Yom Kippur AM

[Music] [Music] yeshua [Music] [Music] answer me [Music] your answer came to me for a long wide open space [Music] your hand reach down to me mean hundreds [Music] [Music] answer [Music] [Music] answer me [Music] [Music] uh [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] she [Music] we [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] she [Music] oh it's [Music] me [Music] me [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] m [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] oh [Music] so words from this week's torah portion were adapted by dr martin luther king in his up to the mountaintop speech which was adapted by patty griffin into this song [Music] i went up to the mountain because you asked me to up over the clouds [Music] to where the sky is blue [Music] i could see all around me everywhere i could see all around me [Music] hmm [Music] so [Music] [Music] um [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so so so [Music] um [Music] we returned we returned we [Music] [Applause] [Music] again [Music] returns [Music] we [Music] to you to you [Music] to you good morning i have good news we are already halfway through this day the advantage of our days beginning at night so far the prayers don't seem so long and the fast doesn't seem so grueling and with this team i hope it will continue to be not so bad i'm rabbi sarah berman and i am just so delighted to be on the bema this morning with we are taught that on the day of atonement this is the day when god most clearly hears our pleas but god only hears our pleas for god's forgiveness for the transgressions of one human being against another we must seek forgiveness from one another and we must grant it when we can today you hold forgiveness in your hands will you close your hands and keep that forgiveness held tight or will you open your hands and grant forgiveness who to those who seek it it's up to you with open hands and open hearts we praise god with the words of psalm 150 on page 118 [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] with our bodies and our souls prepared i invite you to turn to page 120 and please rise if you are able [Music] [Music] on page 121 on this day of repentance we are reminded of your abounding love for us nurturer our god with great compassion do you care for us our source our sovereign just as our ancestors placed their trust in you and you imparted to them laws of life so too be gracious to us and teach us god open up our eyes bless us with an understanding heart to receive your teachings to make them real by our deeds and to pass them on to others blessed are you adonai you have lovingly chosen your people israel to receive this gift of torah especially powerful experience throughout yom kippur to be able to recite out loud the second verse of the shema just as did in the days of the temple [Music] [Applause] [Music] there [Music] please be seated [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] it's hard to think about the word celebration on a day like yom kippur but our morning prayers give us that chance to celebrate we celebrate our connection to god we celebrate our ability to praise god and we celebrate our own freedom our song of freedom is on page 125. [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] i invite you if you are able to rise for our standing prayer amid page 127. [Music] [Music] that my mouth may declare your praise [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] god [Music] [Music] i is man [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] m [Music] oh [Music] [Music] yes [Music] foreign [Music] um [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hallelujah [Music] [Music] sometimes the words on the page are exactly right and sometimes we need the words in our own hearts i invite you to take the next few moments to pray silently seated or standing the words on the page or the words in your heart whatever is right for you ah [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] hard as it is for me a rabbi and lover of words to admit words can't always convey our deepest feelings and experiences after this past year and a half we have all felt things that go far beyond words which is why it is such a gift this morning to invite liz lehrman to our bma a friend and collaborator of rabbi book dolls liz lehrman is a choreographer performer writer teacher and speaker she is also a visionary and has been recognized as such by the macarthur foundation with its genius grant liz's work goes far beyond dance it helps tell stories that are at once universal and achingly personal she does this through the medium of our very own bodies she's with us this morning to help us tell our story liz welcome [Music] hello everyone thank you so much for having me when i came in yesterday to rehearse with these musicians i was overcome with the beauty of this space and i made me think overnight about what it is to spend a day here a day when we are in such grief pain remembering our sorrows trying to come to terms with the year we've had and to do it amid such beauty it turns out that that was the subject of it this is that we told at the beginning of slight this congregation together and out of those stories we made a little dance that i'll teach you in a minute i send regards to you from my home synagogue temple mica in washington dc that was my spiritual home for 20 years and it's because they made a space for artists not just the musicians but the dancers the poets the storytellers that i actually can even find a space to be here and again i'm in gratitude to