By RABBI LEVI RIVKIN Bais Menachem Chabad
In this edition of the Jewish Press, we’ve given our area rabbis an opportunity to share their thoughts and reflections for Rosh Hashanah and the High Holidays. While we typically feature one rabbi in each issue, we wanted to make sure every voice could be included during this special time of year. We hope you enjoy these words of wisdom and find inspiration as we enter 5787 together.
A New Year, A New Commitment
By RABBI LEVI RIVKIN
Bais Menachem Chabad
As we welcome Rosh Hashanah, we are reminded that the Jewish New Year is more than the turning of a calendar page. The Lubavitcher Rebbe says that Rosh Hashanah is a time to pause, reflect and ask ourselves: What can I do this year to strengthen my connection to G-d, to Torah, to Israel and to His People?
New Year’s resolutions are most meaningful when they are practical and achievable. Rather than trying to change everything at once, we can choose one meaningful step forward. Perhaps this year, that step can be keeping kosher.
By RABBI URIEL RIVKIN Young Israel of Tampa
Kashrut is about much more than what we eat. It brings Judaism into one of the most basic parts of our daily lives. Every meal becomes an opportunity to make a conscious Jewish choice and strengthen our connection to our heritage.
And now, making that commitment has become easier and more accessible right here in our community!
A beautiful new initiative has recently been introduced at the Neighborhood Walmart at 1601 Kennedy Blvd. They have brought in a wonderful selection of kosher Israeli products, with four dedicated sections throughout the store: dairy, frozen, bakery and dry goods. This is an incredible opportunity for our community to incorporate more kosher choices into our everyday lives.
By supporting this Neighborhood Walmart, conveniently located near the University of Tampa, we can help make kosher food more available to our Jewish students and give them a meaningful opportunity to incorporate keeping kosher into their daily lives. Every purchase helps strengthen this important initiative and supports Israel and a more vibrant Jewish community in all of Tampa Bay.
RABBI JASON ROSENBERG
As we hear the shofar and welcome 5787, may we have the courage to make one meaningful commitment and the strength to turn it into a lasting habit.
Shanah Tovah U’Metukah! May you be signed and sealed for a good, sweet year! May the coming year be filled with health, happiness, growth and an even deeper connection to our Jewish heritage.
Every Person Makes a Difference
By RABBI URIEL RIVKIN
Young Israel of Tampa
As we approach Rosh Hashanah and welcome the New Year, we give thanks to Hashem for the many blessings He has bestowed upon our community and reflect with gratitude on a very special milestone.
By HAZZAN JODI M. SERED-LEVER Congregation Mekor Shalom
This year marks 10 years since our Daily Minyanim began!
For an entire decade, through ordinary weekdays, busy mornings, long afternoons, challenging times and joyous occasions, our community has had the privilege of gathering together for Shacharis, Mincha and Maariv.
A Minyan is much more than ten Jewish men praying in the same room. It is the heartbeat of a Jewish community. It is where we come together to answer Amen, recite Kaddish and Kedushah, hear the Torah, celebrate a Simcha, observe a Yahrtzeit and support one another in times of need.
Every person who attends makes a difference. Sometimes we may think, “Someone else will be there.” But a Minyan is built one person at a time. Your presence can literally be the one that makes the Minyan complete.
As we begin a new year, we encourage everyone to strengthen their commitment to Davening with a Minyan whenever possible. Join us for Shacharis and begin the day connected to Hashem. Join us for Mincha and bring holiness into the middle of a busy day. Join us for Maariv and conclude the day together in prayer.
By RABBI JOEL SIMON Congregation Schaarai Zedek
May the merit of ten years of Tefillah B’Tzibbur bring abundant blessings upon every member of our community. May Hashem grant us a year of health, happiness, Parnassah, Nachas, peace and revealed blessings.
May our Minyanim continue to grow from strength to strength for many years to come.
With warm wishes for a happy, healthy, prosperous and sweet New Year!
