Dear JCOGS family,
A couple of administrative notes: - I’ll be here for services tonight at 6PM. Please join us in person or online! Next week, April 21, Rabbi Jan Salzman leads services. April 28, our own Dov Schiller will lead.
- Starting tomorrow, I will be out of the office until May 1. Beth Liberman, director of education, will be out of the office until April 30.
- The office will be open these next two weeks. If you need anything, including for rabbinic or pastoral emergencies, be in touch at jcogs@jcogs.org or 802-253-1800.
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Nesiah tova. These are the words that so many people have been wishing me this week. Translated from the Hebrew as “travel good,” these are caring words that mean: “have a safe, wonderful trip.”
JCOGS is embarking on a journey like never before: the Greater Stowe Holy Land Interfaith Journey to Israel. This no less for Israel’s 75th day of independence. Forty participants from JCOGS, St. John’s in the Mountains, and the Stowe Community Church are going to visit the seat of holiness for our respective traditions. I’m taking you all with me in my heart!
Please bookmark this website and visit it often, as we will be uploading daily updates on our travels:
https://stjohnsinthemountains.org/greaterstoweinterfaithtriptotheholyland
The truth is, though, that each of us is on a journey. Having made our way out of slavery on Pesach/Passover, the question is: what are we going towards? In the words of Nina Beth Cardin, captured in our Siddur Lev Shalem prayerbook: “For the Jews, freedom is just the beginning. It is the prerequisite, not the goal. The goal leads through the ethical to the spiritual: to serve G-d willingly instead of Pharaoh forcibly, to be part of the sacred instead of the mundane, to be joined to the ultimate instead of the finite.”
These words point us towards the holiday of Shavuot, the third of three pilgrimage festivals, where our ancestors would visit Jerusalem to offer their sacrifices to G-d. Shavuot is also the holiday where we receive the Torah.
What journey are you heading on? What wisdom are you preparing yourself to receive?
So, when you say nesiah tova, please share your wishes for all of us on this sacred journey ahead.
Tihiyu bri’im, may you be healthy. Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi David |
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