them and to all of you i think that creativity imagination yes even our bodies and dancing i think these are part of our birthright but as we know from our own texts birthrights get stolen and so even though what i want us to do now feels is natural to me is breathing it may not to you and that i understand that so let's just say this you are entirely in charge of your bodies i don't say that lightly we know they're parts of the world that's not true and actually in our own country that's not true either but for today now this moment you are and this means you can join in if you want you can watch if you want you can witness you can close your eyes and pray whatever suits you if you decide not to though i always like to tell people three things one keep reading it's good to say no but keep breathing take the time to be in awe of our bodies which we know have been the landscape of so much of our struggles this last year if you decide to can enjoy themselves or come to terms with themselves or with the memories that we're going to share together so just start with what i said breathing so if you all just want to take a breath maybe another one and we don't have to do this all in unison or anything like that just breathe great and then we're just going to take our hands for a minute and just take a little stretch like maybe you've already done this morning but just take your arms up for a minute up you go there they go beautiful just a little stretch yeah and we'll come back down again it's really good to move and if all you do is move the atoms and molecules around it's it's good okay one more time just your hands up and this time if you can take a look up and you'll just see how gorgeous it is in here and come on down great so your rabbis brought a poem to a group of us together that had something to do with this what does it mean to have a broken heart and what is our relationship to beauty or how do we find it even when we're brokenhearted and those were the stories that we heard and so the first thing we tried to figure out was how to make a movement that went with a broken heart i can't tell you everything that happened that night i'd love to because it's really like midrash like just for a minute take your hands like this does that feel like a broken heart or does this feel like a broken heart does it feel more like you want to be close do you want to be here so your bodies tell you stories all the time i'm going to teach you what we decided but anytime you feel like changing it well you're in charge of your body right so this is how we ended up the beginning of the dance actually goes like this someone said we need to open so bring your hands like this everybody i'm going to teach you as we go and then it just closes in like that and comes close to your chest the next story was just she said she tried to open out take your hands like this and the world is just full of tension and so she went like that yeah i want to give you a little trade secret you know and dance a lot of times it looks like people are doing that they're not because you'll hit the person next to you you may have already done that so don't do that okay just take it's a little bit in front of you it looks sideways but it sounds like that and then someone said that she gardened she took a seed like this she said she cared about the seed she said she cared about the seed as if it was surgery and she had a surgeon's hands she planted like this and then we closed over like that and indeed a friend of hers had been in surgery and so you can think about those things as we do as we do it let's review for a second right we came up like that beautiful and here you come in and this is that place you can experiment a little bit how close you want to be to this heart of yours you open it out like that experience maybe just for a minute what kind of year was this and then out of that uncertainty comes this beautiful idea that i can plant a seed open it out even my own hands like that of a surgeon like this like this someone said that she was closer to the end of her life than the beginning and then she went something like this we pulled our hands together if you can get behind you a little it's nice but you may not be able to the idea of being behind just because of the way the pews work but she said she's still making a contribution and when she said the word contribution she did this here again you can put i know you've all been contributing this year has it been pressure has it been light what's the nature of that touch great then we got some of the harder stories we're just going to take our head and we're going to hold it in our hands like this you know your heads weigh 20 pounds you all so if you can you really let him rest there for a minute okay and come back up thank you it's beautiful you it actually looks like prayer beautiful so i'm going to just show you this next part it's a because it's kind of interesting we're here but we wanted to look back we wanted to look back and see the ear but it's hard to do so when you're here like this you can actually push your head with your hand a little bit and just look back just a little bit let's try that you're like this and if you just push a little bit you can make your head look even if you don't want to and with that practice you can go the other direction further because you've practiced and then we're going to come back to the front let's review again okay one nice thing about dancing altogether is that you don't have to remember it by yourself if you forget something you can look to the person next to you and again you