Month: August 2026

The שופר/Shofar is the essence of the holiday of ראש השנה/Rosh Hashana. Many of us can recall from childhood the moments when we watched and listened in amazement to the sounds of the שופר. The תלמוד/Talmud in tractate ראש השנה, teaches two very important lessons about the שופר and also about the concepts of the day, including תשובה/Teshuvah/Repentance. On pages 26a and 26b we find two disconnected ideas and two very important symbols of the day.

The first is a conversation about which animals’ horns we’re allowed to use to make a שופר. The conversation centers around not being allowed to use the horn of a bull. The rabbis ask all sorts of questions about this and eventually they come to the realization that the prosecutor cannot become the defender. That is their rationale. This sounds a bit obscure, but then they reference that the כהן גדול/Kohen Gadol/High Priest was forbidden to enter the קודש הקודשים/Kodesh HaKodeshim/The Holy of Holies on יום כיפור/Yom Kippur while wearing his gold clothes. The reason is the same as the cow horn – they are both reminders of our great sin as a people when we built and worshipped the עגל הזהב/Egel HaZahav/Golden Calf. The cow horn as a שופר and the gold clothes are both seen as reminders of what we’ve done wrong in the past and so we didn’t use those items on the day we were most intently praying for our ability to change and be forgiven.

A bit later in this passage we find a discussion about different שופרs, specifically the rabbis were debating ones that are bent and those that are straight. They asserted that we need to use bent ones on ראש השנה as we are bending our minds and our bodies to repent and to work on improving. We’re humbled at that moment and the שופר we use is meant to remind us of that humbleness. On יום כיפור we use a straight one so we can conclude the ten days of repentance and have our minds and posture straightened.

These two conversations about the physical שופר itself, paint a picture of the vision of doing תשובה: we need to confront the bad, but we cannot allow it to intrude on us now. We must leave it behind and in the past. To think of the cow as a reminder of the low point in Jewish history when we betrayed God and ourselves, is to remind us we’re not defined by the low points. We cannot judge ourselves, or others, based on their worst day.

The idea of utilizing a bent שופר to remind us of our posture on ראש השנה as being bent and humbled, is something to also remind us of the process of תשובה. When we accept that we’ve done wrong, we’re humble and recognize we have fixing to do. A person who’s ruled by pride is unable to fully see the person in the mirror and recognize places where they need to make changes. The person who’s ruled by ego does not begin to change because, in their eyes, you cannot change/fix perfection. The שופר and the act of תשובה push us in the opposite direction: to humbly recognize we all have work to do.

This year, ראש השנה falls on a weekend. This is a great opportunity for us to be more mindful of the two days of ראש השנה. For too many generations certain groups of Jews of the diaspora have wrongly asserted that ראש השנה is a one-day holiday since it is a one-day holiday in Israel. The problem with this assertion is it’s factually false: ראש השנה was established as a two-day celebration universally in Israel and in the diaspora. There’s no difference between the two. When ראש השנה falls on a שבת/Shabbat, we are unable to sound the שופר, which means we only sound it on the non שבת day – Sunday. This year, we’ll only be able to fulfill the commandment of the שופר on the second day of the holiday. I hope to be able to celebrate with even more of our congregants this year so we can fulfill this beautiful and sacred tradition together. For those of you who are curious about how often this has happened in your lifetime, our Ritual Team put together this website to calculate the number of times. Please click here to see how many times in your lifetime the שופר has been silenced by שבת. I hope you’ll come to OVS on the second day of Rosh Hashana this year to hear it.

The fifth chapter of the רמב”ם/Rambam’s laws of repentance, found in the משנה תורה/Mishneh Torah, opens with a profoundly necessary statement of reality: “permission is given to every person: if he wants to incline himself to the good path and be righteous – it is within his domain. And if he wants to incline himself to the bad path and be bad – it is within his domain.” The רמב”ם offers support for this from the תורה/Torah and the story of the creation of the world. Eating from the tree of knowledge of good and bad made humans unique in the world. As humans, we have the ability to make choices regarding our actions and can discern if they’re good or bad. All other creations act on animal instinct and don’t decide to do things because they are good or bad – humans alone have that ability. The רמב”ם goes on to make an even more powerful assertion in the second law of the fifth chapter: “Do not let it pass your thoughts this thing held by the fools of the nations and the undeveloped amongst the Jews that God decrees when a person is formed if the person will be righteous or wicked. This is not right, rather every single person is fit to be righteous or wicked, merciful or cruel… nobody (God included) compels a person to be anything but rather the person chooses which path they want to go on.”

There is a lot contained in that passage. The רמב”ם, with these key sentences, has just gone to battle with predetermination, destiny and so much more. What he’s doing most importantly is doing away with anyone’s ability to say they’re not responsible. We all bear responsibility for our actions, be they good or bad. We all must accept that we’re the ones making our choices and we’re the ones achieving or failing. At home, Galit will sometimes tell us that her legs made her do something wrong or made her say something. What does she mean by this? In her six-year-old language, she’s trying to assert a powerlessness she had in whatever happened. “The legs acted on their own.” But the legs didn’t and our actions and words don’t act on their own either. Each of us must step forward to accept that we’re responsible for good and bad. Each of us must make the hard decision to acknowledge that God made us with free will, and free will sometimes means we do things we’re not proud of. This also means each of us is constantly engaged in the hard process of determining which path is the right one to walk down. We’re constantly confronted with choices to make. We make those choices the best we can, and hope they’re the right ones.

