Beineinu - October 2025

The days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the most spiritually demanding stretch of the Jewish year. It’s not a time for performative guilt or pious resolutions. The work is deeper than that. These days call us to honesty. To reckon with our behavior, to speak plainly with the people we’ve hurt, and to stop pretending we don’t notice what’s broken.

The liturgy says, “On Rosh Hashanah it is written, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed.” It’s easy to hear those words as a threat. I don’t think they are. I think they’re a reminder that time matters. Those choices have consequences. That delaying what must be said or done comes at a cost. The gates are open now. Not forever. Right after Yom Kippur, we begin building. That’s Judaism’s way. We tear ourselves open on Yom Kippur and then go build a hut with shaky walls. The sukkah is a declaration of faith. It says: I will rejoice in the life I have, even when it feels temporary. I will celebrate with others under the stars, even after I’ve been in the dark.

We call our ancestors into the sukkah—Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Miriam—not to pretend they’re ghosts, but to remind ourselves that we’re part of something larger. That Jewish life continues through courage, memory, and commitment. That we are not alone.

That truth becomes tangible at the end of October when Brynn Harsin becomes Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, November 1st. Brynn’s Torah portion, Lekh Lekha, tells of Abraham setting out to a path God would show him. That’s what Brynn is doing, too. She’s stepping into responsibility, into leadership, into Jewish adulthood. And she’s doing it here, among us.

We have a part to play in that moment: to show up. To affirm her place in our people’s story. To be the kind of congregation where Jewish children grow into Jewish adults who still want to be here. This is what it means to build a sukkah: not just with branches and beams, but with each other.

I hope to see you at services, in the sukkah, and at Brynn’s simchah. May we move from awe to joy, and may the year ahead be one of integrity and strength.

L’shalom, Rabbi Sam Stern