can always make it up but here it goes we started this way we have this open heart but then actually it was hard open out maybe now you're beginning to find the movement it's actually it makes sense to you in addition to the storage year so we have to come like that understand the contributions we made and yet still we have this sorrow so over we go push can you look back just a little bit maybe maybe you can look back and see more and then all most of the stories had something like this we're going to take our arms up like we did earlier reaching for the light reaching for the light [Music] it was a hard year as someone said we lost people someone mentioned closing the eyes of a beloved and then we're going to just end it right here in a kind of an embrace so our gratitude to the people who told stories and helped make this up we're going to do it now to the actual text that started it all now your personal stories start to mingle with those of others and let's see how it goes so we'll do the dance to these words okay thank you if as a rabbi said a broken heart is even better than an axe and can free all the locks on the gates opening out onto the new year we are also the tree the breeze the earth and the person who having made our way here through the streets of the city through the mica shining pavement of the mines metropolis opens the first gate with the master key of a broken open is what beauty how might rich earth opens the first gate with the master key of a broken open heart and says what beauty and now for those of you who are able i wish to let's stand up for a minute because it's very nice to do it standing you can all stand whether you're dancing or not just stan beautiful good and for those of you at home who might be doing the streaming welcome we're so glad it's nice to dance in your own homes too we'll do it all together once and then actually we're just going to do this side so you guys will do it and you can watch and then we'll do this side and you can watch and then we'll do it all together one more time so those of you in the middle sections if you want to just turn slightly towards the people on the other side it's nice yeah then this together once then this side this side all together again okay [Music] ready here we go return again return again return to the land of yours doing this together here we go [Music] return [Music] again again return to the land of your soul [Music] return to where [Music] let's let the music into you here we go [Music] return to who you are [Music] [Applause] [Music] return to where [Music] are you ready here we go [Music] everybody [Music] return to who you are [Music] and one last time all together [Applause] with our memories our stories and ours [Music] return again [Applause] [Music] return to who you are [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's very beautiful to see everybody thank you and we'll remain standing thank you so much liz for inspiring us with the story of our bodies this morning you've been with us on this whole high holiday journey and it's such a a treat to feel that embrace from you so thank you so much uh as liz said we remain standing for the beginning of our service for the reading of torah with avinu malcanu which can be found on page 136 we read together avinu malcanu hear our voice avinu malcanu we have sinned against you avinu malcanu have compassion on us and on our children avina malcainu make an end to sickness war and famine avinu malkanu make an end to all oppression avinu malcanu inscribe us for blessing in the book of life avinu malkenu let the new year be a good year for us avinu mall kenu fill our hands with blessing avinu malkanu be gracious and answer us for we have little merit treat us generously with kindness and be our help [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] god [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] i know [Music] at this time we call up linda lindenbaum lori lindenbaum and sarah rachel and max horn as we remove the torahs from the ark [Music] [Music] i [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] how [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you may be seated except for the people who will be helping us with the torah service this morning for the honor of the aliyah we call up kenny heitner and for our torah readers we have gabby schmelken-wilson kent weinberger olivia meyer and lois robbins our torah portion this morning comes from parshat nitzavim in the book of deuteronomy the reading begins with our ancestors aligned in an oppressive array standing before god prepared to enter into the covenant and we read that in that moment god makes this covenant not just with those present at that time but also with those who are not our sages say those who are not present the text refers to are the future generations of jews as in us and so as we read from the torah this yom kippur morning we ask what would it have been like to stand before god in the shoes of our ancestors we are on page 138. [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] they are [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] that was amazing to find the place awesome [Music] uh i thought that's definitely me there once i can refine it right yeah i'm right here somewhere right um sorry we're having trouble finding the beginning yeah yeah yeah we're empiric um that's why it should be it should be in this column oh it's right i know it's gonna be here there is a joke about how many rabbis it takes to find the spot in torah but i think i mean it takes somebody with more seniority than me to