With these words Moses began the address in this week’s Torah reading. “See,” look, notice – there are opportunities and challenges before us, should we only look with generous and compassionate eyes, and pursue righteous actions, then we will create and find blessings.
We have a number of interesting and enjoyable opportunities before us as we begin our month of reflection before the Days of Awe, our High Holy Days.
This Friday evening, for our the first of our Shabbat Elul Series, a local professional guitarist, Drew Azzinaro, will provide four selections to complement our reflections on how to listen better – to ourselves, to those around us, and especially to those with whom we disagree.
Then to close out Shabbat on Saturday evening, for Havdalah, we will gather to recognize the holiness of a local place, as well as the time between Shabbat and the rest of the week. We will meet at 7:00 PM, at the Broderick Park Underground Railroad Site at the foot of Ferry Street, on Unity Island – there will be a quick Havdalah service and shmoozing.
On Sunday afternoon we will join together for questions and discussion with Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, at 3:00 PM at our 805 Delaware Avenue building.
Let us look closely at the world and at ourselves as we begin our journey towards the holiest days of our calendar year.