From the Director

Rosh HaShanah and Aseret Y’mei T’shuvah

By Richard S. Moline
KOACH Director

The start of a new year, academic or Jewish, always seems to creep up on us. As the magical date approaches, it doesn’t seem to matter that we’ve known about this for….well, at least a year. We’re always rushing to get things done. There are always last minute things to purchase, new material to review, administrative matters to finish. There’s that one book we still have to buy, that one class we still have to fit in, that one person we still have to call.

When that day finally arrives, whether it’s the first day of classes or the beginning of Rosh HaShanah, a sense of anticipation of what is to be takes over. If only momentarily, we forget about the tasks we have yet to finish and dream about that which lies ahead.

It is in this spirit that our tradition provides us with a period of time to do both: to take care of unfinished business and to map out a plan for the future. The intermediate days between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur (and even several days beyond) provide us with an opportunity to connect with friends and family, with God and perhaps, most of all, with ourselves. We are given this time to do exactly what we haven’t been able to do up until now - - take care of unfinished business.

As kids, we may have envisioned God sitting on a throne, recording our deeds and then determining during the High Holidays who would live another year. While many still accept this simplistic theology, it’s a useful tool. It can serve as a way of helping us understand that we’re the ones sitting on the throne – recording our own deeds – judging ourselves. And if we’re so moved, to use the time to recast our plan for the year by doing exactly what we haven’t done up until this point – taking care of that unfinished business.

Rosh HaShanah is upon us and so are the Aseret Y’mei T’shuvah – that intermediate time after Rosh HaShanah through Yom Kippur known as the Ten Days of Repentance. It’s not just time to buy that one book. It’s time to call that friend and that elderly relative. It’s time to look in the mirror and record your own deeds. And once that’s done, it’s time to dream.

The entire KOACH staff joins me in wishing you a year of health, happiness, success and shalom. Shanah Tovah U’Metukah – a good, sweet year to you, your family and friends and all you hold dear.

We welcome three people to the KOACH staff:

Itamar Kremer will be joining us on October 1 as our new shaliah (emissary). Itamar will be coming from Israel where he has just finished law school and is currently a reserve commander in the Israel Defense Forces. He will be working with students in partnership with KOACH, Mercaz USA and the Aliyah Department of the Jewish Agency for Israel. More on Itamar in a future issue of our ezine.

Sherri Vishner rejoins our staff as KOACH Associate at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Sherri spent two years as our East Coast field worker in Washington, DC before spending last year at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Sherri will be working through Hillel on the UF Campus as part of a new commitment by the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism to increase our presence on campuses across North America.

As part of this initiative, Adam Rosenthal, a fifth-year rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary also joins our team as Rabbinic Intern at Binghamton University. Adam will be on the Binghamton campus on a regular basis this year, working with Hillel to strengthen the Conservative KOACH community through a variety of programs and events.

[Posted 9/18/06]