SHOWING UP

SERMON KOL NIDRE WELCOME 5784  September 25, 2023

Welcome and thank you for joining us tonight.  

There is something very powerful in showing up like you have tonight. 

90% of life is just showing up. 

When my partner Tim was choosing a project for his Senior Design Project at Georgia Tech’s Architecture program, he chose to design a synagogue.  The first design rule was:  The ark should face east; the second was that the sanctuary needs to be able to triple in size two days a year.  

My family were High Holy Jews.  Michelle Obama’s speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz was a High Holy Day Jew before a breakup led her to spend more time at a local Reform synagogue, starting a process that would result in her excellent book about Judaism:  Here All Along. 

Many in my profession bemoan the phenomena of High Holy Jews, wishing people would come more often and learn to appreciate the gifts of this tradition. But my teacher Yehuda Kurzer, at a Teach-In with the Hartmann Institute this past week, argued that we shouldn’t minimize the power and meaning of so many Jews showing up every year on these holidays. After all the centuries and all the suffering, we still show up on Yom Kippur to be with other Jews as we each struggle with the question of who we are and where we need to change?  

We show up.   You showed up, so thank you. It is a beautiful part of our culture and I am so grateful to see you all here tonight.  

…Of course, I would also be grateful to see you on other nights.  Or days, maybe an occasional bat mitzvah, but never mind, don’t worry about me 

Truly, it is so good to be together as a community, to see you all, so L’shana Tova   …. and an Easy Fast.