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Dear Adat Ari El Families,

Tonight we will gather together as one community to celebrate Shabbat Under the Stars.  There will be music, food, prayer, and dancing, but most importantly, there will be a Kehillah Kedosha, a holy community.  It's not the prayer that makes us a holy community, but the people in it.  When we introduce ourselves to someone new and invite them to sit down with us or we share some of the delicious food that we brought, that is what makes this kehillah holy.

In addition to this evening, we will have a number of opportunities in the coming months to embrace this beautiful community of ours in meaningful, fun, and spiritual ways:

Kol Nidrei & Yom Kippur

This Tuesday evening, the Jewish community will join together in praying Kol Nidrei (all vows).  Kol Nidrei serves as an introduction to Yom Kippur (day of atonement).  Kol Nidrei has a fascinating history as a legal ritual.  The Jewish people were often persecuted for being Jewish and forced to adopt a new religion.  The Kol Nidrei prayer serves as a legal ritual to annul the Jewish people of any vows that they have made.  Only after the Kol Nidrei prayer was recited were those Jewish people who had converted to other religions allowed to rejoin the Jewish faith.

While the need to annul ourselves of forced conversion is no longer as prevalent a threat, there are other aspects of our life from which we need to be separated. Whether it be behaving badly, fighting with friends or loved ones, or loosening our moral virtues, Kol Nidrei is a good warm up for us to enter Yom Kippur ready to say “we will be better”.

Shabbaton

In just SEVEN short weeks, we will meet at Camp Ramah in Ojai to spend the weekend reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones at the third annual Adat Ari El Day School Family Retreat!  It promises to be a really fun weekend with opportunities for adults to have some time to connect child free with other adults and the children to make some really great memories. We hope that you are able to join us, and if you have not signed up yet, please make sure that you do soon!

For those who are fasting, have an easy tzoom (fast).

G'Mar Chatimah Tova - May you be inscribed in the book of life!

Shabbat Shalom,

Eric