By Steve Guggenheim
The Jewish High Holidays are late this year, with Rosh Hashanah beginning Oct. 2. Some years they come around Labor Day, but such are the vagaries of the Jewish calendar. The High Holidays are considered the holiest of the Jewish year.
But what do the holidays mean to Beth El Rabbi Jay Kornsgold and Cantor Larry Brandspiegel?
Rabbi Kornsgold says they are a time of reflection – an opportunity to look at our lives, what we like and what we don’t. It’s a yearly check-up he says, an opportunity to see where our relationships are. Tradition says God won’t take care of us on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur if we don’t take care of ourselves. He says we must make sure our relationships are where they should be and the new year that starts with Rosh Hashanah is a time to do that.
He says it’s different each year for him since like everyone else there are good years and bad and these holidays are a time to reflect and move forward.
For Cantor Brandspiegel the High Holidays are a time of rejuvenation. Mr. Brandspiegel, who also is Beth El’s education director, says you feel crazed at the start of the school year and the holidays are an opportunity to start something new. He says they provide a sense of hope.
Mr. Brandspiegel says the spirituality of the liturgy is amazing. He is moved by the idea that poets took an opportunity to express their feelings through music, which can have an impact through the year. The cantor says the High Holidays give us a time to reflect and try something different. He takes part of his beliefs from a German Jewish educator, whose philosophy was not to make change, but to enhance what we have already and to build on the foundation we have.
He says a lot of people find ritual a burden but it doesn’t have to be that way. The cantor says it’s a tribute to Beth El that people from all over come to the synagogue. He says we at Beth El like to think we do it differently, and that raises his spirituality.
One of the prayers closest to Cantor Brandspiegel is Hineni, which he recites as he walks down the center aisle. It is an emotionally charged prayer where he talks to God as the synagogue’s emissary. He says it’s his opportunity to really inspire people, that he needs to make a connection to find spirituality for the congregation.
Rabbi Kornsgold says when the cantor is reciting the prayer it is a powerful moment since the prayer leader is bearing his soul. He says it puts him in a mood of solemnity and gives him a better focus on the prayers he is about to lead.
Most meaningful during the holidays to the rabbi are two things. First is the blowing of the shofar, or the ram’s horn, because it says a symbol of moving forward. He also says it’s fascinating to watch the little kids, who are mesmerized by this aspect of the service. Secondly, he says, the Neilah service, the end of Yom Kippur, is very meaningful to him as we have spent more than a day in prayer that is now ending.
What is most touching to Cantor Brandspiegel is the evening service that follows Neilah. It is the first service of the new year and our first chance in the new year to ask God to forgive us for sins that could have occurred in those few short moments between the two prayers. With that, he says, we again climb the staircase to find a better way for ourselves.
Rabbi Kornsgold says running three long days of services can be challenging since there are so many moving parts. He thinks about the holidays year round, but says the two months prior are when planning is very intense.
The Rabbi says people generally react each year in the same way to the prayers. He says what’s most important for people is to find a niche that works for them – whether it’s all of the prayers, some of them, the alternate selections in the prayer book, or the commentary. If they find that spirituality in two hours or five hours doesn’t matter, as long as they find it.