make that joke should i just do it from here is that all right yeah okay it's okay [Music] um [Music] so every friday nights at central synagogue we pray for the healing of our loved ones with the words of misha bera but one time of year we invite our loved ones who have experienced the gift of a refuama of complete healing to say a blessing of gratitude through mit for making it through their long and difficult journeys this is birkat gomez which we will say this morning in the presence of this safer torah the talmud teaches that there are four reasons one might say this blessing if you have crossed the sea if you have traversed the desert if you have recovered from an illness or if you have been freed from imprisonment later scholars of jewish law observed that these four categories formed an acronym in hebrew chavus for prisoner isarim for sickness yam forsee and meet bar for desert combined the first letters of these words spell life we blast skomal at those times when we are most grateful for the gift of life after healing from an illness or surviving an accident or overcoming a spiritual emotional challenge or finding a torah reading if one of these applies to you i will lead us in the words of birkat gomel which are found on page 140. and if you don't have a reason to join gomail this year our tradition teaches that those who are listening should affirm the experience and gratitude of those who do and so shani will lead us in the traditional response so we join together at the top of page 140. eloheinu blessed are you our eternal god your majesty fills the universe through your eternal god your majesty fills the universe through your generosity i have experienced your goodness amen and at this time we are going to hear a prayer for the state of israel are we okay [Laughter] or do we have it okay avinu we are praying for the state of israel our apologies um do we have uh thank you we are always praying for your prayers from jerusalem thank you and i'm also honored to lead yesterday i got it this is where rabbi ross surprised us all with this bracha but it is a very good one and so we are going to say it but we're going to get the the text from the sidor in just a moment [Music] is [Music] protector and redeemer of israel bless the state of israel which marks the dawning of hope for all who seek peace shielded beneath the wing of your love spread over at a canopy of your peace guiding and ascend your light and truth to all who lead and advise and ascend your light and truth to all who lead and advise guiding them with your good counsel establish peace in the land and fulfillness of joy for all who dwell here amen and we'll stay standing and thank you very much and it's so special to have you especially lead us in the prayer for the state of israel this morning and appreciate all of your patience as we remain standing to lift and dress the seifer torah [Music] is [Music] [Applause] r [Music] i you may be seated are you a god are you a god that question is posed by gozer the gosarian to race dance one of the ghostbusters it's an iconic moment in that 1980s comedy there at the top of a building on the upper west side of manhattan gozer the gozerian is ready to destroy new york city but standing in the demi-god's way are the ghostbusters ray has just issued a demand the gozer leave the city and uncertain of who they are gozer asks ray are you a god and rey confused and unsure replies no at which point gozer cries out then die and bolts of lightning shoot from her fingers sending the ghostbusters hurling away and when they land winston a fellow ghostbuster shares fair's sage advice with rey words that have stood the test of time quoted by philosophers and poets alike i can tell some of you know this line tell some of you know this line he says know this line he says rey when someone asks you if you're a god you say yes say yes and though this this question comes from an unlikely source i want us to take it seriously this morning are you a god viscerally we bristle at this question's very premise judaism forbids us from making any image of god god is formless god transcends time and space no judaism is unequivocal god is not human god is not at all like humanity and yet i want us to ask can humanity be like god are we like god now despite what you may be feeling in your kishkes this question is not as heretical as it sounds the idea that humanity could be like god is implied in the torah itself at the beginning of all things in the garden of eden the serpent explained to eve that should she eat from the fruit of the tree of knowledge ye humans shall be like god who knows good from bad and the serpent or eat from the tree of knowledge learn the difference between good and evil and go enter the world we had to choose which way we would become like god and we chose morality rather than immortality humans became like god not by living forever but by gaining the ability to distinguish between good and evil and while christianity views this as the great fall from paradise judaism maintains a wider interpretation of that expulsion you see eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge that was not a sin it was what god hoped we would do god wished more than anything that humanity would choose moral understanding and then with god go out into the world and try to make it good what god wants and what judaism expects is that we will use our god-like power of morality to imitate or to play god now that phrase play god has some baggage that we have to address in the modern western world the idea of playing god is an accusation it has a