Cantor's Corner

As Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, and our Jewish holidays of Sukkot, Simchat Torah, and Sh’mini Atzeret/Yizkor conclude, I find myself thinking about gifts.

We tend to fixate on the big gifts: floods that last 40 days and 40 nights, a column of fire to guide our way, donkeys that speak wise words, and the great Reed Sea parting for our escape from slavery to freedom. Yet, small gifts are visible all around us, holy moments that we take for granted rather than expressing our awe and wonderment for each precious one.

Looking at these early holidays through this lens, I am grateful for these gifts this year:

• Being adaptable in the time of COVID to changes in co-clergy leadership, service location, prayer and music selection and length of service; audio/visual level checks, masked singing and greater reliance on vocal technique, outdoor choir singing and piano accompanying; and new programming rubrics for all-access services, classes and events.
• Developing greater insights and understanding about what it means to communicate and empathize with others, to address complex situations and find solutions, and to lift up our many successes rather than be dragged down by unrealistic expectations.
• Paying greater attention to what surrounds me, like seeing the glow of sunlight on the leaves during services, hearing the muffled yet glorious sound of community singing prayers to God, physically embracing a friend after a long absence, smelling the flowers from the biblical garden, and feeling each day as a blessing.

What gifts have you missed during these holidays? Last month? Today? As you read this?

What do you need to consider and to change in this year of 5782, in order to behold with awe and humility, the gifts all around you, that are lovingly shared by God?