Dear Friends: I
was never very skilled in languages and only learned as I prepared this
message that “mignon” is the French word for “cute,” as in “filet
mignon.” But what about the word “minyan?” The Hebrew word “minyan”
refers to ten adult Jews who are required for public prayer according to
Jewish tradition. Note that these adults need not have celebrated the
occasion of becoming an adult (at age 13) through a Bar or Bat Mitzvah
ceremony to be included in the headcount. And note also that we
continue to worship together even without a minyan – there just are
certain prayers (Kaddish, Boruchu, Torah reading from a scroll) that we
reserve for those occasions when we have a minyan.
What does
“minyan” have to do with voting, however? “Minyan” is related to the
word for “count” and also to the word for “vote.” And in that sense,
when we attend a worship service, when we help make up a minyan, we are
casting our vote. I incorporated this thought in my Erev Rosh HaShanah
sermon and have been preparing an extended talk on voting from the
Jewish text perspective.
The High Holidays themselves were a
mixed blessing this year. Although I spent many hours in my
office/closet in our apartment rather than in a synagogue with others
present, it was a treat to have relatives and friends from outside the
Jewish Center of the Moriches (JCM) participating with us. In addition
to the regular services, we Zoomed children’s activities on Rosh
HaShanah and Yom Kippur, including a skit performed by a dozen budding
thespians. JCM did hold a few in-person events (a pre-High Holiday
presentation, a memorial/kever avot ceremony at the cemetery, shofar
blowing and tashlich at the canal near the shul). And I officiated at
both a funeral and a wedding over the past few months. For my JCM
congregants I’m planning on carving out some live office hours if
there’s interest. But most of my rabbi-ing has been remote – conducting
weekly Friday night services with JCM, leading Torah discussions for
HaMakom in Santa Fe, reading from a chumash for Temple Israel in
Riverhead, and leading services for my Dad’s Yahrzeit at Temple Beth-El
in Patchogue.
Just as one can attend services either remotely or
in person at many shuls, so, too, one can vote either in person or by
mail-in ballot. The important thing is to VOTE, and to get everyone you
know to vote as well. Let’s all help make a national minyan on
November 3!
B’shalom, Rabbi Jack
Last quarter’s reading list, with highlights denoted by an asterisk*
Out of My Later Years – Albert Einstein Jews on Broadway – Stewart Lane Siberia – Abraham Sutzkever They Changed the World: People of the Manhattan Project – aj Melnick The Miracle of Intervale Avenue* – Jack Kugelmass Living a Meaningful Life Without Purpose* – Gershon Winkler My Uncle the Netziv – Baruch HaLevi Epstein Three Times Chai – Laney Katz Becker Jerome Robbins: A Life in Dance** – Wendy Lesser Rosh Hashanah Readings – ed. Dov Peretz Elkins Sparks of Mussar – Chaim Ephraim Zaitchik God of Becoming and Relationship – Bradley Shavit Artson The Great Escape* – Kati Marton
