From the Cantor - September 2004

"In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a complete rest, a sacred occasion proclaimed with the sound of the shofar." (Vayikra/Leviticus 23:24)

Consider the wisdom of our Jewish calendar. We greet each other on Rosh Hashanah and say Happy New Year and yet this is not really the start of the Jewish Year, but the Shabbat of the Jewish calendar. Tishrei, is the seventh month of the calendar -  "the Head of the Year." This is the time, as with our weekly Shabbat, that we set aside from the "regular" time we spend making a living and living a life. On Shabbat we raise our voices in song and prayer. We come to celebrate and to look within ourselves. Throughout the Yamim Noraim (The Days of Awe) we follow the same Shabbat process, but we extend this process to allow ourselves ample time to do a thorough job. Music is part of the process that moves us to hold ourselves to a higher level. The shofar sounds the alarm and calls us together in worship and celebration. The shofar sound is one of many musical changes that take place during the High Holy Days. The change in music is designed to call attention to the fact that not only are we setting time aside from the everyday (as we do with Shabbat), but that we are setting ourselves aside by looking inward and being truly honest with ourselves. The special music from our earliest memories of the Holy Days, recalls the many sermons we have heard, promises that we have made to ourselves and to others, and also to God. Kol Nidre is perhaps the most recognizable melody in all of Jewish liturgy with the intent to musically move us to prayer and repentance. Things attached to music often stay in our memory more clearly, and so our ancestors insured that music would be part of the central aspect of this "Shabbat" of the Calendar.

"The great shofar is sounded, a still small voice is heard." Perhaps that still small voice is the voice within calling us to seek teshuvah…to turn from one path in order to pursue a better one.

David joins me in wishing everyone "L'shanah Tovah Tikateivu V'teichateimu."

May you be inscribed and sealed for a year that is filled with health, happiness and all that is good.

B'shira,
Cantor Barbara R. Finn

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