negative connotation who are you to play god we might hear a pundit scream out because in our society to play god is to misuse power we have no business wielding but judaism's concept of playing god is radically different for jews playing god is not an accusation it's an aspiration walk in god's ways demands the torah we are commanded to play god in the world to make use of our god-like power if ever there was a mission statement for the jewish people one that is accepted by all streams of judaism across all of time this is it it's with me and sheepishly or if there have been a mitzvah student quite stridently shares with me that they do not believe in god i assure them that they are not alone and i would wager that if we took an informal poll they would find that they are in very good company in this congregation and in many congregations but more important than that is that you do not need to believe in god to play god because the actions are what are important the jewish philosopher martin buber said it this way he said god does not want to be believed in or debated and defended by us but simply to be realized through us you see regardless of what we believe we can still act god-like but the first step is getting to know god because you can't imitate what you don't know so we have to ask who is god who is god and when i was practicing this my wife informed me that that's the most terrifying question a rabbi could ask halfway through a sermon but we're going to luckily make this very quick because moses asked that question and that's that question in the torah and we can share with you god's response in order to do that i need someone to be the voice of god and i'm wondering uh would you be willing the walk up is suggesting yes you left me hanging for way too long on that so it's a big invite it's a big invite but i know you're up to it and i think we all know that so uh in the torah moses asks god who are you and and this is god's response it might be familiar [Music] no [Music] okay that's a good god that torah text might be familiar to you it's called the 13 attributes of god's goodness and it's the basis of judaism's understanding of who god is and how god acts and that makes it one of the main tools that we can use as we seek to play god and every rosh hashanah and every yom kippur we recite those verses before the open ark over and over and over again as if we're saying to one another this is the essence of god's goodness and therefore this is how we must walk in the world the rabbis of antiquity made this point clearly in the midrash how do we walk in god's ways they asked and because they were rabbis they answered their own question they said well in the 13 attributes of god's goodness god is called merciful and gracious therefore we should be merciful and gracious god is called righteous therefore we should be righteous on and on they went lily montague a leader of liberal judaism summarized it all beautifully she said if we want to commune with god we should seek to imitate god's goodness so what are these 13 good attributes that we are meant to embody the first attribute is that god is all-powerful and and i admit that's a tough one to embody for us that's that's that's hard that that takes a little bit of of discernment but the way we do that is by playing god because we live in a time when the almighty is not going around splitting seas or speaking out from bushes so god is only as powerful as our actions on god's behalf so if adonai is going to be all-powerful attributes powerfully god is in fact counting on us and if this first attribute is a summons to go play god attributes 2 through 13 are our playbook here they are 2 and 3 go together god shows us compassion before and after we make mistakes so we should strive to prevent those around us from making mistakes and also to have empathy for folks who have done wrong and are trying to rectify it attribute four is that god provides for those in need so we should look around us and honestly ask who is struggling because their needs are our responsibility the fifth attribute is that god is kind so can we take that feeling of fellowship that we feel for those within our own tribe and extend it out into ever-widening circles of concern the sixth attribute is that god cares for future generations to imitate this one we have to adopt what i call a god's eye view and think not in terms of today or tomorrow or even our own lifespan but focus on the impact of our choices on generations who are not yet born the seventh attribute is that god acts with grace we jews don't talk about grace as much as some of our other co-religionists but to embody it we stop asking whether someone deserves our help our default assumption becomes that everyone is worthy of our care the eighth attribute is that god is slow to anger okay so we have to embody patients even at the dmv even at the ups store and i've seen some of you there the ninth attribute is that god is truthful so now we're getting very counter-cultural but i'm here to tell you the truth-telling and honesty while not in vogue are godly 10 11 and 12 all have to do with forgiveness they start all of them if we repent and that's an important condition but if we repent it's when we accidentally sin forgives us when we accidentally sin when we disobey god and even when we rebel against god and therefore if someone repents we should strive to forgive those who unintentionally slight us those who purposefully wrong us and those who cast themselves as our enemies that's likely the teenagers in your home the thirteenth and final attribute is that