Shofarot and Shavuot 

Music Director Matt Turk sits down with Cantor Becky Mann for a dynamic conversation about creativity, inspiration, touring, relationship building, home life and the joy of composing Jewish music.

Rabbi Karen Glazer Perolman announces that joy alone is no longer enough. Joy without empathy, belonging and conflict is not sturdy enough to withstand the challenges of our world and be in relationships. The complexities of October 7, war with Hamas, hostage release and ceasefire are the Unetaneh Tokef for our own identities, asking what will happen in the time we still have? Who is willing to listen? Who needs to be right for the sake of being right? Who wants to forgive? Who is still holding a grudge? Who is going to walk away and who is going to stay? What are we willing to risk letting the healthy heat burn, to survive, for the sake of those who come after us? Rabbi Perolman’s invitation is to stay. It is too easy to walk out the door and leave. Re-engage because a healthy heat means everyone can be heard.

On this Kol Nidre, Rabbi Gewirtz says “Avinu Malkeinu, send us the prophets, the ones who love us enough to tell what we never, ever want to hear.” Compelling us to connect to what we really need and yearn for from the deepest parts of our being, propelling us to be real as God listens to our prayers and intense longing, Rabbi Gewirtz addresses AI and focuses on our necessity to be whole, healthy, fulfilled, not lonely in our own homes and recover through this essential check in on Kol Nidre.

Twilight is among the great works of creation. Rabbi Hannah Ellenson’s 5787 Rosh Hashanah sermon takes twilight as a miracle both day and night, and yet not day nor night. Rabbi Ellenson draws a correlation that we are living in liminal spaces, in between with ever-changing conditions, in moments that are neither here nor there, and somehow, this is when we are most ourselves. Whether through the examples of Jacob and Esau’s human kinship and wilderness between Egypt and Israel for the Jewish people, Rabbi Ellenson brings us towards serenity during twilight, literally, spiritually and within our relationships.

Where did you go just now? Was it a place past? Did you sit in discomfort? Do you delight in nostalgia? Rabbi Karen Perolman remembers why it is we come together on this night of nostalgia: to return to pain and healthfully return to the past to live firmly in the present. Yes, nostalgia can manage stress and pain. As we live in the current nostalgic era, Jews have been rebooting for 5,787 years, gathering on the first of Tishrei to recite the same prayers, hear the shofar and allow ourselves to be pulled into the past all to explore the spiritual work done on these days of return. Listen further to discover the power of nostalgia, spiritual time travel as we turn our hearts toward the past to create a flourishing future.

Rabbi Matthew D. Gewirtz heralds in 5787 with nuance, tears, laughter, soul-shaking depth and wisdom in his Rosh Hashanah sermon. Rabbi Gewirtz calls out our behavior to litmus test each other, a litmus test cloaked in broad generalizations that alienate us from each other and the truth. Through meaningful personal stories, including his recent time in Israel’s West Bank, Gewirtz calls for integrity, kindness, listening and courage. 5787 begins in behavior that continues to unravel October 7 wreckage and menshlekeit, the ability to behave kindly and with love towards one another. Listen further for spiritual inspiration.

Touching upon the themes of holding fear, clearing blurring eyes and looking to truly see, Rabbi Matthew D. Gewirtz finds himself trying to understand the different complex elements that comprise the fabric of Israeli society and his own soul.Rabbi Matt spent his Sabbatical having deep conversations with cab drivers about Israeli society, confronting those who control what it means to be a Jew in Israel, meeting with Israeli literary heroes, politicians, members of the military, TBJ kids, Jews, Arabs, Christians and strangers. Rabbi Matt discovers hope through his dear friends Chen & Michal, who still feel trauma and dance again. Through his love of Shlomo Artzi, Rabbi Matt finds personal redemption through his daughter Sadie while sharing the experience with a fellow concert-goer and Artzi himself. The humanity of Rabbi Gewirtz, crying while landing in Israel with blurry eyes, spent his time clearing the blur.We are charged with taking our job to see clearly seriously and look with clarity.

On the Shabbat before Tisha B'av, the saddest day in the Jewish Calendar, Cantor Beth Reinstein explores what grief has to teach us.

“Back in elementary school, I didn’t know how to own my differences – I hid from what I now know are actually my superpowers.” Join author Sadie Gewirtz for her book launch, in conversation with Rabbi Karen Glazer Perolman.

Cantor Beth Reinstein explores the connections between the festival of Shavuot through the lens of the Shofarot liturgy from Rosh Hashanah. Tying together song and spoken word, Cantor Reinstein invokes the call of the shofar to ask us what Torah we need to hear as we celebrate Divine revelation for Shavuot.