On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, I spoke about Sukkot. Sukkot offers an incredible opportunity to bring more joy, gratitude, and inclusion into our lives. I spoke about how our sukkot tables and our congregation often don’t reflect the true diversity of our community, mentioning in particular the children of interfaith parents, Jews who are not white, and people who are struggling to put food on their tables each day.

Jews have been called the People of the Book.  The term is a translation of the Arabic Ahl al-Kitab, the Muslim category of people whose religion is based on divine revelation in the form of a book. These included people like Jews, Christians, and Zorastrians, and the Prophet Muhammed granted them a special status. 

When I was growing up, my family never built a sukkah. We were too tired. We had just taken off from work and school to attend high holiday services, and we’d prayed and repented, and fasted, and hosted people for break fast. Besides, building a sukkah was something the synagogue did and something the rabbi did, and you could go to those sukkot if you really wanted your sukkah fix.

Shana Tova, Everyone!

My name is Samantha Malott Brown, and on behalf of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue’s board of directors, I want to welcome you to this year’s High Holidays celebrations.

On behalf of our board and staff, I want to wish you a Hag Sameach! We are so glad to have you with us today! And, of course, we hope to have all of you back tomorrow for round two. 

I want to speak today about what drives us to engage with our Judaism. It’s a question many Jewish organizations are trying to answer; what are the meaningful and engaging programs that will get people through our doors?

Gut yontiff. 

So many questions preoccupy us on Yom Kippur, this day of moral inventory, of heshbon ha-nefesh, of taking stock of our souls. It's a serious business. We've got to grapple with questions of self-worth and mortality; of reflection and renewal; and, of course, of forgiveness, repentance... and hunger.