09/04/2026
One of my favorite Jewish songs is Dan Nichols’ Kehillah Kedoshah (listen here - https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=fAfm59sm71E), “Holy Community.” I have always especially loved its opening, which comes from this week’s Torah portion, Nitzavim/Vayelech:
If you are atem,
Then we’re nitzavim—
We stand here today
And remember the dream.
Kehillah kedoshah.
Kehillah kedoshah.
There is something powerful about those words: we stand here today.
The opening words of our Torah portion, Atem Nitzavim, mean “you are standing.” Moses gathers the Israelites together – leaders, elderly, children, everyone – and reminds them that they are responsible for carrying the covenant forward. They cannot simply inherit it. They have to stand in it, participate in it, and do the work of keeping it alive.
That is what it means to create a kehillah kedoshah, a holy community. It is created through our actions—how we show up for one another, take responsibility, repair what is broken, learn together, and support one another through both joy and sadness.
During the month of Elul, we are asked to begin the personal work of preparing for the High Holy Days. We look honestly at the past year: What are we proud of? Where did we fall short? What do we want to do differently?
And we do this personal work while standing alongside one another.
The sound of the shofar is a powerful reminder that we each do our own work and bring our own reflections, hopes, mistakes and intentions. But we do this work as one community. The shofar also reminds us that teshuvah, repentance, takes practice. It is not simply about saying, “I’m sorry.” It is about recognizing where we have missed the mark and doing the work to change our behavior.
I was reminded of this on Sunday at the opening day of Noar. Rabbi Ron Segal taught our students and their parents how to blow the shofar and before long, the sounds of the shofar could be heard throughout the building. And they were not all perfect!
I recently had my first shofar lesson with Rabbi Ron, and I learned just how difficult it is to make that beautiful sound. You practice. You try again. Sometimes you get it right, and many times you don’t. You adjust your lips and your breath and keep trying.
Perhaps that is a good metaphor for teshuvah. We do not change overnight. We do not always get it right the first time. The work is in noticing, trying again, practicing, and refusing to give up.
And we do that work together.
Dan Nichols’ song reminds us:
Each one of us must play a part.
Each one of us must heed the call.
Each one of us must do the work.
Each one of us must hold the hope.
This High Holy Day season may we find the courage to do our own work, the humility to recognize that we do not always get it right, and the strength that comes from knowing that we are doing this work together.
Because each one of us is a part of it all.
Kehillah Kedoshah.
