Letter from Rabbi Ross
Dear TBS Friends and Family,
Over the past 6 weeks, our production team at TBS has been working tirelessly at enhancing our High Holiday Services with good audio quality, good video quality, and exhausting preparations. Taking our different voices through microphones to our mic mixer is one thing. Bringing the sound of piano, guitar, rabbi and cantorial soloist through the mixer to the laptop through the ever changing Zoom software has been complex, but seems to be completed.
I wanted to give a huge shout-out and thank you to Eric Chupack and Laurie Frankino who will be functioning as our Zoom stage managers this year. Your dedication and perseverance have been invaluable this summer! I also want to thank Jean Rhodes, Robin Selinger, and Marcy Caplin for assisting with this important effort each week as we have done our sound checks.
Despite our best efforts and intentions, there will be snafus. No wedding ceremony goes off without a glitch and no High Holiday Service will either. So please try and arrive early to get situated in the zoom room with your machzor or flipbook at the ready. Let’s try and be patient as we see technological glitches. Please remember we are all newcomers to this streaming environment, and we are going to be making mistakes as we go.
Presence in Zoom settings can be difficult as well. Take breaks as needed. Do what you can to make this Rosh Hashanah meaningful.
Let’s all enjoy this spiritual “reset” as a time to refocus ourselves and begin to become our best selves.
Journaling as a Spiritual Tool
Friday night, I will be speaking about journaling to access our inner voice. I call this type of writing, postcards from the Soul. Here are the writing prompts I will be exploring Friday night. You could take one set of questions each night before Yom Kippur to focus inspire your journaling.
- How is your physical self doing during the past 6 months of quarantine life?
How is your physical body doing tonight at the threshold of this new year?
How can you imagine improving your physical wellness this year? - How has your emotional self been during the past 6 months?
Is your heart open on this threshold of the new year?
How can you imagine being more compassionate in this year? - What have you learned about your life during the past 6 months?
How are you understanding this new learning tonight?
How can you imagine learning new ideas to broaden your perspective this year? - How has your soul been doing the past 6 months?
Are you present to your soul tonight?
How might you try and be more present with the needs of your soul this year?
Additionally, I will be holding a special pre-Yom Kippur Journaling Session next Saturday, 9/27 at 9:30 a.m. We will study Kol Nidre and then do a bit of writing together.
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UPCOMING TBS ZOOM GATHERINGS
Sun. 9/20 9 am: Rosh Hashanah Family Gathering – our religious school families will join together for a special Rosh Hashanah celebration!
Sat. 9/28, 9:30 am: Special Torah Study – Yom Kippur Liturgy and Journaling