We spend a lot of time making sure the building looks nice before Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. I imagine all places of worship do the same before a major holiday. Painting, cleaning the carpets, gardening, fixing the lights and ensuring everything is just…right. And this building looks beautiful.
But we keep referring to the buildings as just that…places of brick, cement, mortar
and nails.
But I suggest we remember the name used for a synagogue: Beit Knesset, a
House of Gathering.
Meaning, over Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, whether or not you are an avid synagogue attendee, in a sense…you are coming home.
Returning home isn’t always easy. We all have mixed feelings about home: fraught relationships, family member’s opinions that don’t always sit well with our own, and the jarring realization that so much has changed.
But home is also where music and prayer evoke memories of grandparents, parents, older traditions and new. Home is a place where even with differences, you belong. Home connotes warmth, safety, familiarity, love and embrace.
Home is all of this…and more. The synagogue…your Jewish home…is all of this and more.
Return Home…We can’t wait to see you.
Shana Tovah and Shabbat Shalom