Inner and Outer Work
By RABBI JASON ROSENBERG
Congregation Beth Am
Rabbi Israel Salanter founded the mussar movement, a system for personal betterment. One of his students once asked him, “What’s the best way to take care of my own spiritual needs?” Salanter answered, “By taking care of the physical needs of others.”
The Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe, are the most intensely inward-looking time of the year. Especially on Yom Kippur, we turn away from the world to pay attention instead to what’s going on in our inner lives. That’s a sacred activity, but it can be taken too far — paying attention to our souls can quickly become navel-gazing!
But, more than that, what Salanter is pointing out is that the dichotomy which we often draw between our inner, spiritual lives and the world “out there” is very much a false one. They’re really 2 sides of the same coin, and so they are deeply intertwined. To put that differently, I can’t do any spiritual work if I’m not willing to also do some very practical work in the world around me.
We’re supposed to be spending this time leading up to Rosh Hashanah engaged in a process of Cheshbon NaHefesh, an accounting of the soul. We’re supposed to be taking stock of what we’ve done well, and especially of where we’ve fallen short in this past year, all to be more prepared to deeply enter into our holiest season. I’d like to suggest that, along with time for contemplation, we all make time to help others. Being kind to strangers, giving tzedakah, speaking up for the needy — these are all deeply moral acts, but they’re also a great form of spiritual practice.
Nothing gets me more ready for trying to be a better person than acting like I already am one.
L’Shana Tova u’metukah — a good and sweet year to us all.
Facing Ourselves
By HAZZAN JODI M. SERED-LEVER
Congregation Mekor Shalom
James Baldwin, the 20th century writer and civil rights activist wrote: “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” How true. We definitely do not have the ability to change every circumstance, situation or interaction in front of us. Sometimes, we are constrained by the context in which we find ourselves. At the same time, we will never be able to change any position or outlook without facing that which is before us.
This time of year invites us to face what is in front of us, both literally and figuratively. We each have the opportunity to assess our own reflection in the mirror, and not just how it appears. We have the chance truly to see ourselves, to be honest about who we are and who we hope to be. When we face ourselves, we may identify where change is needed both within and around us. And that, according to Mr. Baldwin, is the first step. We have limitless potential for growth, for development and for change, and once we recognize that capacity, the possibilities for us to be changemakers are all around.
Wishing everyone a year of health, happiness, peace and fulfillment.
Shana Tova!
Reset Buttons
By RABBI JOEL SIMON
Congregation Schaarai Zedek
In thinking about my childhood, I remember two very different kinds of reset buttons.
The first was on my Nintendo. If a video game would freeze, or if you didn’t like how the game was going, you could press the reset button and you would magically start completely over as if the game you had been playing had never even happened.
The second was a bit more nuanced. At a bowling alley, sometimes the pinsetter didn’t register that the ball had been rolled, and the reset button would refresh the system, waking it up in a way, either moving you to the second ball of the frame or resetting the pins completely and starting the next frame.
Our High Holy Days are much more like the bowling reset than the video game one. Our past year doesn’t disappear when we begin the new one, but Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur give us a special opportunity.
May these High Holy Days give us an opportunity to recognize the balls that have passed without our recognition – our missed experiences, actions whose consequences we failed to acknowledge, conversations we wish had gone differently. May they give us an opportunity to realign our pins – begin to make right those areas in which we faltered. And may this New Year of 5787 provide a new frame in which we can build on the year that’s passed, learn from our mistakes and find new opportunities to learn, to grow and to give to the world around us.
Y’hi ratzon milfanecha… sh’t’chadeish aleinu shanah tovah u’metukah,
May it be Your will that You renew for us a good and sweet New Year.
This column is published as a public service by the Jewish Press in cooperation with the Tampa Rabbinical Association, which assigns the column on a rotating basis. The views expressed are those of the rabbi and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Jewish Press or the TRA.