Aiming Higher

Here is a New Year's wish from Israel's Technion, as shared over on YouTube:






And here's their write-up:

Aiming Higher, a Rosh Hashanah New Year's experiment. How we dip the apple in honey at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

Follow this link to learn more about Technion: http://pard.technion.ac.il

And we join together with the Jewish people in Israel and all around the world in saying: 

L'Shana Tova Tikatevu

May you be inscribed in the Book of Life for a good year!

and

Gemar Chatima Tova

May your final sealing in the Book of Life be good!

Rosh Hashanah Jam

Here's a new video from the a cappella group Six1, called Shana Tova (2013 Rosh Hashanah Jam):






You can watch it over on the video's YouTube page, and here is some of the background information they provide:

Six13 brings the high energy and unsinkable positive vibe of the Macklemore megahit "Can't Hold Us" into the celebration the Jewish new year -- from shul to tashlich to a apples-and-honey feast with some colorful New Yorkers.
Purchase the full-length version of this song on iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/sha...

This song and all Six13 songs are completely a cappella -- created with nothing but the human voice.

Professional Jewish a cappella group Six13 are the originators of today's Jewish a cappella sound. They've performed to rave reviews for millions of people -- at synagogues, religious schools, major sports events, JCCs, fundraising events, B'nai Mitzvah and private affairs alike, and received numerous awards for their four best-selling CDs. To find out more about how to bring Six13 to your community for an event that's truly unforgettable, visit us at http://www.six13.com.

===========================

Credits:

Arranged and produced by Mike Boxer
Recorded by Six13 and Marianne Cheng
Edited by Jeff Eames and Alex Koutzoukis
Mixed by Marty Gasper
Mastered by Dave Sperandio

Video shot, directed and produced by
Jeremy Horowitz - Top Shelf Productions
http://www.topshelfny.com

Special thanks to Cantor Dan Singer and Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, NYC

Six13 is:
Mike Boxer | Eric Dinowitz | Robert Operman
Craig Resmovits | Jacob Spadaro | Mordy Weinstein

(c) 2013 Six13

The also provide the lyrics to the song:

Return of the Rosh!
Hope you purchased your high holiday seats
Looking for a better way to get my Judaism
'Stead of getting on the internet and checking out the Maccabeats
Now let's step into the synagogue, time to get this davening on
Repent before our chance to get into the book of life's gone
Let's search our hearts and think back, let's reflect on the year
Seems like just yesterday we did this, now a new one is here
Trust me, I'm an R-O-S-H H-A-S-H-A-N-A-H master
Ain't nobody getting through that shmoneh esreh faster
Sitting in a room that's got more Jews than the cast of Madagascar
Atonement's what I'm after
It's a new year, now we gotta do something
That's our message to the people, from Tel Aviv to Monsey
It's a new year, now we gotta do something
All the Jewish people, from Tel Aviv to Monsey

Can go we back, and hear the shofar
Today is the day, we'll start the year over
Yes it's Rosh Hashana and we'll say Shana Tova
Yeah we'll say shana tova

When yomtov's over, all that t'shuvah, I can feel my heart beat
But I'm not gonna stop 'cause I got Yom Kippur in little more than one week
ROSH! Hashanah's on.
Praying to the Lord trying to right my wrongs
Get a little chill when I hear that "tekiah gedolah"
So now I'm rollin' through this davening feelin' so right
Got this melody for ma'arivand it goes like...
Praying for hours and when all that is through
I know exactly what I'm gonna dip my apple into...
HONEY -- because we want a year that's happy and sweet
On this holiday no one tried to kill us but hey who cares, let's eat!
Conservative, orthodox, reform, or whatever, no matter what kind of Jew you are
Our voices join worldwide, and we all say Shana Tova

Sha-na-na-na-na-na Tova
My Jewish people say...

And we at Congregation Adas Emuno join in in saying, Sha-na-na Tova to you and yours!

Social Action September

From the pages of Kadima, the newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:


A Report from Annette DeMarco
Social Action Committee Chairperson


Thank you to those who have been donating food throughout the summer. Approximately ten bags were brought to the Center for Food Action. Special thanks to Cheryl and Richard Alicchio for helping to pack up and deliver the items. An email was sent to you recently regarding ways we can assist people in Bergen County who are still suffering from Hurricane Sandy. For anyone who responded, please share your experience in an email to me.

The collection of eye glasses, in conjunction with the Lions of Leonia, will continue throughout September. Please bring unused glasses in a labeled bag to the back of the sanctuary and place either on the table or in the small room. 

Another ongoing collection is that of tabs off of soda cans, which will be given to a Ronald McDonald House and sold for their metal content, with monies used to provide families with services. Please place in the glass vase on the table outside of the sanctuary. 

As the cooler months approach, please think about winter coats to be donated. Info regarding this will be forthcoming. We are also looking into donating winter clothing for adults and children. If anyone knows of places or individual families needing these items, please let me know. 

When bags are given out on Rosh Hashanah to be filled with food for the Center for Food Action, there will be a "wish list" attached to each, naming the products most needed. Though these are the products most sought after, we all know that food is food when someone is hungry, so let's just fill those bags! 

As the old year ends, I want to thank my wonderful committee for working with me as I "learned". The Social Action Committee is grateful to everyone who has supported our projects. Tikkun Olam, saving the world, is ongoing, so we will continue to make requests of you.

Wishing you and yours a happy and healthy new year, filled with lots of laughter!