In a world where we all too often feel powerless, it’s nice to know we can reclaim our power. In a world where we’re all too often led astray by external forces, it’s nice to know we have the power within ourselves to choose, to move away from those forces. In a world plagued by people who choose to do bad things, it’s nice to know we live in a world where the possibility and opportunity to repent and do תשובה/Teshuvah/Return exists so we change our ways in the future.

Today is ראש חודש/Rosh Chodesh, the day when the new month begins. This is a two-day ראש חודש which means today is actually the last day of the concluding month, אב/Av, while tomorrow is first day of the new month, אלול/Elul. אלול is the last month of the year and it’s one that’s set aside for deep introspection and preparation. It’s the beginning of the end of the year, which means we’re meant to spend time this month preparing for the new year.

The preparation we do during אלול isn’t merely meant for the holidays of ראש השנה/Rosh Hashana and יום כיפור/Yom Kippur – it’s meant to be for the year. When I work with couples as they prepare for their wedding, I spend a lot of time explaining why we shouldn’t be preparing for a one day ceremony so much as preparing for the rest of their lives… the marriage. That’s the purpose of preparing in אלול.

It’s not about the holidays so much as it’s about the year ahead. In order to prepare, it’s essential we look ahead while looking back. We need to reflect on the year that’s ending and make peace with the past. This process is called תשובה/Teshuva/repentance, but repentance is not the exact translation of the word, it actually means to return. This dual use of the word brings us to a deeper understanding of the idea of repenting. It means to return to who we were before making mistakes and to return to who we are naturally meant to be. We’re not sinful but we sin. We’re not bad but we do bad things. We’re not wrong but we do wrong things. If all these actions are aberrations, then we can look in the mirror and see the beautiful person looking back at us who’s trying to do their best while inevitably making mistakes.

Over the next month, I want to look at a variety of texts regarding the art of תשובה. For today, I want to begin with the most widely read source on תשובה, the writing of the רמב”ם/Rambam in his משנה תורה/Mishneh Torah, his code of Jewish Law. He opens his laws of תשובה with a statement that “all of the commandments in the תורה/Torah, whether they are positive or negative, if a person transgresses one of them, whether intentionally or unintentionally, when the person does תשובה and returns from their sin they are obligated to confess their sin before God”. It’s not enough to simply stop the sin or bad actions, it must be matched with a confession. We’re obligated to not merely improve, but to have intention in doing so. By this I mean we can all change and do better, and we need to spend time reflecting on and recognizing what we’ve done wrong and what we want to do better. By confessing and not just changing, we’re backing up our actions with words and our words with actions.

As we work our way through our תשובה, let us each take a moment to see where changes can and need to be made, and begin to make those changes, intentionally and with open hearts ready to embrace the new year ahead and a better future.

As summer is winding down and kids are heading back to school, it’s time to launch our next year. Every August we spend a lot of time getting ready for the next Jewish year and all we can look forward to doing together. Without a doubt, one of the highlights for this upcoming year will be the 50^th OVS Sisterhood Hanukkah Bazaar. It’s something I look forward to every year as we shine and enjoy our heritage and traditions. I’m also excited for the upcoming holidays and enjoying services with you. This year we are happy to announce we’ll be offering more at our weekly Shabbat morning services. We are looking forward to having our Kavanah services twice a month along with youth Shabbat services. Those will be on the first and third Shabbats each month unless something else, a holiday or a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, is happening. The other two Shabbats of the month will also be special. One of them will include a guest speaker at services and the other will be a themed Shabbat. The first is on August 29 and it will be a Jewish Summer Camp Shabbat service. If you’re a Jewish Summer Camp camper or an alumni, this Shabbat is for you.

Please contact me at rabbi.hearshen@orveshalom.org with the name of the camp and years you went there so we acknowledge it during the service. We’ll have a camp-style Shabbat lunch following services. We invite you to show your camp pride and wear your camp shirt.

Jewish Summer Camp has been transformational to the Jewish world of today. A largely disproportionate number of Jews who are engaged in Jewish life today trace their engagement back to their days at summer camp. The impact it makes on our Jewish world is something we should all celebrate.

We are excited to invite your family to join Building Blocks Sunday School, where Jewish learning comes to life in a warm, engaging, and hands-on environment.

At Building Blocks, children explore Judaism through Hebrew, Jewish holidays and traditions, Israeli culture, music, art, baking, games, and meaningful experiences that help build a lifelong connection to their Jewish identity. Hebrew reading is taught at each child’s individual level, allowing every student to grow with confidence and success.

We welcome children in the following age groups:

– Ages 2–4
– Kindergarten–2nd Grade
– 3rd–5th Grade

Our goal is to create a joyful community where every child feels welcomed, valued, and excited to learn.

Registration is now open, and we would love to welcome your family to Building Blocks. Click here to sign up.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about our program, please scroll down for details or feel free to contact me at chana.mayer@orveshalom.org.

Warmly,

Chana Mayer
Director of Education