Rosh Hashanah Calling

While you are supposed to turn off your cellphones or put set them to silent during services, here is one call that you can take:





That was I Just Called to Say Shana Tova, and to give credit where credit is due, here's the text that goes with the video over on YouTube:

Shana Tova from Victoria's Voice Professional Voiceovers http://vicsvoice.com 

http://vicsvoice.com/index_files/Hebrew.htm שנה טובה מויקטוריה פיירנרמן קריינות באנגלית 

Need a professional US English voiceover? Contact me via my website! צריך קריינות מקצועית באנגלית אמריקאית שפת אם? צור קשר דרך האתר שלי! 

Credits: * Concept, Voiceover and Execution: Victoria Feinerman 

* Peace Sign, Gold Eggs, Family at Beach with Dog, Symbol of Medicine: FreeDigitalPhotos.net http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

* Telephone, Honey, Man Praying: Stock.xchng http://www.sxc.hu/help/7_2

And while we're on the subject of calling, here is Leonard Cohen live in concert performing his song based on the High Holy Day liturgy, "Who By Fire," featuring Sonny Rollins on saxophone:





And if you liked that one, how about this amazing performance, featuring an extended guitar solo by Javier Mas:





The lyrics are based on the thousand-year-old Unetanneh Tokef prayer. The following is a traditional translation of the poetic Hebrew, a bit different from what appears in the Reform prayerbook:

We shall ascribe holiness to this day. 

For it is awesome and terrible. 

Your kingship is exalted upon it. 

Your throne is established in mercy. 

You are enthroned upon it in truth. 

In truth You are the judge, 

The exhorter, the all‑knowing, the witness, 

He who inscribes and seals, 

Remembering all that is forgotten. 

You open the book of remembrance 

Which proclaims itself, 

And the seal of each person is there. 

The great shofar is sounded, 

A still small voice is heard. 

The angels are dismayed, 

They are seized by fear and trembling 

As they proclaim: Behold the Day of Judgment! 

For all the hosts of heaven are brought for judgment. 

They shall not be guiltless in Your eyes 

And all creatures shall parade before You as a troop. 

As a shepherd herds his flock, 

Causing his sheep to pass beneath his staff, 

So do You cause to pass, count, and record, 

Visiting the souls of all living, 

Decreeing the length of their days, 

Inscribing their judgment. 

On Rosh Hashanah it is inscribed, 

And on Yom Kippur it is sealed. 

How many shall pass away and how many shall be born, 

Who shall live and who shall die, 

Who shall reach the end of his days and who shall not, 

Who shall perish by water and who by fire, 

Who by sword and who by wild beast, 

Who by famine and who by thirst, 

Who by earthquake and who by plague, 

Who by strangulation and who by stoning, 

Who shall have rest and who shall wander, 

Who shall be at peace and who shall be pursued, 

Who shall be at rest and who shall be tormented, 

Who shall be exalted and who shall be brought low, 

Who shall become rich and who shall be impoverished. 

But repentance, prayer and righteousness avert the severe decree. 

For Your praise is in accordance with Your name. You are difficult to anger and easy to appease. For You do not desire the death of the condemned, but that he turn from his path and live. Until the day of his death You wait for him. Should he turn, You will receive him at once. In truth You are their Creator and You understand their inclination, for they are but flesh and blood. The origin of man is dust, his end is dust. He earns his bread by exertion and is like a broken shard, like dry grass, a withered flower, like a passing shadow and a vanishing cloud, like a breeze that blows away and dust that scatters, like a dream that flies away. But You are King, God who lives for all eternity! There is no limit to Your years, no end to the length of Your days, no measure to the hosts of Your glory, no understanding the meaning of Your Name. Your Name is fitting unto You and You are fitting unto it, and our name has been called by Your Name. Act for the sake of Your Name and sanctify Your Name through those who sanctity Your Name.

Here is a relatively traditional rendering of the prayer featuring Naftali Herstik, chief Cantor of the Jerusalem Great Synagogue:





And with that, we say, May you be inscribed in the Book of Life for a good year, a year of peace and prosperity, happiness and contentment, love and kindness, and all the blessings that God might bestow!

