For 49 days, we’ve counted the Omer and examined our spiritual selves. Happy Shavuot!

By Rabbi Jennifer Lewis

Starting on the second night of Passover, we began the period of the Counting of the Omer, which in Jewish tradition helps us with spiritual preparation for our next festival, Shavuot (when we celebrate Moses’s receiving the Law at Mount Sinai). This period represents the time between our liberation from slavery and our formation as a people in covenant with God. We count the Omer during the seven weeks (49 days) between Passover and Shavuot.

There are several customs associated with the Omer period. One of these is studying Pirke Avot (Portions of Our Fathers, which is a book contained in the Mishneh, part of Jewish oral tradition).

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Summer lasts a little longer on South Padre Island, but there’s no place like home

By Patty Lewis

Welcome to fall weather, with its sunshine, cool temperatures and turning leaves.

A few Sisterhood members got together in late October to discuss ideas and projects as Wilma invited Jackie and me to her home for coffee and cake. We talked travel and family and scrapbooking and art projects and had such an enjoyable visit.

I had just returned from an event-filled 17 days in South Padre Island, Texas, to visit my son Grant and daughter-in-law Dawn. It was my first trip since my husband Ralph passed away in June.

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A breath of divine air renews the process of creation as the Torah cycle begins again

By Student Rabbi Matt Derrenbacher

Each year, the Hebrew month of Tishrei can feel like an absolute whirlwind. We have Rosh Hashanah, Shabbat Shuvah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot … and finally we round out the month with Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.

Amid this parade of holidays, we take some time to reflect on the year gone by and begin to look forward to the year that is to come.

Up to the point of Simchat Torah, we have celebrated the New Year, atoned for our sins and eaten/prayed/slept in sukkahs to commemorate our ancestors’ journey through the wilderness to the Promised Land.

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