L'shanah tovah!! Happy New Year!!!

Hello, friends! I hope you are all having a lovely autumn. For those of us Jews, we have been in the midst of the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe. These are the ten days that begin with Rosh HaShanah (the Jewish New Year) and conclude, tonight and tomorrow, with Yom Kippur (the Day of Repentance).

This is a time of reflection, contemplation, and reconnection. We are encouraged to return to our true selves - to consider our behavior over the past year and seek to do better in the coming year. We listen to the Shofar blast - the loud sound that comes from a ram's horn. It serves as a wakeup call, forcing us to reach for our highest potential as human and spiritual beings.

I hope that you all have a good and healthy 5770, and that you always feel that you can have a fresh start whenever you most need one.

For a truly new, innovative way of thinking about these ten days, please visit 10Q - they have created meaningful questions, for Jews and non-Jews alike, to contemplate over the past few days. You have the next 72 hours to complete the questions (and they remain confidential). One year from now, they will email you your answers, giving you an opportunity to see how you did this year!

L'shanah tovah tikateivu v'tichateimu - May we all be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life for the coming year!

A Top Ten List

Hello, friends!! During my drive to work today, I heard a song on the radio that NEVER CEASES to break my heart each and every time I hear it. Thus, I have been inspired to create a top ten list: The TOP TEN SONGS THAT BREAK YOUR HEART every time you hear them (or, at least, every time I hear them....).....

1. I Can't Make You Love Me (Bonnie Raitt) - This version is the ultimate in gut-wrenching, sad, heart-breaking songs. The George Michael version is just as sad, but Bonnie takes the cake.

2. All Out of Love (Air Supply) - Ugh, that lyric, "I'm so lost without you." That says it all. And their voices are filled with such pleading...

3. More Than Words Can Say (Alias) - This was one of the first songs that I had to listen to OVER AND OVER in order to figure out the lyrics when I was younger. I would sit there with my boom box, hitting rewind and play, rewind and play, because the words moved me so.

4. I Don't Know How to Love Him (Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack) - Though these words are sung by Mary Magdalene, she is speaking for all women baffled by their partners, not sure what to do with them.

5. Eternal Flame (The Bangles) - It's not the lyrics as much as the beautiful, lullaby quality of the song. I just can't listen without being moved to tears.

6. What it Takes (Aerosmith) - Probably a surprising choice for some of you, but I am all about Monster Ballads sometimes. "Tell me what it takes to let you go" is a thought that I have had to ponder before, and I know there is a universality to its plea.

7. Everytime (Britney Spears) - A stripped-down, simply orchestrated song that allows Britney's voice to float over the piano, singing words like, "I may have made it rain/ please forgive me/ my weakness caused you pain/ and this song's my sorry."

8. You Don't Bring Me Flowers (Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand) - A classic song, so good for some karaoke melodrama, and it hasn't gotten me through a few breakups. "It used to be so natural/ to talk about forever / but used-to-be's don't matter anymore/ they just lay on the floor/ till we sweep them away." Those poor "used-to-be's!!!"

9. How Deep is Your Love (Bee Gees) - I really need to know!! A surprisingly deep song from the guys primarily known for lighter, disco fare. Love this song. Can't get enough.

10. In the Deep (Bird York) - A song featured heavily in the movie, Crash, this haunting piece both calms you and moves you to tears. "Thought you had all the answers to rest your heart upon. But something happens, don't see it coming, now you can't stop yourself."

What would you add?

Drum Roll, Please

I JOINED A GYM!!!!!!!

AND I WORKED OUT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN YEARS!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Can you tell I'm excited? I am giving Jenny Craig a break for about a month or so, just as a I transition to the new job (luckily, my weight is staying virtually the same, so not worried). But, I have really been craving a good cardio workout - isn't that crazy? I guess that it means that my body is ready for it. Have I really healed enough? I sure think so!!

So, I joined Bally's online last week, and I went to my local location (near the new synagogue so that it is easy to go from work) yesterday evening. I signed up for my free personal training session, got my official ID card, and I bought a lock. I haven't been to a gym since a little while after my car accident. For awhile there, I tried to keep going (there was this Latin Dance Class that I LOVED), but it got too painful. Eventually, I let my membership lapse. I just couldn't do it.