Shofar Madness

And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying: Speak unto the children of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest unto you, a memorial proclaimed with the blast of horns, a holy convocation. (Leviticus 23:23-24)

That was Street Shofar by Isaac Feder, and the write-up on YouTube says

WAKE UP. Who do you want to be in 5773?  www.ikar-la.org  

Michael Brous is Sexy Shofar Man.
Directed by - Isaac Feder
Produced by - David Light
Concept by - Jonathan Golub
Cinematography by - Jason Oldak and Kobi Zaig
Edited by - Michael Sheehan and Anders Hoffmann
Add'l Camera - Micha Kinsbruner
Huge thank you - Morgan Keiser, Dan Messinger, Adam Miller, Rachel Light, LA Breakers, Amazing Pinatas, Inc, La Golondrina Oaxaquena, and Rabbi Sharon Brous.  

The shofar blast is a call to wake up to what's possible for ourselves and our world this Jewish new year.

And now, how about a Shofar flashmob?





This 2011 video from Art Kibbutz has the following write-up on YouTube:

Shana tova - Happy New Year from Art Kibbutz NYC  

Enjoy Art Kibbutz NYC's amazing, free Rosh Hashana greeting card wishing you Shana Tova / a Happy New Year featuring our Shofar FlashMob participants worldwide.  

17 cities worldwide participated - Digital Rosh Hashana Card Is Fashioned from Footage - creating the glorious cacophony envisioned by its founders...and then some.  

From the United States to Europe to Israel and beyond established and emerging artists gathered together with creative volunteers in the week before Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, to sound the Shofar just for you in places both urban and rural, traditional and off-the-beaten-track.  

Art Kibbutz's central NYC Shofar FlashMob proved so successful that it was necessary to create two consecutive blowings at the Lincoln Center location for eager latecomers already wearing their tuxedos. The experimental jazzy flashmob at the JCC in Manhattan and the Jerusalem Shofar FlashMob both featured Rav Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook's Shofar poem, performed by Rabbi Yitzhak Marmorstein, Jake Marmer, Rabbi Greg Wall and Jordan Hirsch.  

At Art Kibbutz's public art project there was sound, there was spirit, there was community but there was so much more. The sight of people gathering to sound the ancient ram's horn stopped passers-by in their tracks, fulfilling the Shofar's truest functions: creating energy, awareness and intentional community.  

In addition to New York City, footage from Shofar FlashMobs in Jerusalem (Israel), Budapest (Hungary), Tbilisi (Georgia), Kiev (Ukraine), Gomel (Belarus), Chicago (Illinois), Milwakee (Wisconsin), San Francisco (California), Oakland (California), Las Vegas (Nevada), Los Angeles (California), Tulsa (Oklahoma), Wolcott (Vermont), Salem (Massachusetts), and St. Louis (Missouri) comprise Art Kibbutz's edgy Rosh Hashana art video greeting.  

 Art Kibbutz wishes you Shana tova - Happy New Year!!!

But were you about to ask, where do shofars come from?  Of course you were, and we at Congregation Adas Emuno are only too happy to provide you with an answer (you may have to turn up the volume for this video):





Now, you were no doubt wondering, what about some shofar-oriented hip hop music?  Well, no worries, we got you covered:



That was Shofar Callin': The Rosh Hashanah Song by Prodezra Beats.  And once more, here's the write-up on YouTube:

Shofar Callin' connects the story Jews read on the New Year -- when God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac -- with the ritual blowing of the Shofar, or ram's horn. What's the connection?  

Find out how the Jewish New Year is WAY more than just a day to spend in synagogue, and how the call of the Shofar can be spiritually meaningful in your daily life.  

Prodezra Beats, an independent artist, broke out big on the scene when he produced the track for "Change" with Y-Love & DeScribe, released on Shemspeed. Now with the "Shofar Callin'" track for Rosh Hashanah, he is back with another viral hit!  

This G-dcast will have you bumping into the new year in no time! Shana tova.

