Thank you to everyone who prayed with us on Rosh HaShanah, and we hope to see all of you on our upcoming Yom Kippur services. At the head of the new year, 5776, we wish to express our gratitude to each of you for your active and ongoing involvement and investment in your Jewish spiritual home and community. To everyone who has volunteered, offered their talent, time and money—or in many cases all three—to further our mission and vision of growing, learning, caring, practicing Judaism and engaging in tikkun olam together to support all of our members in fulfilling their life purposes—thank you.

Please consider giving a special High Holy Day donation to further support that Mission in the new year. The Days of Awe are an auspicious time in our calendar, the time when giving tzedakah (righteous giving), doing teshuva (repenting and returning to the root of our souls) and engaging in tefillah (prayer) have extra power and urgency. According to the liturgy of the High Holy Days, these three acts are the only things truly in our control to ensure a life of goodness and blessing.

Please give generously to Temple Sinai in this season.

From me, your rabbi, and all the members of the Temple Sinai Board, on behalf of the whole community, we wish you a good year, full of meaning. Why do we say “To a good new year! – l’shanah tovah” rather than “To a happy new year!” –Because for Jews, goodness is more important than happiness, and in goodness is included a search for meaning and connection. This search for meaning is the prerequisite for true happiness. May your new year abound in goodness and meaning, connection and peace.

L’shanah tovah and G’mar chatimah tovah, (May you finish and be sealed for a good new year!)

Rabbi Bair

P.S. Yesterday morning, I arrived to Temple Sinai to see that our Black Lives Matter banner had been clipped off of our Temple Sinai sign and stolen. This made me extremely sad, that someone in our neighborhood would do this. Please know we are putting up a replacement, and together with Rev. Neal Anderson, of the UUFNN (whose sign was also stolen a few days before) we will be renewing calls for fellow Reno congregations to place a BLM sign outside their buildings, in solidarity. We cannot allow ignorant and/or hateful people or oppressive societal systems to intimidate us into losing heart or worse, becoming apathetic to injustice. The prophet Isaiah will remind us of this on Yom Kippur.