Why Do You Go To Synagogue?

 Last week I asked you to consider the abiding message and meaning of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: to remember that many aspects of our lives change from year to year but our values and beliefs abide as the cornerstones of our Jewish identity. This week I ask you to consider something else, something much more personal, something only you can answer: why do you go to the synagogue? You may think I am kidding but I mean it- why do you attend services on Rosh Hashanah and/or Yom Kippur? For those who attend shul regularly it might not be so important but if you are one of those “three-day-a-year Jews” I ask you to think about that question very seriously.

Don’t make excuses- don’t say someone makes you go; don’t say you will feel guilty if you don’t. Oh, and don’t say it’s the perfect way to spend a day away from work. Joking aside, admit that there is something in your heart and soul that makes you feel that you should be there. Don’t fight that feeling- be proud of it! That feeling is your Jewish “instinct” telling you that it is time to re-connect to Judaism. It is your “inner-Jew” telling you that no matter how crazy the world may be there is a way to put it all in focus. That “magic connection” is the connection that you make sitting in synagogue, the connection you make when you pause to realize that the concept of “modernity” is an ever changing one- what is new today will be old tomorrow. In the face of a world that changes more quickly than we can even notice we need to re-connect with those things that are eternal.

I know many Jews feel uncomfortable in synagogue. The service is too long. They can’t read Hebrew. They feel like hypocrites because they don’t keep all the laws. Yes, there are many excuses to explain why shul can be a real “pain”- not to mention all that sitting in one place. Try this for a change- make up some excuses about why it is so great to be in the synagogue of your choice! Think of the possibilities! Have you ever noticed how easy it is to make excuses about doing something you want to do anyway? Maybe this year you can say (even if it is only to yourself): “I want to go to shul, I am not exactly sure why, but I want to be there.” For many of us that would be a strange confession, but consider it. Go to services this year with an open mind. Yes, there is some reason you want to be there. Yes, there is something that makes it a special day and a special place. Yes, you did go there looking for something.

I wish all of my readers the very best for the new year and hope that this Rosh Hashanah we all discover the reasons that bring us together in prayer and discovery of those things that have made us an eternal people.