Now, you're saying, it's all well and fine to have a song about the shofar, but you can't really play anything on the shofar can you?  Well, how about Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem:



Mazel tov to David Zasloff on this amazing achievement!  And here's another player who made it all the way to Conan O'Brien, courtesy of New Jersey native Max Weinberg:



Well, that was a bit irreverent, you're right, but how can you be Jewish and not have a sense of humor?  But still, you have to inquire, is the shofar good for anything else?  Funny you should ask...




There are many shofar stories, some we must never forget.  Here is a video made available by the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum on Blowing the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah in the Kovno Ghetto:



And this is what they had to say about it:

Shmuel Daitch Ben Menachem was born in Kovno, Lithuania, in 1924, to a religious family. With the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the family was deported with the rest of the Jews of Kovno into the ghetto in the Slobodka neighborhood. In October 1941, Shmuel's parents and older brother were murdered in the Ninth Fort in Kovno. Surviving the selection with his younger brother and sister, Shmuel joined the Zionist ABC Youth Movement in the ghetto, becoming a member of the underground. He eventually fled the ghetto and joined the Zionist partisans, living in the forest and helping Jews escape from the ghetto. Wounded during a Lithuanian ambush, Shmuel managed to escape and remained hidden in the forest until liberation by the Soviet army. Immigrating to Eretz Israel after the war, Shmuel participated in Israel's War of Independence in the "Shimshon Foxes" battalion.

And these are the credits:

Excerpt from: "Ghetto Kovno - Religious Life in Slobodka"
Director: Itay Ken Tor
Producers: Noemi Schory, Liat Benhabib, Alona Schory
Production company: Belfilms Ltd.

Let us conclude on a note of awakening and redemption, a traditional, skillful and spiritual sounding of the shofar by Cantor Benjamin Warschawski of Congregation Ezra-Habonim in Skokie, Illiniois:




And as a perfect companion to these sounds, here is a Prayer for the Sounding of the Shofar by Rabbi David Wolpe, published last year in the Huffington Post online:

Dear God, 

Moses, placed in the basket by the river, kept silent, too frightened to cry. 

Abraham, walking up the mountain with Isaac, kept silent, refusing to give way to the wild sounds of his own grief. 

When Aaron's children were taken from him, Aaron was silent for there were no words. 

Ruth walked without a sound to the fields for she could give no voice to her loss and her hope. 

We, too, are fearful. We stay hidden behind our respectable masks, our tears dried, our faces composed. Our fears are unexpressed, our cries buried deep within. 

Like Moses, Abraham, Aaron, Rachel, we are too awed or too timid or simply too self-conscious to open our wounds to the world. 

You have given us a way to cry. Behind the thicket Abraham found the ram and the instrument of our expression. 

The shofar will cry for us. 

In the shevarim, the brokenness that afflicts our hearts. 

In the teruah, the blasts of pain or hope or recognition that sometimes sear our souls. 

In the tekiah, the hope for wholeness. We cry out from healing as we do from hurt. 

We cry in supplication, in loss, in love. 

Dear God, help us learn the sounds of the shofar. The sound of our history. The sound of our sorrows. 

Let it draw us closer to You with each blast, with each whispered promise, with each unspoken prayer. 

TEKIAH GEDOLAH. For ourselves, our ancestors, our children, let us listen to the cries of the shofar. In each note is the secret, ancient anguish of the Jewish heart. 

In its sound is our awakening and hope for redemption.

And with the sounds of the shofar still fresh in memory, we wish you all L'shanah tovah tikatevi v'taihatemi from Congregation Adas Emuno!

Erev Rosh Hashanah

As we look forward to the beginning of our Jewish New Year and the evening service for Erev Rosh Hashanah at Congregation Adas Emuno, what better way to begin than with a greeting from the President of the State of Israel, Shimon Peres:





And here now is the extended text of his New Year's wishes to Jewish communities worldwide, as published in IsraelNationalNews.com:

As we stand poised on the threshold of the New Year, it is my distinct pleasure to convey my heartfelt good wishes to all the Jewish communities around the world, in my name and on behalf of your brethren in Israel, eager to embark upon another year with hope and optimism. 

As a small country with so very few natural resources, we are doubly proud of the human resources that Israel has generated and that represent the most valuable capital to which a country can aspire. 

