Dear congregants and guests,

Let’s start with the Books of Seven we handed out at Rosh Hashanah.  Inside you will find some interesting texts for your reading pleasure.  You will also find a mitzvah chart.  Before Yom Kippur, you might want to read through the mitzvot listed there and ask yourselves which you want to study, explore, or add to your practice in the New Year.  Consider having a discussion with family members or friends.  Decide whether you want to make a New Year’s vow to, for example, engage in bikkur cholim, visiting the ill or bal tash-hit, living with environmental consciousness.

And, as we enter the Day of At-One-Ment, feel free to…

• wear white during Yom Kippur. We dress in the clarity white brings to our spirits as we do the good work of clearing away the dross our souls have collected this past year.
• bring and wear your tallitot.  Though prayer shawls are only mandated for morning services, Kol Nidre is an exception to that rule.  We wear our prayer shawls for this service to emphasize Yom Kippur’s special holiness.

I look forward to a deeply meaningful Day of Awe with you  all.

Rabbi Barbara