Dear members and friends,

I would like to begin by thanking all those who joined us for the High Holidays services and made them special. I also want to thank our members and friends who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure all went well. And, of course, thank you to Cantor Boris Pevsner, who engaged us and helped us connect to our spirits. Lastly, welcome to our new members.

When I started my official preparations for the High Holidays, I reviewed a great deal of material in order to select appropriate topics to address. In the midst of that process, I realized I wasn’t starting my preparation then but, in fact, had been preparing all year long. And then it occurred to me that I wasn’t the only one preparing; all of us were preparing — as a congregation. So, in addition to talking about God, soul searching (AKA Teshuvah), and forgiveness, I decided to also share with everyone the wonderful work and improvements we’ve made in the past year — the Teshuvah we did as a community and the Teshuvah some of us did back to the community.

Curiously, the day that culminates the Teshuvah period, Yom Kippur, is never named this way in the Torah; it is called Yom HaKippurim. The addition of “im” makes it plural. The day of repentance, you see, is not for one thing, but for multiple. What multiplicity is the Day of Repentance trying to correct? Do we actually need to repent for more than one thing? The answer is, yes. On a simple level, each of us sins more than once during an average year, just as each of us sins in a different way. Moreover, we are also trying to correct different levels of relationships.

The beginning of the book of Genesis describes five levels of relationships, starting with self, which were broken and which humanity has been trying to correct ever since. When sin is originally introduced, Eve and Adam start to doubt themselves and as a result feel naked. Then, when God calls them to return, they hide from Him, distancing humanity from the divine. They then doubt their spousal relationship and blame each other. This brokenness extends to their children, Cain and Abel, who represent earth and heaven. Cain (which means physical acquisition) who works the land, ends up killing his brother Abel (which means breath), a shepherd—furthering the distance between heaven and earth. Ultimately, the brokenness reaches the Tower of Babel, when nations can no longer speak to other nations.

It is clear now why there are multiple days of repentance, and why the last day is Yom HaKippurim. Clearly, there is a lot to fix! Starting with self, our world still needs a lot of soul searching and forgiveness. I’m looking forward to another year of moving forward with Congregation Tifereth Israel.

Shanah Tovah.                                                                             —Rabbi Gadi Capela