Dear Friends,

The High Holy Days invite us to open what has become closed within us and journey from isolation to community, from fear to resilience, from narrowness to expansiveness. This year a line from our Yom Kippur liturgy particularly resonates:

P’tach lanu sha’ar — Open the gates for each of us. Open the gates for all of us.

We arrive at this season together, each of us carrying our own individual joys and heartaches, hopes and disappointments, convictions and questions. Many of us are grappling with what it means to live Jewish lives in America at this particular moment. Some of us seek reassurance about Israel and Jewish security. Others seek to find their unique place within our TI community. Underlying our varied experiences is a shared longing: to know the gates of our community are open wide enough for each of us to enter fully, safely, and authentically.

As we gather for these Days of Awe at our shared Jewish home, may we open the gates wide enough to welcome our entire vibrant and radiantly diverse community. Together, may we enter this new Jewish year 5787 with compassion, hope, and a profound sense of belonging to one another. 

L’shanah tovah,

Your TI Clergy Team

Rabbi Michael S. Friedman, Cantor Julia Cadrain, Rabbi Zachary A. Plesent, Rabbi Elana Nemitoff-Bresler, Cantor Becky Mann, and Rabbi Lily Goldstein