I keep my shopping list in the Tasks app on my iPhone. When I go to the store, I keep the phone in my hand as I walk the aisles and check off items one by one. Because the phone has facial recognition, I don't have to keep entering the password to turn the phone back on for each item. It's almost as convenient as using a pen and paper. The problem for the last few months has been that my phone doesn't recognize me with my mask. I'm a stranger to the device that I hold and that in turns holds all my data.

When we are able to convene in person I fear that my initial interactions will be like my phone - familiar and known, but a stranger when it comes to immediate recognition. Our masks are lifesavers in so many ways, and yet they hide the most easily identifiable parts of ourselves from each other. We cannot know each other face to face yet.

In ordinary circumstances I would be studying the membership roster and Facebook (appropriately-named) to ensure that I could greet as many of you by name as possible in person at our services. Alas, it is not to be. Better that we stay safe and risk a little awkwardness at the grocery store when we don't immediately recognize each other through our masks.

At the High Holy Days we reveal our innermost selves in prayer and meditation. We remove the masks covering who we have been and prepare to become more like the people we want to be. This year we must do this at home. My prayer in these days leading up to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is that as we make our various New Year lists, we take the time and do the work to know more about ourselves than our phones do.