We met together in person for the first time since March of 2020, for a full shabbaton. Being together was delightful, and yes, we sang every song that needs rounds or harmonies to be its full self.

Our liturgy, always, in July, focused around the image of berries and ripeness and sweetness, can be found here.

Usually the liturgy we read each month about consequences is quite serious, but in July we read a piece that is sweet and hilarious and full of the wisdom of raspberries, Ellie Schoenfeld’s “Interview with God.” It’s from her collection “The Dark Honey: New & Used Poems.” You should have a copy – buy it from her local bookstore via Bookshop.org.

For our torah study, and afternoon discussion, we began digging into Rabbi Toba Spitzer’s work on re-covering images of divinity. Her book, “God Is Here,” opens by sharing teachings about how all language, and especially spiritual language, is grounded in metaphor. Jewish tradition is really thousands of years of our ancestors creatively struggling with language to describe their experiences of connecting to the divine, and so is a treasure trove of wisdom beyond king, ruler, judge, etc. We’ll be talking about this for several months! Read an essay introducing her work here, and then buy the book!

Our next service is our yearly Erev Shabbat, on Friday night, August 18th. We’ll be on zoom again, and start at 7 pm. In September we’ll be meeting on Shabbat Shuvah, September 23rd, also via zoom and starting at 10 am. This will be a shabbat morning service using high holiday themes.

If you live in the North East and are looking for High Holiday services, consider Mending Minyan in New Haven, CT. For the High Holidays, they meet in the Palestine History Museum in Woodbridge, CT. I’ll be going up there for Yom Kippur and would love to see you!