As the end of our religious school year approaches, my mind always turns to the High Holy Days. The amount of preparation required to get ready for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is astonishing, as anyone on the ritual committee or in the choir can confirm. Cantor and I need to edit and finalize orders of service, the ritual committee needs to determine and allocate honors, Cantor and the choir need to determine and rehearse prayers and musical arrangements, and, on my part, I need to write and re-write sermons. I take the sermons I deliver on the High Holy Days very seriously and this year more than ever because, dear readers, this coming High Holy Days will be my last as your spiritual leader. It hurts more than a little to acknowledge in writing like this, but the time has come. I look forward to my impeding retirement in June of 2026 with a combined sense of sadness and anticipation. Sadness that my time as your rabbi is drawing to its close, but also expectation about what the next chapter of my life will hold. Serving this congregation has been one of the greatest honors of my life yet even the best of times must eventually end. For that reason, I am particularly determined that my last High Holiday sermons with Temple Israel will be appropriate for this moment in the history of our people and meaningful for this milestone in my life and in the record of this congregation. For that reason, I am asking you to write and call me in the next two months and tell me what you want to hear about this Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. My colleagues are already asking about books to read, podcasts to listen to and ideas to consider in getting ready for the year 5786. I have eagerly followed the responses to their inquiries on social media. Now I want to hear from you! What topics would you recommend, what thought-provoking books have you read, what thinkers do you follow that would lead themselves to the themes of renewal, reflection, and repentance of the High Holy Days? Beyond that, what issues relevant to this congregation would you like to hear about? I only give four sermons during the High Holy Days so I cannot address every idea on the upcoming Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Nevertheless, I hope the answers you provide will provide a rich source of topics to explore through sermons, bulletin articles and adult learning that will last all through my last year. If you have an idea, a book, a podcast, maybe a poem or a piece of music to suggest as a topic for the upcoming High Holy Days, please contact me at my Temple email (rabbi@templeisraelsiny.org) or at the Temple (718-727-2231). Your concerns and ideas matter to me and I am eager to hear from you! Kol tuv, all the best from my family to yours! | 