god not only forgives god also pardons therefore we should try to restart relationships with those who come to us seeking sincere forgiveness those are all 13. none of them are revolutionary i would venture to guess that we all strive to inhabit these good qualities but the more that we learn about the human mind the more we understand that while these attributes run in concert with our hearts they run counter to our inclinations and our inclinations are powerful therefore it requires discipline real discipline to turn what we know is right into a habitual and yes even godly practice but judaism and jewish living provide the discipline we need to make plain god routine for instance once we accept that one of the 13 attributes of god's goodness is to go out and play god well then we're left with 12 attributes to pursue and that's a convenient number because we can make one attribute our focus each month and if we work diligently month after month and year saints in solitude it's not only about changing who we are it's about changing who we are when we show up because god shows up all throughout our stories god is always showing up most remarkably god shows up when help is neither expected nor sought on rosh hashanah we read about hagar and ishmael and how they were in trouble and they call out not to the ghostbusters not even to god they just call out in desperation and god showed up it's the same at the beginning of the exodus story the israelites are in egypt and they are suffering and we read that they cry out not to anyone specific but god hears it and god shows up to help god shows up to do good and in order to play god we have to do the same we can't hesitate we can't say it isn't our business we can't say someone else more proximate will intercede the person in pain shouldn't have to make an appeal to us the grieving mourner shouldn't have to invite us to their door the person who roams our street hungry shouldn't need to beg jews play god by extending goodness without being asked rabbi adam kligfeld once put it listen with your ear close but your heart closer to the voices of goodness in your tradition identify those voices of goodness as godliness and go make it more real and more visible in the world first played god they gathered groceries for elder members and neighbors they sewed masks for strangers when they couldn't be bought and purchased they tracked down vaccination slots for those most at risk all throughout the year fellow members play god they feed hungry new yorkers they mentor underserved high school seniors they work with central's efforts to reform the criminal justice system and to meet the challenges of food insecurity in this city city our teens are even playing god they've formed the central climate initiative and they're working to sustain the world however they can for future generations you'll get to meet some of these remarkable teams in our afternoon worship but you see torah tells us unequivocally we are like god so we might as well get good at it now perhaps you're thinking rabbi i do not have time to focus on a godly attribute every month or even more challenging in the messy world in which i live it is not always clear how to play god i hear you those challenges are real but this commandment is too essential to ignore so when when i need a shorthand i rely on advice that my grandfather rabbi ernst lord oliver used to share when someone would come to him with a dilemma and he would ask them what is the loving thing to do what's the loving thing to do it's akin to asking what is the godly thing to do and nine times out of ten if we answer it honestly it'll lead us to walk in god's ways so here at the turning of another year we once again face judaism's grand command to each and every one of us go play god be like god take god outside of the confines of these walls not by preaching about god's goodness but by embodying it and next year when we meet again and i ask you are you a god be ready to say no but i play god and every day by doing physical tangible practical good for my neighbors and for strangers and most importantly for those who are not expecting it hmm [Music] we turn back to our max or we'll be on page 145 as we prepare for this most haunting of prayers for this holiday season we're taught in this prayer that on rosh hashanah it is written and on yom kippur it is decreed was the decree written last week and is it really sealed today i would ask has god really decided how many will die and how many will be born or is that decision at least partial this prayers pronouncement that once sounded so distant and biblical i think strikes our ears as eerily timely these days do we not have some responsibility though we could ask who by fire run wild because of the land made arid by our exploitation and who buy water from storms raging because we boil the seas who by swords we rattle baiting our enemies and who by beasts we've driven from their homes who by hunger because we will not because we will not share our bread who by thirst because we've poisoned their drinking water who by earthquake and our hubris to build on shaky ground who will be strangled by death who will be stoned and crushed by a justice systems and justices who will be enriched by impoverishing others who by plague because of their neighbors condemns is up to our choice and our choices that lie ahead is that more terrifying or more comforting than imagining it is god who decrees let's not hide from our role in the unfolding of history we proclaim the sacred power of this day of atonement we are in awe and full of dread over the power