From our soil have emerged Nobel Prize laureates and the spirit of innovation, creativity and daring. These achievements have put us at the forefront of scientific and technological advances and inspired our designation as a 'start-up nation.' We cope with issues such as water and food scarcity by developing groundbreaking solutions in research and development, and continue to explore new frontiers that will revolutionize our lives such as the field of brain research, which promises to unlock the yet to be deciphered mysteries of the human brain and do much to enhance the well-being of humanity. 

We look upon the Jewish communities around the world not only as our extended family, but also as our full partners, and feel it is imperative that our deep-rooted Jewish bonds continue to be safeguarded, cultivated and brought to fruition.

The young generation is our future's promise and its engagement in the cause of building a brighter tomorrow for Jews in Israel and around the world is key to our success. Educational programs, regular visits to Israel, first-hand experiences and people-to-people meetings have made their mark and serve to build the bridges that unite us. 

These bridges are firmly rooted in the heritage of values which we share. Beyond the commitment which we uphold to each other, we must never fail to recall our duty to better the world around us, in keeping with the fundamentally Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam. Throughout history, the Jewish people have contributed to society their greatest aptitude—dissatisfaction. Always striving for a better tomorrow, our people have attained results to be proud of. 

Today, we perpetuate this legacy through our dedication to moral values, our drive towards knowledge and our unyielding pursuit for peace. It is this call for participating in the ceaseless march of humanity in our unique way which unites us. 

Once again at the dawn of a new year, we stand upon the ancient pillars of morality, knowledge and peace, facing the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead and gazing upon the future of our people and of the world. Our unity is our anchor, our moral call is our wind. Both will help us chart the way towards a horizon of growth, security and well-being for the Jewish people and a brighter tomorrow for humanity at large. 

From Jerusalem, my friends, I want to wish the Jewish people the world over a happy, peaceful, healthy and prosperous year. Shana Tova U'Metuka!

And while we're on the theme of Israel, let's also enjoy the lovely voice of Avigail Cohen as she sings a song entitled, appropriately enough, "Erev Rosh Hashana" (Rosh Hashanah Eve):






You don't have to understand Hebrew to appreciate the beauty of the music or the feeling it conveys, but in case you'd like a version with an English translation (granted a less than perfect rendering), we are very happy to oblige:







And so, as we prepare to enter a new year, and to pray that this year will be a good year for us, we at Adas Emuno extend our greetings and best wishes for 5773 to all of the members of our congregation, and their families, and our community, to Jewish communities all around the world, including Israel, and to the entire planet on this, the birthday of the world!

Here We Logo!

Dear Friends,

On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I am pleased to introduce to you the new logo we have developed for Congregation Adas Emuno.  A letterhead version has already been distributed to members of the congregation, and here it is in banner format, for use online:

Why do we need a new logo?  Everyone who has a chance to experience Adas Emuno immediately gets a sense of our warm, intimate, hamish congregation.  But over and over again we hear people tell us how they didn't even that there was a Reform temple in Leonia, let alone have any sense of what we're like.  We need a way to catch people's eye, and communicate something about our unique identity.  This new logo is one of several steps we'll be taking towards solving this problem.

What happened to our old logo?  Actually, there isn't an old Adas Emuno logo that this new one is replacing.  In the past, we've used generic clip art, such as a very traditional, old-fashioned image of a menorah, and that made us look just like every other synagogue.  As a small shul, we need to present a distinctive image, to stand out from the pack.  We also want to project a more youthful and dynamic image, as a congregation for the 21st century.

What does the new logo symbolize?  The Magen David or Star of David (literally, Shield of David) is the longstanding symbol of Judaism, and it is important to provide a clear signal of our Jewish identity.  The six points of the star are formed through the image of six figures holding hands, to signify our emphasis on community (Adas Emuno literally meaning assembly of the faithful), that we are a congregation where every individual matters, where every individual can play an important role, can make a difference, where people come first.  The inspiration for this comes from our tradition of joining hands for the Misheberach prayer for healing, and is meant to convey the strength of our community, while the different colors represent our diversity and openness, as well as the joyful nature of our gatherings.

