News and Updates Clergy Corner

The release of the remaining twenty living hostages on Simchat Torah and an end to the
fighting in Gaza were an enormous relief to Jews around the world. Two years of spending time
every day contemplating the horrific suffering of the hostages in the dungeons of Gaza took a
heavy toll on each one of us. Now we can breathe easier knowing that our heroes have been
returned to their families and will receive all the care possible in their efforts to rehabilitate and
recover.

It is hard to believe the irony that the October 7th tragedies took place on Simchat Torah
two years ago, and that the last living hostages were returned to Israel two years later to the day.
We cannot help but notice the religious significance of the war starting and ending on the same
day that we complete the annual cycle of Torah reading, and then immediately begin a new
cycle. Hopefully, this new cycle will usher in a new era of peace for Israel and the entire
embattled region.

On Yom Kippur, I asked us to frame the war in terms of how we approach our own
Jewish identities. These two most arduous years have given many of us pause to consider how
we fit into the Jewish world, what our connection is to Israel, and how we manifest our Judaism
in our daily lives. To that end, I challenged the congregation to think more “Jewishly,” to make
Jewish practice a higher priority, and to feel great pride in expressing our Jewish values. I was
overjoyed when our Erev Sukkot services were so crowded that more chairs had to be brought
into the chapel. In the past, attendance was far less, and it left a bit of a wanting feeling for the
clergy following the grandeur of the High Holy Days.

In the Midrash, we learn that when court cases were held in Talmudic times, the winner
of the case was handed a palm branch as a sign of victory. The lulav that we carry today
represents the palm branch that we carry after having successfully survived the trial of the High
Holy Days. A Jew demonstrates achieving repentance on Yom Kippur by entering a Sukkah
holding a lulav a few days later. Seeing so many members carrying the lulav this year, followed
by the most inspiring Simchat Torah service I have ever attended, made me feel that our
community was moving in the direction of prioritizing thinking Jewishly, and living out our
values and mitzvot together on campus. I urge you to keep up this momentum. There are so
many wonderful opportunities coming up, including a packed Hub lineup, Beth Am, University,
Unbiased Initiatives, and so much more. Please keep the positive energy coming. And may this
new cycle of Torah usher in an era of peace and prosperity for the entire House of Israel!

L’Shalom,

Rabbi Jeremy Barras