mayhem and we respond with the same words al-taster panacha mimeni the same language again we ask god not to hide from us in psalm 102. don't hide your face from me in my time of trouble this time a more personal plea asking god to be with us when we are in a time of pain and struggle and then once again in the book of psalms we ask god not to hide god's faith from us there are more but this is the last one i'm going to share today in psalm 44 we ask dear we say why do you hide your face ignoring our affliction and our distress but then the line that comes before this is what is so fascinating the line before this says [Music] rouse yourself why do you sleep o lord awaken do not reject us forever not only do we ask god not to hide from us but we tell god to wake up we ask god why are you sleeping which mirrors and maybe there are some bells going off the pute that starts our slihod here at bj and in the safari tradition prayers each morning which we say ben adam human why are you sleeping get up and voice your plea again we begin to see that just as we beg for forgiveness and use elul and these ten days as a time to wake ourselves up we also ask god to wake up and join us we are doing the hard work and god should too just as we ask god to forgive us at this time we too may need to think about the ways in which we can forgive god this year on rosh hashanah we spent many hours praying together and we even continue in our liturgy with this major theme sovereignty it is the day when we celebrate god's coronation on rosh hashanah giving god the crown of glory a dear mentor of mine rabbi avi killip the executive vice president at hadar teaches that there is a text from the talmud yerushalmi that states there are three occasions on which an individual is forgiven for all of their previous sins one is a groom on the wedding day the second is an elder on the day of ordination and the third is a king on the day of coronation the day that the king is forgiven for all previous sins rabbi killip takes this text and notes how often in rabbinic parables god being sovereign of the universe is compared to a human king and his rulership she says that if a king of human flesh and blood is forgiven for his sins on the day that he is coronated so too we can think of rosh hashanah as the day we forgive god on god's coronation day she teaches that if yom kippur is the day we ask for god's forgiveness rosh hashanah is the day we crown god as our sovereign which is also the day in which god is forgiven by us for all of the wrongdoings god has done she writes the brazen idea that we can forgive god is a profound theological statement and a profoundly personal act for many of us forgiving god will be more challenging than asking for our own forgiveness some years our sins may feel small even petty while god's sins can seem enormous she adds to forgive god and crown god again each year is a courageous act we are being brave on rosh hashanah we refuse to give up on god and in return on yom kippur we pray that god will refuse to give up on us we each say peek-a-boo i see you i see your potential to be your best and we hold one another to that rabbi killip reminds us that just as it is hard enough to forgive our others and to forgive ourselves it is even harder for us to forgive god she even asks if we really want to forgive god knowing very well that we will be disappointed again in the coming year yet this is what it means to be in a relationship it is what it means to grow and to develop scientists say that the game of peek-a-boo is much more than just a simple game it's one of the ways we can help our children learn how to thrive and be in the world this is amazing it is the way we teach our children to trust and about object permanence to know that even though we may not always see they may not see us that we are still here we still exist and we still want to be in a relationship with them no matter how hard it might be and so on this shabbat shiva like many many of them that have come before we find ourselves in a game of peek-a-boo both hiding and seeking both hiding and seeking god but this also is god who both hides from and seeks each one of us as we aspire to return to our true selves through forgiveness i turn and i ask you what would it look like for you to make space for god to return to you this year or perhaps to make space to open the possibility of a relationship with god as we say god don't abandon us i'm saying perhaps this year we can open ourselves up and not abandon god what is it that you need to forgive god for this year and can you bring yourself to do it shabbat shalom may it be a time of seeking and hiding and learning and growing we continue with 184 as we start the musa [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] 185 or 430 facing yerushalayim [Music] [Music] [Music] m [Music] [Music] [Music] hello [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] [Music] my [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] you you [Music] foreign [Music] three [Music] is [Music] may be seated in kelowna page 204 or 508 [Music] [Music] know [Music] [Music] um [Music] [Music] i invite you to rise if you're able for alineur [Music] um [Music] foreign foreign [Music] you may be seated we'll continue with kaddish on page 207 in the left shalem or 512 in the seem shalom inviting those who are in mourning or marking a yard site to rise if you're able to and those on zoom to unmute at this time as we say kaddish together is shalom just need one moment i apologize to find i have lots of papers up here this shabbat it's really lovely that we can be together from near and far and we start by saying mazal tov and congratulations to judy and marty weinberg and lauren weinberg on the recent engagement of their daughter and sister lily weinberg to sam liebman and we will after a nice shabbat although it's getting shorter this time of year at 805 we will come together for aravit and havdala on zoom at 805 and a reminder that we have made some changes to our regular minion that has been happening our daily minion that earlier in the summer we were hoping at this point that we could be together in person every day and that we would feel safe and it feels like with the delta varian things are shifting and we want to make sure that we can have a minion and that we can be together in ways that everybody is comfortable and that people can pray and open our hearts and so with that starting on sunday september 12th our minion will be in person only on torah reading days so remember mondays and thursdays and also hola moed sukkot which is a tour reading day as well so always there will be access to our minion on zoom and we will have zoom minion every day and on torah reading days we will be together in person and a reminder that until yom kippur weekday minion is going to be at 7 45 we're also shifting the time back to our