Voices

Bylined opinion and news columns published by United Hebrew Congregation Terre Haute.

Check, please! It’s the season for heshbon hanefesh — an accounting of our souls

By Rabbi Jennifer Lewis
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L’shana tovah tikateyvu, Happy New Year, and may you be inscribed for good in the coming year!

I’m looking forward to returning to Terre Haute to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Days of Awe, and the coming year, 5786, with the United Hebrew Congregation community!

We have entered the Hebrew month of Elul, the month during which tradition teaches us to begin hearing the call of the shofar and to prepare for the upcoming High Holy Days (the Days of Awe) of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

During this month of preparation, we can take concrete actions to prepare. And our preparation goes beyond planning a menu for Rosh Hashanah dinner and finding a good recipe for honey cake (though I encourage you to do that as well, and please share if you have a good one!). Preparation means we can begin in earnest a process called heshbon hanefesh — an accounting of our souls.

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Cicely, Alaska, is not the end of the journey

By Scott Skillman
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I’d like to discuss a television show that I loved watching in the mid ’90s.

No, I’m not talking about Baywatch. My favorite show was Northern Exposure.

The show is a basic fish-out-of-water tale. The main character is a Jewish New York doctor who upon completion of his medical training is set to begin a carefully planned career that would include the location of his practice, his area of expertise and even his “choice” Jewish fiance.

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

By Rabbi Jennifer Lewis
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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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The Passover seder dinner means matzoh, wine, bitter herbs and the miracle of the shared meal

By Scott Skillman
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This year our Passover seder will be celebrated on Saturday, April 12, starting at 6 p.m. We will be led by our rabbi, Jennifer Lewis, and we will have a full seder meal. We will drink the wine; we will break the matzot and eat the bitter herbs.

We will celebrate while reclining (at least symbolically) the Exodus from Egypt and the miracles performed at that time, at that place. Those miracles are well retold in the seder, and the awesomeness of the Lord will be recounted.

But there is another miracle that arises from the seder that is not often considered. The miracle that I wish for us to consider is the sharing of a meal within our small community and, often, with the larger community. The miracle I speak of is the shared meal. The sharing of a meal has great power for all who attend.

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