Hear Our Voice

Ah, Houston freeways in the summer. Yes, it’s true they are often filled with delayed or postponed public works projects, and it can get so hot that the path in front of us seems to shimmer as if it were melting. But it is a nice surprise to find a whole lot less traffic, with thousands fewer school carpools and busses schlepping kids from here to there! It is a sight when a Houstonian experiences emotional uplift upon witnessing no traffic when it is expected! It can cause us to imagine all sorts of other possibilities, as elusive as they may seem: Lower cost electrical bills, car tires that magically last an additional 5000 miles, or a surprise tax refund!

What does summertime inspire me to think of? Yep, you guessed it! Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. As the prima donna from “Phantom of the Opera” declared, “These things don’t just happen!” The High Holy Days are approaching and thus, I have three requests/suggestions for you:

1. Email me to let me know if you would like to play a small part during the High Holy Days. We need people to lead and/or read English and Hebrew texts at services. We also need volunteers to help with event coordination, event organization, ushering, etc.
2. Start a hand-written or digital journal that focuses you daily or weekly on developing for yourself a means of remembering the events of the past year and your hopes and dreams for the coming year.
3. Read the following passage about Teshvuah (Repentance) and Forgiveness. If you write a response and email it to me, we’ll post it anonymously on our website:

Prayer Before the Prayer

I want to be willing to forgive

But I dare not ask for the will to forgive

In case you give it to me

And I am not yet ready

I am not yet ready for my heart to soften

I am not yet ready to be vulnerable again

Not yet ready to see that there is humanity in my tormentor’s eyes

Or that the one who hurt me may also have cried

I am not yet ready for the journey

I am not yet interested in the path

I am at the prayer before the prayer of forgiveness

Grant me the will to want to forgive

Grant it to me not yet but soon

 

Can I even form the words,

Forgive me?

Dare I even look?

Do I dare to see the hurt that I have caused?

I can glimpse all the shattered pieces of that fragile thing

That soul trying to rise on the broken wings of hope

But only out of the corner of my eye

I am afraid of it

And if I am afraid to see

How can I not be afraid to say,

Forgive me?

 

Is there a place where we can meet?

You and me

The place in the middle

The no man’s land

Where we straddle the lines

Where you are right

And I am right too

And both of us are wrong and wronged

Can we meet there?

And look for the place where the path begins

The path that ends when we forgive.

 

Events for the Week of 7/8/2019

• Friday Evening Shabbat & Oneg - Friday, July 12 - More Info
• CSK Women's Brunch - Sunday, July 13 - More Info (Reservations Closed)
• Kosher Pretzel Yoga - Saturday July 27 - More Info
• 2^nd Annual Astros Jewish Community Day - Sunday, August 25 - More Info + Get Tickets