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Dear chaveirim:
I hope to be able to send another email to the membership on Monday or Tuesday of next week. BUT … If I am not able, I want to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a kesiva vachasima tova and a shana tova. May HKBH bless our efforts to collectively and individually uplift the kahal. And may we see yeshuos venechamos bimeheira. Please feel free to reach out if you need any last-minute derasha material (or a pep-talk!)
RCA Updates
- If you have not yet seen the Zoom Presentation about 10/7 and Shemini Atzeres programming – please take the time watch. It not only provides dozens of practical suggestions but is also mist inspiring to watch. Click Here to view the recording. Thank you so much to our presenters Shai Finkelstein, Kalman Topp, Stephen Miodownick, Noah Cheses, and Rael Blumenthal. And many thanks to Yaakov Trump and Andrew Markowitz who inspired and coordinated this initiative. Yaakov and Andrew are planning many opportunities for us to learn and connect this year. More details will come after the chagim.
- The RCA’s Rabbinic Contract Assistance Program is back in action! Though we were not able to process all of last year’s requests, we have assembled a terrific team to help you with your contract re-negotiations for next year. Many thanks to Noah Cheses for all of his work on this project. Please Click Here for full details on this major benefit to RCA members.
In our RCA Family
- Mazal Tov to Jacob & Judy Traub on birth of a Great-Granddaughter, Eliorah Tzivya, to their Grand-Children Ari and Sara Wachtenheim.
- Mazal Tov to Levi and Yifat Mostofsky on the birth of a boy!
- Mazal Tov to Ari and Michal Zahtz on the marriage of their daughter Adina to Sender Schwerd.
- Mazal Tov to our Director of Operations Adam Dubin on the naming of his daughter Rivka Etel.
Chomer LiDrush – Nitzavim/Vayeilech and Rosh Hashanah
1) Parshas Nitzavim: Moshe’s Final Covenant and the Power of Collective Responsibility
One of the last things Moshe does is call Bnei Yisrael together in order to make a bris; he may be leaving, but the connection the Jewish people have with one another is everlasting. On the surface, another covenant seems redundant – it was done leaving Mitzrayim and at Har Sinai! What motivated Moshe to do this again now?
This one was different. This parshah includes the klal that if one who sins in public is not stopped, if the community does not prevent this, then everyone is held accountable. We, as a people, are responsible not only to God but to one another as well. The Tanchuma on our parshah remarks that 40 days after Har Sinai, a portion of the Jewish People committed a grave sin – and nobody stopped them. It seemed that the unity of Matan Torah had dissipated; how could this have happened in such a short span?
The answer is the difference between achvah and achrayus. Achvah is the togetherness felt at Matan Torah; achrayus is when that togetherness leads to combined action. The timing of our parshah is the best time for Moshe to make this bris of togetherness because it was then, at the cusp of entering into Eretz Yisrael, that the achrayus of a nation united would matter most.
We ourselves have seen this idea come to life in a bittersweet but nonetheless powerful way; the lack of achdus leading up to October 7th gave way to an overwhelming sense of achrayus for each other. Have we achieved achdus in Israel - or in our own communities? We have seen some promising signs. However, achdus may still be a long way off. But there is something even more critical - achrayus, responsibility for one another’s safety and well-being - even, and especially, in times of crisis. Many brave souls from the center of Israel ran south on 10/7 to save people they differed with in so many ways.
Moshe’s final message is clear: the strength of the Jewish people lies in their commitment to each other.
2) Confusing the Satan: Navigating the Spiritual Battlefield
This time of year, we hear about "confusing the Satan." There are a few ways we do this: not announcing that Rosh Hashanah is also Rosh Chodesh, not blowing the shofar on erev yom tov – this interesting tactic is even listed as a reason why we blow the shofar during the whole month of Elul! But there’s something puzzling about this strategy; if the Satan is so wise (see Berachos 51, Sotah 10), why does this trick work on him every year? Why is he still falling for this? (For an interesting article on this confused Satan business, see this piece.)
The answer is that these things are calendric; these practices seem to remain the same from year to year, but the years themselves are obviously different – and just as the years change, so does the Yetzer Hara. Put differently, the Yetzer Hara of last year is much different than this year’s; just as time flows in cycles but never repeats exactly (an idea introduced by the Arizal and echoed by Rav Dessler and other baalei machshavah), the spiritual challenges and distractions that we face evolve. Each year has its own distinct Yetzer Hara, influenced by a different spiritual climate, new challenges, and modern hurdles that make this year different from last.
What’s this year’s Yetzer Hara? What are the challenges of 5784, those unique issues and distinct struggles we’ve all faced since last Rosh Hashana? If the Satan has changed this year – if he looks different than he did last year … do we? Have we tried to? This year’s Yetzer Hara may manifest in new distractions, shifting priorities, or the ever-increasing noise of the world around us. But as the Satan changes, so must we.
3) A Rosh Hashanah Derashah:
Many congregants want to know: What should we be davening for this year? And what happened to the tefillos of last year?
Feel free to use this derashah – focusing on the timeliness of the three themes of Malchiyos, Zichronos, and Shofaros in our post 10/7 reality – over yom tov and make it your own. I hope it helps! Please let us know if you end up using it, or if you have suggestions on how we can your job over yom tov easier.
📰 Manning the Media
Here’s what’s shaping the conversation this week:
1. 🧑🏫 We need more great rabbis: Yehuda Kurtzer, in eJewishPhilanthropy, argues that the challenges facing modern Jewish communities require more spiritual and pastoral leaders. The spotlight is on the Hartman Institute’s new program, Rabbanut North America.
2. 🎲 Legalizing sports gambling was a huge mistake: In The Atlantic, Charles Fain Lehman warns of the social costs of sports betting, from debt to domestic violence. A must-read for understanding this new reality with congregants – especially parents.
3. 💡 From our members: The New Atlantis critiques effective altruism, arguing that it overlooks the emotional side of giving. Timely in the late days of Elul.
4. 🚑 Failure to Rescue: In a 2012 New Yorker piece, surgeon and writer Atul Gawande explained that what set the best hospitals apart wasn’t fewer mistakes — it was how quickly they identified and recovered from them. A perfect parallel for your Rosh Hashanah message.
Have a great read to share? We’d love to hear from you! Send articles, insights, or thought-provoking pieces you’ve come across to https://mrosenfeld@rabbis.org and help keep the conversation going.
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