Rabbi Blog

Dear QJC Family,

I hope everyone is doing well as we prepare to usher in Yamim Noraim this coming Shabbos!

Thank you to everyone who attended last night's shiur with Dr. Erica Brown. I hope you found it enjoyable and meaningful! If you missed it, here's the link.

I wanted to share the following resources with you electronically:

• Halachot v'Drashot - as I have done for other Yamim Tovim (even when it's not the middle of a pandemic), I have provided a halachic digest that highlights the most important things to be aware of. Beyond that, in lieu of the longer derashot that usually take place in shul, I have written them in advance and included them in this booklet. I encourage you to read them day by day on yuntif, as a way to enhance the extra time at home (even for those of us in shul).
  I hope it is useful and meaningful as we observe Yamim Noraim differently this year.
• Order of Davening for Shacharis and Musaf - for those who are davening in shul, this is a guide to what we will be saying in shul. As a general rule of thumb, we will be skipping piyyutim that are not included in here. Our shul generally uses the Artscroll machzor, but as I acquired this list from another source, it also includes two other machzorim.
  Please note: while we plan to expedite the davening and limit singing, it is difficult to entirely do away with singing in the Yamim Noraim davening. It is also important to preserve some semblance of a Yamim Noraim atmosphere. Chazzanim will therefore use conservative discretion in deciding what needs to be sung and what will not be sung. We ask that individuals singing along sing in a soft tone, as this will mitigate any potential risk that singing could create. Here are the words of Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt: "No loud davening or screaming. Hashem hears us no matter how softly we whisper!"
• Guide for those Davening at Home - this has page numbers and the basic sequence of davening. Please also consult the halachic digest above.
  
  

Other resources:

• YU Torah-to-Go
• 
  Yeshiva University Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought - "The Art and Letters of Repentance" video series
• 
  TRADITION Journal's High Holiday Reader
• 
  HaMizrachi

Please be in touch if I can be helpful in any way over the next few weeks.

With wishes for a ketivah va-chatimah tovah,

Judah Kerbel