Will the new logo be used for our Religious School too?  It certainly will, and one of the appealing things about the design is that it is child-friendly, and helps to convey the value and importance we place on our children, and their religious education.  The success of our religious school is one of the most important indicators of our congregation's overall health.

How will the new logo be used?  For starters, we will be using the logo for our letterhead and flyers, as you can see here, variations will appear online on our website, blog, and social media profiles, and in the modest amount of advertising and promotion that we engage in. 

Who designed our new logo?  The logo was designed by Board of Trustee member Lauren Rowland, a gifted graphic artist, and I hope you will join with me in thanking her for making her talents available to our congregation for this important task.

Sincerely,

Lance Strate, President

Our Holiday Season

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

A Message From Our President

Dr. Lance Strate

Our Holiday Season

Summer's end brings to a close a season of vacations and recreations, and signals the start of a new school year for students, teachers, and parents as well. It's a time when daily life seems to speed up, as so many of us get back to business, and things just get busier and busier. The leisurely pleasures of summer fun fade away in a flurry of autumnal activity. 

The summer of 2012 may have been one of the hottest on record, but it also was one of the most productive summers that we've had at Adas Emuno in recent memory. Attendance at our Friday night Shabbat services has been exceptional throughout July and August, even during the weeks when lay leadership substituted while Rabbi Schwartz was away on a well deserved vacation. Making our summer worship all the sweeter was the participation of our new Religious School Director, Annice Benamy, as cantorial soloist, filling the gap between the departure of Cantor Luke Hawley in June and the arrival of our new student cantor, Alison Lopatin, in September. 

Our Board of Trustees continued to work during the summer months, with meetings that stretched almost until midnight, and there have been meetings of many of our committees, including Ritual, Adult Education, Religious School, and Social Action, as well as orientation and training for our Religious School faculty. Annice Benamy organized an ice cream social for our students and prospective students, parents and congregants, and members of the community, and this successful open house made the cover of our local newspaper, Leonia Life. And we held a Havadallah Talk event featuring a screening of the film Connected, where attendance was close to 80!

I think it's safe to say we have a bit of momentum built up as we head into the Jewish holiday season. Unlike that other holiday season, which ends with the celebration of a new year, ours begins with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and the Birthday of the World, which also marks the beginning of the ten day period known as the Days of Awe, culminating in Yom Kippur, with the High Holy Days being followed just a few days later by the 8-day festival of Sukkot, and ending with the holiday of Simchat Torah. 

The Jewish holiday season is a time for return, reconnection, and renewal. While some of you have been active participants in Temple events all year round, others return to our shul after a long absence at this time of year, and it is truly a joyous occasion when we have the entire Adas Emuno mishpacha gathered together in sacred celebration. And at the risk of sounding like a Jewish mother, let me ask you why you never call or write, why we don't hear from you more often, why you don't come spend time with us more often? Maybe this year you can stay a bit longer, return more frequently, make Adas Emuno more a part of your life? 

The Jewish holiday season is a time to reconnect, with friends and family and fellow congregants, with our Jewish community, our heritage, spirituality, and tradition. It's a time for reconnection with Adas Emuno, and maybe its time to make that connection to our congregation stronger, more long lasting, more complete. Of course, we all live busy lives, juggle many demands, face many challenges, and it's easy to make everything else a higher priority than our synagogue. But when things really matter, when we celebrate marriage, birth, and the coming of age, and when we must face injury, the failing of health and vitality, and the inevitability of death and mourning, where else do we turn, but to our congregation? Maybe reconnecting and deepening that connection to our congregation at other times can help restore a sense of place, and balance, and meaning to life? 

The Jewish holiday season is a time for renewal. The calendrical cycle begins again, the yearly cycle of Torah readings starts over again, we engage in repentance according to our religious tradition, and reflect on the ways in which we can live better lives. In this time of renewal, why not make this a time to renew your commitment to your congregation?  

Renewing your membership, paying your dues, and donations that go above and beyond the basics are important, there is no denying the fact that we have to pay bills and make ends meet. But there are others ways to contribute as well, by lending a helping hand, by offering services and skills, by participating on committees and in activities, by being present and accounted for. 

