TBS News and Information

The High Holy Days are here! After this past month of Elul, a time of preparation, Rosh Hashanah begins on Monday evening. And even if you haven’t spent this past month getting ready for the introspection and contemplation of these coming days, it’s not too late! Now is the season of looking inward and outward, readying ourselves for the new year ahead.

To help us, Rabbi Jack Reimer shares an often-told story: There was a schoolboy who was forgetful. He was always losing things. So he worked out a system. Before he went to sleep at night he made out a list of all the things he would need the next day. He wrote: My suit is on the chair. My hat is in the closet. My books are on the desk. My shoes are under the chair. And I am in the bed.

He woke up the next morning and started to collect his things. They were all in the right places. The suit was on the chair. The books were on the desk. The shoes were under the chair. Then he came to the last item on his list. He went to look for himself in the bed, but the search was in vain. He wasn't there. ''Where am I?" he asked.

That’s the question for us this High Holy Day season. Where are we? Where have we been in the past year? Where do we want to go? Have we yet become who we truly want to be? How will we do so in the year ahead? Where, in this complicated moment in human history, are we? Where do we want to be? Where are we?

I cannot promise you that attending Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur services at TBS will provide you with all of the answers. But I can certainly assure you that you will be with a community that, together, is asking the right questions. Through prayer, through study, through moments of private contemplation, and through time spent in the embrace of community, throughout these High Holy Days we will seek together to find ourselves. And, in doing so, we will be better prepared to enter the new year ahead.

Karen, Judah, and Elisheva join me in wishing you and your dear ones a sweet, happy, and healthy new year.