Shaliach Tzibbur Lily Lucey’s sermon for Rosh Hashanah Day 2, 2023/5784 

After Selichot services last week, I was talking with Morah Lilly– no, not me, although I do talk to myself sometimes!  No– the Morah Lilly who is one of the amazing and loving teachers that we are so fortunate to have working in our preschool here at Shomrei.  During our conversation, Lilly happened to tell a story about our equally wonderful custodian, Carlos, who was at home with the children at the time while she was running the babysitting room here at Shomrei.  (Yes, I did ask their permission to tell this story, although as it’s secondhand I’m paraphrasing their exact words.)  Lilly told me that Carlos, while at home, had just sent her a photo of a lightbulb.  She was baffled as to why he would send her a picture of a lightbulb and somewhat annoyed as she was hoping he might be doing something useful at home during his time off.   He replied: But this is the lightbulb that has been out in the pantry at home for three years!  I thought you would be happy to see that I changed it!   Continue reading →

Elul Message from Guest Prayer Leader Talia Lakritz

The Unetaneh Tokef melody that we sang together on Rosh Hashanah and we’ll sing again on Yom Kippur was composed by Israeli songwriter Yair Rosenblum, inspired by a kibbutz’s heavy losses during the Yom Kippur War. In 1990, Rosenblum visited Kibbutz Beit Hashita in northern Israel, which lost 11 members during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. During his visit, he was inspired to write this melody to Unetaneh Tokef and stayed up all night composing it. The tune is unique in that it contains Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and modern Israeli musical influences. Continue reading →

When I first arrived in the US, after having lived in Israel and Japan,  I was exposed to a new work environment and culture. The transition from the academic world to the business (and later nonprofit) world posed a few challenges.I was very lucky to find support from our community in the form of Jewish Vocational Service.  JVS helped me and others, Jews and non-Jews, to navigate a complex world of employment. Continue reading →