54 The QUeeNS CoUrier • buzz • OCTOBER 6, 2016 FOr breaking news visit www.qns.com New Year Brings Blessings and Lessons 22 TIMES • OCTOBER 6, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com Victoria’s Secrets As sun set on Sunday, the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah began. It’s a time of reflection and family gatherings. I was blessed to have both. This holiday is considered to be the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve. I love how one source summed up the holiday: it’s one of love, potential and life. My daughter had joined a synagogue in preparation for her son Blake’s Bar Mitzvah in three years and so I joined too. It is in the reform movement so men and women sit together and there is a brilliant choir with a piano player accompanying the prayers set to ancient music. In the afternoon, they had a children’s service with a choir made up of the children from the Hebrew school. Their energy and joy was contagious, so much so that my reluctant-to-attend 7-yearold grandchild said, “I love the music!” The congregation has a new prayer book that was published just a year ago. It invokes the many paths of thought during the sacred 10-day holiday period. The beautifully written prayers in English and Hebrew speak to the soul-searching reflections on our deeds and how they impact our lives and the world around us. It’s a time “of remorse, grief and guilt but also awe, gratitude and hopes.” In the message from the president of the synagogue, he emphasized how staying in tune with the times and the needs of the community is critical for its survival. This congregation is flourishing with so many members, it had to hold services in shifts! So they are listening. For me a most powerful moment of the 2 1/2-hour service was the rabbi’s sermon. He spoke through the voice of the late Nobel Peace Prize winner, author of 57 books, political activist and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel who died in July, reminding us of that unique man’s legacy and Wiesel’s greatness as a witness to the atrocities of the Holocaust. Through his many books, he made us remember the tragedy. The rabbi reminded us that just two years ago, Wiesel spoke out about the horrors in Syria. He made a comparison between their plight and that of Holocaust survivors. He believed we should stand by the Syrians who were gassed as were the Jews. Recently, the newspapers have been filled with the image of the 5-year-old Syrian boy sitting bereft, his head covered by blood, staring blankly. It powerfully and painfully reminds us of the innocent victims of war. Wiesel believed governments knew of the death camps, and that bombing the railroad tracks would have saved thousands of lives. But they didn’t! The rabbi reminded us that in the Holocaust years, legislators, leaders of our government, spoke out against immigration. He reminded us of documents written by Anne Frank’s father begging for his children to be allowed to come to America. How are the Syrian refugees any different? Sadly, history keeps repeating itself! During the service, there were prayers of healing saying, “May all of us, the sick and the well, together find courage and hope.” I found these words in the prayer book prophetic for all of us too: “Let there be peace, grant goodness, blessing, and grace, constancy and compassion to us and all of Israel, your people.” And so I wish all my neighbors, of all faiths, these profound thoughts. The holiday was accompanied by family dinners, reminding us of the power of family to lift us up and help us get through the turmoil of life. May it be a year of peace and love and caring, and knowing God cares for us all and the potential for goodness within us. So I will share the greeting we give to each other at this time: “May you have a good year and may you be written and sealed for a year of good life and peace.” In eight days, the Book of Life will be sealed on Yom Kippur. Dynamic for all the news 24 hours, 7 days a week DENTAL go WORK to www.timesnewsweekly.com 175-15 Jamaica avenue, Jamaica 718-297-4100 • 718-297-4106 Victoria SCHNEPS-YUNIS [email protected] tweet me @vschneps Happy holidays from our family to yours THE INVISIBLE WAY TO STRAIGHTEN TEETH Third Generation Dentist $1500 off Lumineers $500 off Invisalign CALL FOR FREE CONSULTATION SOME EXCLUSIONS APPLY Morgan, Jonah, Sloane, Blake, Hudson and Addy with grandma Vicki
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