High Holiday Musings

One of my favorite parts of our High Holiday services is looking out and seeing how many families are sitting together. In our congregation parents and children, as well as grandparents, sit together. Although we provide babysitting for our really young children it is refreshing to see entire families sitting together. It is a wonderful site to behold, seeing generations of Jews together for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, seeing young children sitting on their parent's laps. In most synagogues there are adult services and children services. Here at JCB there is only one service--for everyone. That is the way it should be. I am proud of the young people in our congregation who not only participate in the reading of the Haftarah but also sit and participate from their seats. I believe their singing and praying is more important than my own. I was especially pleased to discover how many of our young people listened to my sermons and were comfortable discussing and debating their points. In Confirmation Class we continued the discussion started on Yom Kippur about abortion rights. These young people are our future. May we always sing and pray together!