Dear LHI hevre-friends,

I am delighted to be with the Leyv Ha-Ir~Heart of the City community this year as Rabbi Julie enjoys a well-deserved sabbatical.

I am writing to you on Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, a special time on our Jewish calendar. Rosh Chodesh, the New Moon, is a one- or two-day minor festival marking the start of each month. Rosh Chodesh is a time of renewal; it is an opportunity for re-setting our intentions and beginning again.

Why do we need such an opportunity, you might ask, when we just wiped our spiritual slates clean and reset our intentions at the High Holy Days? The answer, I believe, is that the work of repairing our souls, tikkun ha-nefesh, and the work of repairing the world, tikkun olam, requires constant attention. As we sang on the High Holy Days, we must “return again, return again, return to the home of our soul; return to who we are, return to what we are, return to where we are born and reborn again.”

I am reminded of the words of a song by the iconic Israeli singer, Naomi Shemer: 

After the holidays, everything will be renewed.
Ordinary days will return, renewed.
The air, the earth, the rain and the fire -
And you, too, will be renewed. 
 
In an unending journey
Between the fields of shadow and the fields of light,
There is a path you have not traveled
And which you will travel.
The hourglass, the clock of your lifetime,
Signals to you now…

I look forward to engaging with you in the process of renewal and returning, as we study together, pray together, and connect ever more deeply to one another in the year to come.

Chodesh tov – with blessings for a good month,