Annette DeMarco

Social Action Committee Chairperson

acheryl21 at gmail.com

Time to Get Clarity

Here's a music video from our friends at Aish.com that's fun and inspiring, all about Rosh Hashanah as a time to begin anew, and a time to get clarity.  In fact, the name of the video is, Get Clarity, and here it is:





And here are the credits:

Written & Produced by Aish.com
Directed by Shoot East, http://www.shooteast.com
Music & Vocals by Menachem Herman http://www.menachemherman.com/
Music Production by Jeff Hurvitch
Choreography by Street Art Productions: Lions of Zion http://www.s-a-p.co.il/about-en.htm
With thanks to Daft Punk.
Cameramen: Sasha Gorev, Yirmiyahu Vann
Production Assistant: Bentzi Zeff

For more information, you can go take a look at the video over on its YouTube page.

And with that, we would like to wish you and yours a Shana Tova from Congregation Adas Emuno!

Here and Now

From the pages of Kadima, the newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

A Message From Our President

Dr. Lance Strate

Here and Now

Shana Tova! Happy New Year! As we celebrate the start of the year 5774 on the world's oldest calendar, we might take a moment to consider the many, many generations that have come before us, whose faith and commitment kept our tradition alive over the ages. We owe those generations more than we can ever repay, for all that they have given to us as inheritors of their tradition, and all that they have given to the entire world.

And so, we might take another moment to think about the debt that we can never pay back, and what we might do to pay it forward. We have a responsibility, an obligation, to the generations yet to come, to maintain the continuity of our tradition as one that is vital and evolving, and the unique form of religion and spirituality invented by the Jewish people, and that we continue to reinvent in every generation.

Our time is a very brief portion of our long, long history. But what is history, except a succession of such moments? And in each generation, there were individuals, heroes and sages, yes, but also and more importantly ordinary people like you and me, who did what needed to be done to respond to the challenges of their times, and keep the light of our faith burning, even in the darkest of times.

Adas Emuno is a small part of the greater Jewish community of our time. But what is the larger Jewish community, except a collection of congregations and associations such as our own? Each local community exists only through the presence and participation of individuals like us, all of us sages and heroes in our right. In keeping our little shul on the hill vibrant and strong, we are doing our part for the larger Jewish community of our nation, and our world.

Our time is now. Our place is Adas Emuno. Be a part of it! Be active! There is no substitute for being there. We need you to pitch in, volunteer, join a committee, contribute in whatever way you are able. Make 5774 an especially meaningful year by keeping faith with the generations of the future, and with the greater Jewish community all around the globe, by keeping faith with Adas Emuno here and now. 

from the pages of Kadima, the newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

From the desk of …                    

 Rabbi Barry Schwartz

    

COMING HOME TO YOUR BIRTHRIGHT

At this new Jewish year, 5774, I invite you to come home to your birthright. And what is this birthright? I’m glad you asked. Simply put, it is Torah. The famed novelist Chaim Potok said it well:

Torah is a Jew’s sense of self; the beginning of it, the foundation stone of it. Then you can pick and choose, quarrel with it, discard this, accept that; but at least know where the shoreline is before you begin to row away from it. If you are rowing and there is no shoreline at all, then you are navigating blind, and to navigate blind is to live in dread.

Or as my friend David Lerman, the immediate past-president of The Jewish Publication Society once wrote: 

Torah is, effectively, our genetic code. Torah explains who Jews are, why we behave as we do, and why we are perceived by others in the world as we are. Whether we embrace Torah and live it, reframe it and live informed by its values, we always react to it—and that is the defining element of our experience on this planet.

Torah explains why we are called The People of the Book. Torah explains why we celebrate the Sabbath and holidays the way we do. Torah explains why our synagogues are constructed the way they are. Torah explains the way we pray. Torah explains our veneration of the written word and reverence for education. Torah explains our moral empathy and passion for social justice.

My friend David describes himself as “a reasonably educated but largely secular, non-spiritual Jew who attends shul weekly in order to have the privilege of reading and studying Torah.” I invite you to do the same, on a weekly or monthly basis:

Weekly:  Our Shabbat morning Torah study (10:00-11:30 AM) has become a big deal. Now is the perfect time to join, as we begin a new year. Our theme: All in the Family—Biblical Portraits. The Torah is great not only for its lofty ethical pronouncements, but because of its truly insightful portrayals of family life. We can all relate to the issues of spouses, siblings, and children. This year we will read the family life stories of the Bible, and enhance our discussion with a commentary written by a leading psychotherapist.

Monthly:  At every Shabbat Family Service we read from the Torah and relate the story to our lives. Making this commitment with your family keeps you anchored to the Jewish year. So while I have your attention, here are the Family Service dates for this year:

• October 18
• November 22
• December 20
• January 24
• February 7
• March 7
• April 4
• May 16
• June 8

The family service is for everyone, not just the class that may be honored at a particular service.

Of course, the Torah is also read at the holidays. And speaking of which, our celebration of Simchat Torah (Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 7:00 PM) will be extra special this year. Thanks to the extraordinary mitzvah project effort of two of our recent b’nei mitzvah cousins, Julian Pecht and Oliver Racciatti, our primary reading Torah has been restored to top condition by a scribe and will be rededicated at this festival.

The poet Heinrich Heine called the Torah, “the portable homeland of the Jews.” The Hebrew Bible is our contribution to the world even as it remains our guiding light. This year make the pledge to become reacquainted with the Torah…  and reclaim your birthright!

The Meaning of One

Congregant Ludwik Kowalski has sent in his thoughts about one of Rabbi Schwartz's recent sermons, and we're happy to share it here on our congregational blog: 

 The question asked by our rabbi, at the end of his July 19th sermon was how to interpret the word "Echod," often translated as "one, oneness, etc." 

This question was answered in different ways by different people. What does the word mean to me? 

There are many religions in the world and their theologians probably describe (and name) God differently. These differences do not mean that we are praying to different Gods. God is one, no matter how people refer to this spiritual entity. Is this a correct interpretation of the word oneness in the English language? If not, then why not?