Welcome to everyone to Congregation Brith Sholem. We welcome our new student rabbi, Ziva Gunther, and want to thank her for all her hard work in preparing for Rosh Hashanah. We will have her through Yom Kippur and through the year. Thanks also to Judi Amsel, our rabbi coordinator, for her instruction and guidance. I know the student rabbis always gain valuable experience from working with Judi. It has been a rough year for Jews worldwide. We are approaching the deadly massacre of Oct 7, 2023, and marking a year of reckoning with the increase in antisemitism and the discord and tragedy of the war in Gaza. I am proud to represent our synagogue for another year. Hopefully, there is something each of you can take from what is offered, from adult education classes to Hebrew instruction to sisterhood activities, that deepen your understanding of Judaism and foster a connection to our community. There are fun and interesting events to come this year, and I hope you will all participate. Please donate as you are able to keep this community going.
It wouldn’t be me if I didn’t mention the commitment of the Union of Reform Judaism’s advocacy of their non-partisan ‘Every Voice, Every Vote’ initiative. I am very involved in voter registration in our community and encourage everyone to register (there is still time) and do their civic and very Jewish duty, whoever they are back, to vote. I have voter registration forms available if you’d like me to get you registered. Remember, if you move, you must reregister. Change is at the heart of the Days of Awe, as I heard URJ president Rick Jacobs declare in his quarterly president’s speech. I might point out that there are four questions you can ask yourself in relation to change. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his speech “A Proper Sense of Priorities” delivered on Feb 6, 1968, posed 4 questions that are appropriate for the High Holidays as we deliberate on the year we are leaving and the one we seek to begin: - Cowardice asks the question: Is it Safe?
- Expedience asks the question: Is it Politic?
- Vanity asks: Is it Popular?
- But Conscious asks: Is it Right?
Dr. King continued, “And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.” There will be hard choices ahead of us in the new year. I advocate for a future in which all of us, Israelis and Palestinians especially, can live in peace and security in a pluralistic society. I pray for the safety, security and happiness for all of you in the year to come. | 
