Rabbi Janine's Messages

Dear Community, 

This weekend is a busy one and I invite you all to welcome our Student Rabbi Miriam Ginsberg for her first KHN Shabbat weekend. She will be co-leading with Andy Kaufman tonight for Shabbat services. Tomorrow morning she will be co-leading Contemplative Shabbat with Debra Brosan. Please come and give her a warm, KHN welcome! 

Mazel tov to Izzy Levinson and his whole family on the occasion of his becoming a Bar Mitzvah. Izzy will be reading Torah (along with his brother Noah) and presenting his Torah portion through a creative project this Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. All are welcome. 

Then on Sunday, as a part of our Bagel U programming, KHN member Susan Light will lead a book discussion at 11 a.m. on The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.

There will also be a fall cleanup of our outside grounds this Sunday in preperation for the High Holidays from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

If you're available, join us at Tabora Farms this Sunday from 2:30 - 4:30 p.m. for
Jewish Federation's Apples and Honey program. We will have a KHN table set up with activities. 

Before I sign off for Shabbat, I want to share with you this prayer by Trisha Arlin called Return: A Prayer for Elul:

Return to Elul.
The sky was dark, and the month began.
A special time of starting over;
A month of kindness and clarity;
Of consciousness and knowledge;
Of bravery and strength.
It is said that the truly evil are already condemned
And the truly good are already blessed.
So for the rest of us
There is Elul.
 
Return to ourselves.
In Genesis the moon is called, “the lesser light.”
And that’s how I feel tonight,
Less than what I should be.
What was I thinking?
I was afraid, I was hurt, I was anxious…
No excuses, I know what I did,
Maybe it wasn’t so bad
But maybe it was.
How can I make it better?
There is Elul.
 
Return to the people we wronged.
Use the ritual,
Create a context.
It makes it easier to speak:
I am so sorry.
I was wrong.
I lacked compassion in the moment
But I see things clearly now.
You don’t have to accept my apology,
We can do teshuvah together
If you want.
There is Elul.
 
Return to each other.
In community we pray
For the kindness to comfort and care;
And the clarity to see what must be done;
For the consciousness to accept the truth;
And the knowledge to get help if needed;
For the bravery to ask for forgiveness;
And the strength to forgive.
Most of all, we pray for all who are in pain or who cause pain.
All this and more because
There is Elul.
 
Bless the God of Justice, of Mercy and of Redemption that we may return every year,
 
As old as the darkness, as new as the moon.
 
Amen 

Wishing you a peaceful and meaningful Shabbat of return. 

Rabbi Janine Jankovitz
she/her 

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