But, now, I am trying again. I took it really easy yesterday - 15 minutes on the elliptical machine, and 15 minutes on a recumbent bike. Felt so good to be moving my body, listening to my iPod, and taking good care of myself. I kept close eye on my back, and made sure to listen to its signals. If I started feeling any pain, I slowed down or reduced the resistance. I don't feel any pain or soreness today, so I must've done a good job!!

The location also has a pool - my FAVORITE!!! I can't wait to go swim some laps, then relax in the whirlpool. Another great new step in my recovery!!! HOORAY!!!!

A New Synagogue Home!

So excited to be the new rabbi at a wonderful congregation on Long Island (YES, I finally have my own parking space!!! The ultimate luxury!!).

The congregants have been so warm, so welcoming, and have really opened their hearts and souls to me so far. I began last Wednesday, July 1, and I've been slowly becoming more and more acclimated. Friday night was my very first Shabbat worship service with the community, and I am STILL enjoying it. I felt like I ran a marathon, but it was such an amazing feeling - so much love, spirit, and joy. Though the new cantor doesn't officially begin until August, he was our "special guest," and it was just amazing to see how fun it will be leading services with him all the time.

I can't even begin to convey how thrilled I am to be a part of this new congregation. It is a very exciting time for all of us in the community, as we glimpse the exciting possibilities in our collective future.

Hope all is well with you!!

In Memory of Stephen Tyrone Johns

Please join me in a moment of silence, honoring the memory of Stephen Tyrone Johns, who died heroically yesterday defending the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

In my eternal optimism, it is easy to think that everything is okay, that everyone wants peace and tolerance as much as I do. As a rabbi and as a human being, I believe strongly in the value of Tikkun Olam, the repairing of the broken world around us. We are all responsible for making this world a better place, and for helping people strive to be GOOD.

And yet, yesterday's tragic events remind us all to be mindful of the darker side that is ever-present.There are those who are dedicated to hate, to brokenness, to destruction. Here was a presumably lone gunman who was "well-known to the authorities," a man who has served time in prison for domestic terrorism before, yet he was allowed to have a gun and perpetuate hate. He has published unbelievably disgusting books that were both racist and anti-Semitic.

As a rabbi, I always aim for a nechemta, a word of comfort at the end of a teaching. For me, I must turn to a quote from the Holocaust Museum's website, a quote that reminds me that we are all mandated to work for peace:

"On January 27, 1998, Yehuda Bauer, professor of Holocaust studies at the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, delivered a speech to the German Bundestag in which he said 'I come from a people who gave the Ten Commandments to the world. Time has come to strengthen them by three additional ones, which we ought to adopt and commit ourselves to: thou shall not be a perpetrator; thou shall not be a victim; and thou shall never, but never, be a bystander.'"

Chag Shavuot Sameach - Happy Shavuot!!

Wishing you all a Chag Shavuot Sameach - a Happy Shavuot.

Shavuot (meaning "weeks") is the Jewish holiday that celebrates the giving and receiving of Torah - the Five Books of Moses - on Mount Sinai. Why "weeks?" Shavuot falls on the day following the counting of 7 weeks (a week of weeks) since Passover.

So, theoretically, the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt 50 days ago, and they have been on a journey all this time towards the foot of Mount Sinai. These have been their first tastes of freedom in 400 years, and I would imagine that they were scared, elated, confused, and traumatized. Now, they stand as a community and as a new people,below the mountain, and Moses has ascended to receive Torah.

In these few weeks, we move between two of God's greatest acts: the redemption from slavery, and now the revelation at Sinai.

I will be attempting an all-night study session tonight - there is a tradition of "Tikkun Layl Shavuot," in which Jews study texts and learn together all night, until sunrise. I will be attending a terrific session at the local JCC, which is offering study, dance, meditation, learning, and plenty of food and coffee.

Wishing you meaningful moments of learning and revelation in your own lives!