As I write this, we have just finished with the High Holidays and the many other Holidays leading us into the New Year. When you read this, the High Holidays may seem like a distant memory as you start preparing for Chanukah.

 

I believe it is important to reflect on the High Holiday services which we have just experienced. This is the busiest time for the Synagogue and for many of you the focal point of your involvement with the shul. How were the High Holiday Services this year? By the accounts that have come to my attention, directly or indirectly, people found the services to be the best in years. I heard very positive comments generally about the clergy, their sermons, the choir, and other aspects of the services. People told me the services were the most beautiful and most spiritual they had ever experienced. I felt the same way and am delighted that the services had this effect on many of you.

 

The sad news is that many of our members did not choose to experience the High Holidays with us. Those of you who didn’t really missed out on something special. This, of course, has a negative impact on the Synagogue. In order to keep Synagogue dues as low as possible, we count on High Holiday seat revenue. If our members don’t buy seats, our revenue is down and the only way to make up that lost revenue is to increase dues. This is something that very few of us like, notwithstanding that our Synagogue dues are probably among the lowest in North America, particularly for a Congregation of our size.

 

Some Congregations include a certain number of High Holiday tickets with the dues. However, many of those only offer rush seating, and only have one service to worry about. From time to time it is suggested that we should move to this type of system. It might ease administration and it might get more people attending High Holiday services if the seats are included. On the other hand, people may object strenuously. Many of you are unlikely to want to give up seats you may have had for generations. Many would certainly dislike the idea of rush seating. Some might object to having to pay for High Holiday seats that you have no intention of using because your are away for the High Holidays, etc. I can speculate all I want as to what our members think, as can the Board. But we really need to find out from you. Please, if you have some thoughts on the subject, please address them to me in writing. I am really interested in hearing what your thoughts are. Of course it would be a given that if seats, or a certain number of seats, are included, the dues structure would have to be completely revised.

 

My message which follows from my reflections on the High Holidays is to tell you what I hope most of you have realized. We are extremely lucky to have an all-star team of clergy at Shaarey Zedek. This is something that none of us can or should take for granted.

 

A little over a year ago the Board made a bold decision to hire Rabbi Pinsker as our Associate Rabbi, bold in that we had not been fiscally prepared to hire such an experienced Rabbi to join our clergy. However, it became obvious on meeting Rabbi Pinsker that we couldn’t afford not to hire him, that this was a most unusual and fortuitous opportunity for the Congregation. How right that decision was! Rabbi Green has the support he so desperately needed, a colleague with the same kind of remarkable compassion and humanity that characterizes Rabbi Green, matched with a huge intellect and unique teaching ability, whether through religious text, poetry or film.

 

This year the two Rabbis shared the responsibilities for leading the High Holiday services, giving us the benefit and enriched experience of having a variety of great sermons to think and talk about and, hopefully, to positively shape our lives for the coming year. The Rabbis both shone—as they shine every day and every week, whether they are presiding at a funeral, leading Shabbat services, performing a wedding, or teaching us, our children or our grandchildren.

 

So as we prepare for Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, let us not forget the great lights shining from Rabbi Green and Rabbi Pinsker. Please let that light into your lives, and let us all give thanks for our good fortune to have this remarkable clergy. This is indeed something we cannot take for granted, just as we must not take our Judaism for granted.