Hear Our Voice

To listen to Rabbi Scott's blog, click HERE.

If you follow my blog, you know that I was in Israel last month. You also probably know that Israel abounds with technology. So much of the technology that we use every single day, including our smart phones were invented by Israeli tech pioneers.

When you arrive in Israel, you must make sure that you download at least two apps for getting around: Gett and Moovit. Gett is the Israeli version of Uber and Moovit is for how to get anywhere using public transportation, including light rail, buses, bikes,
scooters, and your own feet. And like most apps, unless and until I turn them off, I am regularly receiving their push notifications about discounts and other services long after I have returned home. Not very helpful to me while I am driving down Richmond, but I generally leave them on for months. Just makes me feel a little bit closer to Zion.

There’s a relatively new app that I downloaded this time around that I had never downloaded before. The Red Alert App. This is just one of many apps that have developed and grown since at least October 7, 2023. Every few days, I get these beep
notices that say things like, “Hostile Aircraft Intrusion: Eilat,” which are real time alarms of incoming missiles and drones and other kinds of offensive attacks aimed at Israel. These days, they almost entirely come from Yemen, by the hand of the Houthis. There’s been a joke amongst Israelis that because of the relative failure rate of the Houthi’s technology and the almost perfect success rate of Israel’s Iron Dome, when they learn that these “Tzeva Adoms” are about attacks from the Houthis, they don’t generally run to their maamads (safe rooms) in response.

But occasionally the Houthis do succeed. Like this morning when a missile hit the entrance of a hotel in Eilat. At present, there are no reports of casualties, but that’s preliminary.

I share this with you today because we have a far safer but intense Tzeva Adom on the horizon: Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It is not one that should cause us to hide, rather it is one that should cause us to show up in droves.

Millenial survival against all odds (the story of the Jews) isn’t at all the only reason we should observe our rituals and traditions, but it’s a good start. Showing up, inviting ourselves into the moment, freeing ourselves from only rational measures of the
successes and failures of our lives is what we are called to, and especially because we can do so without fear of missiles and rockets raining down on us, I ask you to not only bring your bodies to our Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe), but don’t forget your minds, and souls, memories, and imagination.

CSK’s High Holy Days will be “sending” you push notifications to remind us all that we are engaged in matters of serious import – who we are, who we wish to be, how we wish to be remembered, and the legacies we build for the generations to come.

Join us. Not only do you already belong, but you will be missing if you’re not here.