Oneg Shabbat
On Shabbat most synagogues host an oneg before or after services. It is typically simple. You might find wine, juice, coffee, cookies, perhaps some bagels and accoutrements on a Saturday morning. You will definitely find a lot of schmoozing. Oneg Shabbat has always been an opportune moment to catch up with the community, sharing news of simchas and sorrows, or simply enjoying the presence of friends. I once asked a group of people what they thought the word oneg means. They answered with the things we find at an oneg, suggesting different food items or even, conversation.” Actually, oneg means joy.” The whole point of sharing time with our community is to further increase the joy of Shabbat.
The same thing is true about the High Holy Days. We might not gather for a formal oneg with its sweet treats, but we still enjoy the presence of family and friends. We still revel in the joy of the coming year, and we still share news with people we may not have seen in a while. We enter the New Year with the same feelings of joy with which we begin our Shabbat every week.
What Shabbat moment in the past year brought you joy?
How could you add making Shabbat a time for joy in the new year?
Shabbat Shalom!
The same thing is true about the High Holy Days. We might not gather for a formal oneg with its sweet treats, but we still enjoy the presence of family and friends. We still revel in the joy of the coming year, and we still share news with people we may not have seen in a while. We enter the New Year with the same feelings of joy with which we begin our Shabbat every week.
What Shabbat moment in the past year brought you joy?
How could you add making Shabbat a time for joy in the new year?
Shabbat Shalom!
Prepare Your Soul
On Saturday night, Jews will gather to officially begin the Days of Awe with S’lichot, which means apologies.” On this night, we ask: Have we made our apologies? Have we stood face to face with those we’ve wronged and told them we are sorry? Have we forgiven those who have approached us? Each year on S’lichot we prepare our souls for the High Holy Days, to help us turn” and reach toward holiness.
A meditation to prepare us for S’lichot:
We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our historical epoch, the country of our birth or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. We do not, most of us, choose to die, nor do we choose the time or conditions of our death. But within all this choice of choicelessness, we do choose how we will live; courageously or in cowardice, honorably or dishonorably, with purpose or in drift. We decide what is important and what is trivial in life. We decide that what makes us significant is either what we do or what we refuse to do. But no matter how indifferent the universe might be to our choices or decision, these choices are ours to make. We decide. We choose. And as we decide and choose, so are our lives formed” (Joseph Epstein).
On Saturday night, after Shabbat, how will you choose to prepare your soul?
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