Rooted in Community, Grounded in Faith

 

Where do we turn when the world feels unmoored? When illness visits our home uninvited, when we lose someone we love, when a job disappears or a family relationship fractures, where do we go? And beyond our own private struggles, where do we find our footing when the news brings fresh anxiety before we've processed the last, when antisemitic rhetoric grows louder, when uncertainty about Israel's security keeps us awake at night, when the political landscape feels like shifting sand beneath our feet? Where do we look to for spiritual connection and comfort? 

 

We go home.

 

I want to share an image that, admittedly, belongs to a holiday that happens after Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Sukkot. The sukkah, the intentionally fragile, open-roofed structure we build each fall, seems at first an unlikely symbol of stability. And yet our tradition asks us to dwell in it, not merely admire it from a distance. The rabbis understood something counterintuitive.  They understood that true grounding doesn't come from impenetrable walls, but from knowing who sits beside you inside them.

 

That is what Midbar Kodesh Temple is to me. It is our sukkah; it is our home, not despite its intimacy and vulnerability, but because of it. A kehillah, a community bound not by geography alone but by shared memory, shared values, and a shared commitment to showing up for one another.

 

As we approach these Yamim Noraim, these Days of Awe, I invite you to lean into that belonging. Come home, and let the ancient words hold you. Let the melodies carry what words cannot. Let the people around you remind you that you are not navigating this world alone. Find yourself rooted in community and grounded in faith.

 

On behalf of Susan and me, we wish everyone a Shanah Tovah U'Metukah, a happy, healthy, and sweet New Year.

 

Shanah Tovah Umetukah,

Rabbi Bradley Tecktiel