that we have to chart a course forward [Music] my [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] this is [Music] is [Laughter] [Music] me ah [Music] [Music] [Music] let us proclaim the sacred power of this day both awesome and full of dread on this day your dominion is honored your throne established there in truth you reign you are judge and all power is with you you write and you seal you record and recount you remember deeds long forgotten you write in the book of our days and what is written there will be proclaimed in our lives for we are in your hands we are in all among the sounds of the shofar we yearn to hear a still small voice all who dwell on earth stand a raid before you as the shepherd seeks the flock and counts the sheep as they pass under the staff so do you number and consider every soul and set the bounds of every life decreeing its destiny [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] yes [Music] oh [Music] yes [Music] [Music] come [Music] on oh [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] me [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Applause] me [Music] me [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] is yes [Music] [Music] we read together on rosh hashanah it is written on yom kippur it is sealed how many shall pass on and how many shall come to be who shall live and who shall die who shall see ripe age and who shall not who shall perish by fire and who by water who by sword and who by beast who by hunger and who by thirst who by earthquake and who by plague who by strangling and who by stoning who shall be secure and who shall be driven who shall be tranquil and who shall be troubled who shall be poor and who shall be rich who shall be humbled and who exalted but we trust that repentance prayer and sadaka will temper the severity of the decree [Music] a wind that passes by a flower that will fade a dream soon forgotten but you are everlasting and you have linked our name to yours [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] on page 149 we enter into the dewey our communal confession our prayers of forgiveness and atonement i'll invite you to rise and here before you once again we recite these 13 attributes please read with me adonai our god is merciful and gracious endlessly patient loving and true showing mercy to thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin and granting pardon [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] me [Applause] [Music] my [Music] is [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] on page 150 we read together our god god of our mothers and fathers grant that our prayers may reach you do not be deaf to our pleas for we are not so arrogant and stiff-necked as to stay before you our god and god of all ages we are perfect and have not sinned rather do we confess we have gone astray we have sinned we have transgressed [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] on [Music] foreign [Music] i [Music] [Music] so [Music] if [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] yo [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] together we sing at the top of page 151. [Music] they are [Music] um [Music] [Music] [Music] we read responsibly for the sins we have committed against you through arrogance and selfishness for being obsessed with our own concerns for choosing rudeness over common courtesy for loving our egos for the sins we have committed against regard for the sins we have committed against you through denial and deceit for creating theories to rationalize our behaviors for faking emotions for our own benefit for using the sins of others to excuse our own for using the sins of others to excuse our own for the sins we have committed against you through greed and over indulgence for using force to for the sins we have committed against you by hardening our hearts for accepting poverty is inevitable for standing around when we should speak out for resisting the young and ignoring the elderly for abandoning proper outrage [Music] for the sins we have committed against you through hypocrisy for condemning in our church for the sins we have committed against you by narrow-mindedness for passing judgment without knowledge for denying our baseless hatreds read together for the sins we have committed against you through empty confession for all these sins o god of mercy forgive us pardon us grant us atonement [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] heart [Music] foreign [Music] in just a moment we'll close this service together in song know that our service will continue at 4 pm here in the sanctuary between now and then we have several things going on so you're welcome to remain with us throughout the day from 1 to 2 pm there is an opportunity to sit in contemplative silence as we hear live music in beer chapel from some really fine excellent musicians and then at 2 30 they'll be in the same space in beer chapel across the way a study session led by rabbi rick jacobs the president of the union for reform judaism and that will be live streamed for those who are joining us virtually and throughout the day you can go across the street to lee's lobby where we have to the land [Music] your soul [Music] return to what you are return to where you are [Music] [Music] reborn sure [Music] [Music] [Music] return again again return to the land of your souls if [Music] um [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] do [Music] you

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Length: 128min 58sec (7738 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 16 2021