Dear Bet Am Shalom College Students,
By now most of you have begun your year of studies. As Jews, you’ll want to be making plans for where you will spend Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Spoiler alert: You’re running out of time!
Whether you come home for the holy days or stay on campus, you can join us at Bet Am Shalom for part of our services if you wish. We stream every service! I haven’t seen the streaming myself, for obvious reasons, but I hear it is very professional and easy to follow.
Some of you have told me that you’ve gotten together with a group of student friends in a dorm room and tuned in. If you happen to be doing that, then please know that we will be thinking of you out there and wishing you were here. And if you are here in the flesh, how great it will be to get a hug from you!
That said, I always recommend that students attend a service in person at their campus. You’ll meet Jewish kids from places very different from your own. You’ll see and hear things done differently. You’ll experience talks and teachings especially geared to your age and interest.
Meanwhile, I reported to you in my Passover letter about the trip I took with rabbis in March to the Polish-Ukrainian border. Since that time, the Ukrainians have valiantly held their ground, and the Jewish communities of Europe and America have continued to partner with people of all nationalities and faiths to rescue refugees from the fighting. Our Polish Jewish sisters and brothers have led the way, along with remarkable volunteers from Israel’s medical and disaster teams.
Here at home, Bet Am Shalom is partnering with a group of synagogues, churches, and mosques to host several Afghan refugee families. The families are here, and we are helping them find their way as “strangers in a strange land.”
As we start our new Jewish year, I hope you’ll feel the same pride I feel about the way our Jewish people are answering the call to help anyone and everyone in the world, regardless of who they are or what they believe. Another spoiler alert: I hope you will soon be one of those Jews who is strongly particular and proud of what your faith teaches and believes in, and strongly universal in your eagerness to reach outward to a world in desperate need of courage and hope.
You will not be students for much longer. Soon you’ll get to be the adults you dream of being. May that dream include a life of translating Torah into action.
L’shanah Tovah Tikateivu,