zoom timing so 7 45 because of slight we're continuing to pour out our souls and our hearts 7 45 and when we are in person we will be also at 7 45 and then until yom kippur sunday morning minions will be at 9 15 with that extra 15 minutes for sijot which again then it will resume at 9 30 and we'll be in touch and we'll keep seeing how things are unfolding about morning minion and where it will be but for now we're going back to the being in person on torah reading days and being on zoom every day uh yom kippur is coming soon we know this we feel it in our souls and in our bodies and so we want to say an enormous amount of thanks and gratitude for rosh hashanah and for everyone being so patient and calm and making it as smooth for all of us as possible in terms of both the logistics but also in prayer in allowing us to be here and feel safe and as we look to yom kippur we have a few reminders for people that we have limited space and so we ask everyone to make sure that this over the next few days after shabbat you go back into your registration and you note whether you are planning to be here in person or not you may have said a few weeks ago i think i'll come in person and then things have changed for you so we really ask so that we can have space for everyone that you are able to mark that off and we can make plans accordingly and we've also added space here in the building so you can join us on live stream on the third floor so we can be in the same space and praying together there will also be the outdoor option and of course the option to live stream from wherever you are it is really a miraculous thing that we are such a large community both in space and in numbers and that we can be together to continue to pray and start the new year and ask for forgiveness both ourselves and each other and from god and we will say that on rosh hashanah just a reminder that your entrance cards may have had a v plus on it and that means that you sh you showed your proof of vaccination and we want you to make sure for yom kippur if you did not have that to put in that information and also a reminder that we need a new pcr test for those who are coming in to have a negative result for those who will be with us in person a lot of logistics to make sure that we can be together but it is worth it that's a reminder that you can only do that the earliest time to do that is 6 30 on sunday 6 30 on sunday and then monday and tuesday making sure to leave enough time to get your results so you can send them and we can see them you'll bring a printed version of that with you and for cole nidre we have a large number of people coming and we all like to be on time for that and so we'll ask for people's patience and calmness as we enter the sanctuary it will be open early it'll start uh the doors will be open to the sanctuary at five o'clock it might be a really nice opportunity to come and begin your prayer and to open yourself up to prayer and cole nidre will be happening at 6 30 so again just asking for patience as we make sure everybody can get into the space together and the last piece is as we've been learning that it is a shemitah year but every year we want to be supporting those who are in need and those who are hungry and we ask you to support the west side campaign against hunger which are our neighbors and they gave us a lot of space for our family service during rosh hashanah and yom kippur to support them during these days throughout the entire year ensuring that everybody has food and everybody has the food that they need in order to live and to thrive and you can bring either a check or make a donation online so something to think about as a way to usher in the new year with gratitude and again i'll finish our announcements with an enormous amount of gratitude to all of you and to our team our spiritual team our staff it has been an incredible experience for me to be here for the first time for high holidays and i know how much work goes into it and it is overflowing my heart with gratitude so thank you and we will continue with i just want to say one word about september 11 2001 we all i'm sure remember those of us who were old enough where we were how we felt the dismay the terror the fear the pain the anger it was an overwhelming day and it was overwhelming weeks and months but i just want to rescue one one thing that brought a lot of comfort to our community on that day september 11th we called for people to come to the church of saint paul and san andreas on 86th street and weston avenue many people came many of you who were here were there were then there at the church to find solace and comfort in one another and in our interfaith connection there were members of spsa that were members of bj we had imam faisal and daisy khan who were there our muslim partners and we came together to find strength in one another and the city came together to find strength in one another remember this we live at a time of such polarization and divisiveness and division and hatred and anti-muslim sentiment and anti-semitism and all sorts of cleavages in our society remember the friday night service that we had following september 11 at and he walked outside in the streets and there were candles everywhere and neighbors coming to greet each other and to hold each other to support each other and there was an overwhelming feeling of of of unity and that comfort comes from kindness and from unity and that we combated that hatred that for fell upon us unexpectedly that hatred and violence we combated that with with kindness and with extending ourselves to one another and perhaps that's one of the lessons as we move forward we don't have to suffer an attack like that we don't have to suffer violence and terror to be able to awaken those bonds that unite a human being with another cross divisions of ethnicity and religion and race and nationality and so on and perhaps that's on september 11 perhaps that's one of the pieces of chuva that we are called to do once again the chuva that hopefully will return us to one another to find comfort and strength in the vision for how to move forward to a better future continue with that conclude with the lamb page 211. [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] we turn now to page 75 for a blessing a blessing traditionally for children and we'll invite anyone who has children near if you want to bring them a little closer send them some energy those of us who are in need of blessing opening our own hearts knowing that we are children deep down inside and hearing the most ancient blessing of all time which says god shine your face upon us be with us [Music] [Music] oh [Music] page 77 [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] do [Music] you

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Length: 153min 6sec (9186 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 11 2021