A Year in the Life of a Micah Congregant
A shofar blast has called the Jewish people together since the time of Moses. Now it heralds a new year - one yet unblemished, still perfect. At Micah, on Rosh Hashanah, we congregate in our sanctuary as our hearts and prayers are uplifted by the call of the shofar. Enjoying our renewed sense of community, we celebrate Tashlich in a nearby park, casting away our sins and picnicking together.
Ten days later, we gather again to observe Yom Kippur. We pledge to make this new year better than last year. Yom Kippur is about forgiveness and atonement, but it is also, like all our holidays, about community. Each year preceding the Kol Nidre service, members bring grocery bags filled with food, which our social action committee delivers to a local food bank. At the close of Yom Kippur after a day of praying and studying together, we all stand to hear the blast of the shofar. We invite all who have a shofar to come to the bimah as we mark the closing of the gates of prayer with a piercing blast from the shofarot.
The new year also brings the return of religious school for both adults and children. One of the first religious school activities is to build and decorate the Sukkah. Sukkot culminates with the celebration of Simchat Torah. To read the end and the beginning of the Torah at the same moment, we unfurl the Torah entirely, everyone supporting the scroll. We revel, laugh, and dance with the Torah, around and through the Sukkah decorated with paper chains and pipe cleaner fruit.
Then we have a month free of major celebrations, but our weekly Shabbat services, filled with singing, laughter, learning, and prayer, continue. In late November or December, we gather for a Hanukkah potluck with more latkes that anyone could ever eat, and a bimah filled with blazing Hanukkah menorahs brought by every family present.
After Hanukkah, we celebrate Shabbat Shira (the Shabbat of Song) with no sermon and plenty of harmony from everyone who wishes to participate. Purim comes next, and the annual Purimspiel is an opportunity for children and adults to dress in delightfully silly costumes and perform a play. At the community-wide Seder a few weeks later, we see who can remember the most plagues as we retell the story of our exodus from Egypt.
The summer is a little calmer. Religious school ends in late May, and the students are off for the summer. Study groups still meet, and the smaller, more personal services prepare us for the return of the High Holy Days. Before we know it, it is Rosh Hashanah again, and we all pray for an even better year, next year.
A year in the life of a Micah congregant is like a year in a large family. Throughout the year we come together to mark the occasions of birth, b'nai mitzvah, weddings, and memorials. But it is not just the big holidays and special occasions that make us who we are, it is the little, everyday stuff. It is the regular services, beginning with a musical round and ending with the spinning of the Adon Olam wheel. It is religious school where everyone knows everyone else. It is knowing that the Chesed (Loving Kindness) committee will be there to support you in times of need. It is knowing that someone will watch the kids on the playground, and that someone will care if you are having a bad day.
That is what Micah is all about: community.