High Holiday Greetings from Our Community's Spiritual Leaders
High Holiday Greetings from Our Community's Spiritual Leaders
Due to security concerns, many of our partners asked that we need directly share their High Holiday service schedules. If you are interested in attending a service, please find synagogue phone numbers and websites below.
Finding Hope & Renewal Amidst Challenges
It has been a deeply challenging year to be Jewish. We continue to stand with our brothers and sisters in Israel as they await the return of the hostages still held in Gaza after nearly a year. We have also experienced increasing worry about our own safety as Jews living in the United States. While we normally approach Rosh Hashanah with a sense of joy and anticipation, this year we may be filled with anxiety instead.
Our prayer book reminds us that each day offers new possibilities: “In Your goodness, You daily renew creation.” Every morning presents a new day full of hope and promise. It is up to each of us to see how we can make use of it. Whether the overall situation of the world will improve in this next year is something that I can do very little to influence. But I have tremendous power over how I approach each new day that is given to me. May each of us find sweetness and joy in the new year; and may we all be blessed with a new year of good health and peace. Shana tova!
Rabbi Shoshana Kaminsky
Temple Beth-El
(574) 234-4402
Click here to view their website.
Remembering the Bitter & the Sweet
The mitzvah to remember Amalek begins with the word, “zachor,” remember! A midrash is troubled by this—the mitzvah to observe Shabbat also begins with the word, “zachor,” remember! Is it possible there is anything in common between Shabbat and Amalek? An analogy: A king made a banquet and invited guests. The king said, “I remember my friend So-and-So, please honor him with this lovely tray of food. And now, I remember my enemy So-and-So, he gets nothing.” The other diners said to the king, “You remembered this one, and you remembered that one, yet one is your friend and one your enemy?” The king responded, “This one I remembered for good things and that one I remembered for shameful things.” So [too], about the Shabbat it is written (Exodus 20:8), “Remember the Shabbat, to sanctify it,” and we honor it with food, drink, and clean clothing. But with Amalek it is written, “Remember that which Amalek did to you…and you shall blot out the memory of Amalek…”
This year, our people remember the tragedy of October 7 and its aftermath. But at this time of year, it is so important that we also remember the beauty of our faith, our people, the land of Israel. We are a people who have known much sorrow, but that cannot define us. We are a people of great nobility and compassion, even for those who appear to be the enemy. Let us remember the bitter, in order to enjoy the sweet all the more, and let us remember the sweet, in order to sweeten the lives of others.
May this be a better year. Shanah Tovah from Lizzie and I to our entire Michiana Jewish community.
Rabbi Michael Friedland
Sinai Synagogue
(574) 234-8584
Click here to view their website.
Praying for a Better & More Peaceful New Year
To the Jewish community of Michiana. What a year! War in the Middle East, War in Europe, Anti-Semitism on College campuses and elsewhere, Assassination attempts, Inflation, Elected candidates being replaced at the last minute, and the list goes on. The time is now to pray to G-d for a better and more peaceful new year. May this year bring you joy, prosperity, and success in all your endeavors. May this year be a year of greater Torah study and Mitzva observance. May this year be a year when the thousands of years of Jewish tradition continue to guide your life. May you be blessed with good health, happiness, and peace throughout the year. May your home be filled with love, laughter, and warmth. May you be surrounded by family and friends who love you. Most of all, may this be a year when you merit to properly coronate G-d as your king. L’shana tova u’mesuka!
Rabbi Elie Ginsparg
Midwest Torah Center
(574) 234-9092
Click here to view their website.
Sanctifying Time & Transcending Space
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, reminds us that to be Jewish is to sanctify time–to sanctify not the material things in our lives but the immaterial: God, our souls, our relationships with one another. During these days which are so fraught–socially, politically, and economically–Rosh Hashanah reminds us that what binds Jew to Jew, and Jew to God, transcends all space. What binds us is our vision of eternity. Therefore, let us strive to hold this vision above all others, and let it ennoble us to usher in a safe, peaceful, sweet new year.
Rabbi Joshua Rubin
Liberal Jewish Fellowship
(574) 227-4464
Click here to view their website.
Our vibrant Jewish community of Michiana is also home to:
Hebrew Orthodox Congregation
(574) 291-4239
Click here to view their website.
Chabad of Greater South Bend
(574) 318-0282
Click here to view their website.
Temple B’nai Shalom
(269) 925-8021
Click here to view their website.