Dear Friends:
This morning, various brief notes as we move towards Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur:
Selichot: Next Saturday night we will join with several other Conservative congregations for a Selichot service and program at Shaare Tefila in Olney. We will begin with Havdalah at 8:30, followed by a high ranking speaker from the Embassy of Israel and Q & A, with the service at 9:30.
Procedures for aliyot and other honors: If you have been honored with an aliyah (which specifically means reciting the blessings before and after the Torah reading), you have the option of saying the blessings from your seat or coming up to the Reader’s Desk. If you choose to come up to the Reader’s Desk, please take a rapid COVID test (and receive a negative reading) that morning. If you have been honored with an Ark opening or an English reading, you are not required to take a COVID test. This year all honors must be done in person.
Calling all Kohanim and Levi’im: If you are a Kohen or a Levi and you have not previously participated in the ceremony of Birkat Kohanim (the Priestly Blessing during Musaf) you are invited and encouraged to do so. If you don’t know what to do during this ceremony, please contact me and I will instruct you. In our egalitarian congregation, this ritual may be performed by both men and women. You are considered a Kohen if your father was a Kohen and your mother was Jewish (by birth or conversion) at the time of your birth. You are considered a Levi if your father was a Levi and your mother was Jewish (by birth or conversion) at the time of your birth. If you are uncertain of your status as a Kohen or Levi, please contact me and we can discuss it.
Calling all Shofar blowers: if you know how to sound the Shofar well enough to do it during a service and are willing to do so this Rosh Hashanah, please contact me (preferably by email) to volunteer.
Tickets and security: Please get your ticket requests into the office if you have not already done so. While the security personnel will have a list of members and of non-member ticket holders, the necessity of checking and finding your name on the list will delay others who are waiting to enter. It is highly recommended that you bring your physical ticket.
As a reminder, I am having drop-in hours on Thursday afternoons from 2 to 4 at the shul. For my drop-in hours, you do not need to make an appointment -- that would negate the whole point of drop-in hours -- but I’d urge you to check and make sure I am there regardless as sometimes there are unavoidable pastoral or other emergencies which might take me away from the building.
As always, if I can do anything for you or you need to talk, please contact me at rabbi@kehilatshalom.org or 301-977-0768 rather than through the synagogue office. I am happy to meet you at the synagogue by appointment; if you want to speak with me it’s best to make an appointment rather than assuming I will be there when you stop by.
Additionally, if you know of a Kehilat Shalom congregant or another member of our Jewish community who could use a phone call, please let me know.
L’shalom,
Rabbi Charles L. Arian
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