We have great momentum to carry us through the Jewish holiday season, and some very exciting events planned for the coming year, and we very much want you to take advantage of all that Adas Emuno has to offer. We also have a great deal of work to do, the need for renewal is a never-ending story, and it will take time, work, and resources to ensure that our congregation continues to survive, and thrive. The responsibility is ours alone, if we don't do it, no one else will. But it can be, it ought to be a labor of love. Now is the time, this is the season, to return, reconnect, and renew, as individuals, and together, as a community. 

L'shana tova, may 5773 be a year of peace and contentment, health and prosperity, joy and inspiration, for you and your family.

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

From the desk of …                    

 Rabbi Barry Schwartz

    

THE THREE PILLARS OF ADAS EMUNO

 The Talmud teaches that our Jewish lives rest on three pillars: Torah (learning), Avodah (prayer), Gemilut hHasadim (kindness).

The synagogue has evolved to fulfill these crucial functions. Indeed, the three Hebrew names for synagogue (which is a loan word from the Greek) are Beit Midrash (House of Study), Beit Tefilah (House of Prayer), and Beit K’nesset (House of Assembly).

Here at Congregation Adas Emuno, we strive to fulfill these three responsibilities. Education, worship, and social action are at the heart of what we do. As we return from summer and gather for the holidays, I invite you to consider how you can “upgrade” your commitment in each of these endeavors.

Education: Take the Torah study plunge! We gather every Shabbat morning (10:00-11:15am) for lively text study and discussion. This year (starting Sept. 8) we are beginning a whole new study of the Mishneh Torah—the magnum opus of Moses Maimonides, arguably the greatest sage in Jewish history. Every session stands on its own; you are always welcome.

Worship:  Nurture your spiritual life! Beautiful music and thought provoking words fill our sanctuary every Shabbat evening (7:30 PM). Bring children of all school ages to our monthly family service (generally the third Shabbat of the month). The family service is not just for the grade being honored! We read from the Torah at this service so that everyone can join in that experience. On Sunday mornings our joyful Religious School service will now begin at 9:00 AM (at the start of the day) to give parents an opportunity to sing and learn with their children.

Social Action: Live generously! A social action committee has been revived this year; ideas are flowing freely. Keep an eye out for details on how you can lend a hand to make our congregation, our community and our world a little bit better place. Our Jewish bumper sticker is not “random” acts of kindness, but “regular” acts of goodness. 

To say that our lives are busy is an understatement. But isn’t it true that the busiest people seem to find the most time? Not everyone may see the “value added” dimension of enhancing their demanding lives with learning, prayer and activism. But Judaism has long insisted that it is imperative that we nurture our intellect, our spirit, and our communal engagement. These are the pillars of soulful living. Rosh Hashanah is a time of promise and possibilities. From my house to yours: Wishing you a sweet and soulful new year!

Social Action September!

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

A Report from Annette DeMarco 

Social Action Committee Chairperson 

The first order of business for this article is to sincerely thank everyone in this wonderful congregation for the food donations. When these items were dropped off at the Center for Food Action, it was sad to see how desperately they were needed. Many of the shelves were crying out for food. We supplied about five bags of groceries. We can’t stop. Please continue to bring nonperishable food items to the temple. 

At this time, we have two tentative dates to help the community: 

Sunday, November 4, 2012 is Mitzvah Day: We will be working with Bonim Builders to paint a classroom at Children's Aid and Family Services in Paramus, from 8:30 AM to Noon. Anyone 12 and up is welcome to join in. 

Sunday, January 27, 2013: We are planning to cook and serve dinner to residents and walk-ins at the shelter in Hackensack. This is through Family Promise of Bergen County. The time is late afternoon for about two hours. The minimum age limit is 14 years. We would need cooks and servers. 

The next meeting for the Social Action Committee is set for Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 7:30 PM. New members are very welcome! Please note that most of the work is not done at the meetings. 

If you cannot attend, don’t let that stop you from being a part of this group! Just email me at acheryl21 at gmail.com and we’ll “talk”! 

Thank you!