Wishes for the New Year (5774)

If we are truly fortunate 5774 will be a year in which peace will break out in every corner of the earth, natural disasters will not occur, and humanity will be able to have some respite from the tragedies that have become commonplace. How I wish that such good fortune would come to us! Such belief is part of our liturgy, part of the nature of the communal dreams of the Jewish People.

No one can accurately predict what the New Year will bring. Undoubtedly, it will be filled with moments of blessing and other moments of disaster or evil. Hardly a year goes by without both blessings and curses.

As I contemplate the coming days I know this: we will gather as a community: parents, children, family members, and friends. We will join in celebrating the wonderful Jewish tradition that has been given to us, and commit ourselves once again to the ideals and values of our faith.

I know this: every Temple member who enters into our sacred space will know that she or he is not alone, that ours is a caring community working each and every day to be God’s hands and ears and eyes on earth; that we are only as good as the sum of all our parts, but that every part of our Temple family, every member, is sacred to us all. ln a world where human life has often lost its value, it is good to know that there exists such a place as Temple Sinai where every member of the human family is held sacred.

This year, beginning with Rosh Hashanah 5774, let goodness abound, and may we all be inscribed in the Book of Life for blessing.

Rabbi Jeffrey Bennett