The High Holidays are a sacred time on the Jewish calendar for intense personal reflection and spiritual growth. Our weekly email series, YOU ARE HERE, is designed to help make this time personally meaningful. Look for an email from Beth El every Friday through October 18 with a video teaching from our clergy, a personal reflection from a Beth El member, liturgical music, and High Holiday programming details. May this be a season of growth, renewal, and reflection for you. Shana Tovah!

Rabbi Jesse Olitzky: Selichot

Continuing our YOU ARE HERE series, Rabbi Olitzky teaches on the significance of Selichot, which we will celebrate tomorrow night with prayers and songs.

"This Saturday night our community will gather with Jews across the globe to recite the words of Selichot, which means “forgiveness.” These prayers prepare us for the High Holidays, which begin in one week...We don’t know whom we've hurt, so we ask for forgiveness of everyone. hen we say Selichot, we ask for personal and communal forgiveness. We begin the season by asking for forgiveness together, because we’re all imperfect."

Watch the video at this link

Join us for our Beth El Selichot Bonfire:

Tomorrow - Saturday, September 21, 8:30pm

Usher in the High Holiday season with our Selichot bonfire. Join us at the home of  Johanna Ginsburg and  Mark Brownstein for song, poetry, readings, and traditional prayers as we prepare ourselves to welcome a new year.  RSVP to  Johanna  for the address.

Listen on Soundcloud at this link

Veyitnu Lecha Keter Melucha:

V'ye'etayu chol l'ovdecha (v'yitnu l'cha keter m'lucha),

vivar'chu shem k'vodecha (v'yitnu l'cha keter m'lucha),

Rabbi Josh Warshawsky: Veyitnu Lecha Keter Melucha

Rabbi Josh Warshawsky, the nationally-known Jewish musician and composer, returns to Beth El (where he started his career as our JLC Music Specialist!) to join our clergy and lay daveners to lead us in prayer this season. Rabbi Warshawsky will include traditional and original melodies in our worship, and in our YOU ARE HERE email series, we'll introduce you to some of them.

(Please note that Rabbi Warshawsky will play guitar at Beth El only on Erev Rosh Hashanah -- other services will not include instrumentation.)

This lively piyyut is set to a popular melody that we sing during Musaf on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur:

And all shall come to serve thee,

and bless thy glorious name,

decla​re thy righteous​ness among the isles...

High Holiday Programming: Erev Rosh Hashanah Nashuva Service

Sunday, September 29: 7:00pm

Hashiveinu Adonai Elecha v’Nashuvah, Chadesh Yameinu K’Kedem

Return us back to You, God, so that we can return. Renew our days as of old  – Lam. 5:21

NASHUVAH means “let us return.” During this time of year, we sometimes feel lost, like we’ve made a wrong turn, or that we are on the same path but the destination is unknown. We seek to return. We seek to return to a life of meaning, purpose, and value. We seek to return to ourselves.

Our new Erev Rosh Hashanah NASHUVAH service will be a traditional and musical service in the round. Rabbi Olitzky, Rabbi Marder, and our High Holiday service leader, Rabbi Josh Warshawsky, on the guitar, will lead us in the soulful intentional melodies of the season as we return to where we are supposed to be.  We invite you to join us in this new prayer experience. Let us return to each other and be renewed in the year to come.

Previous Emails in the "You Are Here 5780" Series

You Are Here #1: Rosh Chodesh Elul

You Are Here #2: Forgiving Each Other, Forgiving Ourselves

You Are Here #3: Remembering 9/11, Preparing for a New Year