NCRT Glen Cove

09/04/2026

TIME TO DONATE! Are you cleaning out? We can use your great stuff you don’t need!

09/03/2026

Elul 21/September 3
Cantor Jenna Sagan
Holy Transitions: An Elul 5786 Playlist

As Elul unfolds, I'm drawn into a deep reflection on the transitions that have marked my life this past year. This month feels like a sacred pause, a chance to look back at where I've been and to contemplate where I'm headed. Change can be daunting, but it also holds incredible potential for growth and renewal.
This year, my annual Elul playlist captures the essence of this holy transitional time—music that comforts, uplifts, and invites moments of reflection. Each song serves as a companion for this journey, reminding us that we are not alone as we navigate our own paths.
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov reminds us, “The whole world is a narrow bridge, and the key is to have no fear at all.” As we embrace the unknown, let’s lean into our fears and doubts, allowing them to transform into hope and courage.
May this playlist guide you through Elul, helping you find moments of peace and insight. Together, let’s step into the new year, carrying our past lessons and embracing the possibilities and holy transitions that lie ahead.
Click here for my 5786 Elul Playlist: Elul 5786: Holy Transitions:

A Playlist designed to inspire and uplift as we transition from one year to the next. May these songs bring peace, hope, inspiration and comfort.

09/01/2026

Elul 19/September 1
Rabbi Michael Churgel

In our complicated world, it is often difficult to find or recognize peace: between nations, groups of people, individuals, or even inner peace. But peace does exist, and it is certainly achievable as long as we are willing to put in the work to make it happen.
Members of my congregation recently read The Future is Peace. This fascinating discourse jointly authored by a Palestinian Arab and an Israeli Jew, who both experienced tragedy, loss, and heartbreak in their earlier years, and had every right to hate one another, came together in their desire to make peace and build bridges. Through sharing their personal stories with one another, they were able to forgive sins of the past and gain a better understanding for the other’s actions and that of their respective peoples.
One paragraph that illustrates this lesson was shared by Aziz in his blossoming friendship with a former Israeli soldier:
The walls and the barriers that divide us foment mistrust. They don’t communicate with each other because they are separated from one another. With contact comes understanding, familiarity, and the ability to put ourselves in the shoes of the “other.” I have seen it. I have lived it. That is how I know in my heart that we are not doomed to live this life of polarization.
May each one of us discover new paths towards opening our hearts, finding a way to communicate with the “other,” and building bridges towards peace in our world.

08/30/2026

Elul 17/August 30
Rabbi Alan Litwak

The Sound of Beginning Again
The shofar is an unusual instrument. It doesn't play a melody. It doesn't entertain. It doesn't even explain itself.
It simply interrupts.
Every morning in Elul, its ancient sound cuts through the noise of our routines. For a brief moment, we are invited to stop living on autopilot and ask a simple question: Who am I becoming?
The beauty of Elul is that it does not demand perfection before Rosh Hashanah arrives. It asks only that we awaken.
One honest apology. One difficult conversation. One generous act. One prayer spoken with greater intention. One habit that moves us a little closer to the person God dreams we can become.
The High Holy Days are not about presenting God with a finished product. They are about presenting ourselves with open hearts and willing spirits.
The shofar reminds us that every ending is also a beginning. Every breath offers another opportunity. Every day of Elul is another chance to turn, to grow, and to come home—to those we love, to our community, and to God.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The journey of teshuvah begins with a single note.

08/24/2026

08/23/2026

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08/17/2026

Elul 4/August 17
Rabbi Rony Keller

Elul does not arrive with noise or spectacle. It enters quietly. Softly. Almost gently. And maybe that is exactly the point.
Before the intensity of the High Holy Days, before the crowds and sermons and melodies we know so well, Elul invites us simply to pause long enough to pay attention. Attention to our lives. Attention to our relationships. Attention to the places where we have grown, and the places where we may have drifted.
The rabbis teach in the Talmud that “the gates of tears are never locked.” I have always loved that image because it reminds us that Judaism never asks us to be perfect before we begin again. We do not have to arrive polished or fully figured out. We simply have to be willing to open the door.
For many of us, that work is both personal and communal. Congregants and Jewish professionals alike spend so much of the year taking care of others, showing up for others, carrying responsibilities for others. Elul gently reminds us that our own souls need attention too.
The shofar of Elul is not only an alarm. It is an invitation. An invitation to return to conversations we have avoided. To gratitude we have forgotten to express. To the people we love. To the parts of ourselves we may have neglected.
Maimonides teaches that real teshuvah happens when we encounter a familiar moment and choose differently. That kind of change rarely happens all at once. It happens slowly, honestly, one choice at a time.
And maybe that is the holiness of Elul: not becoming someone entirely new, but finding our way back to who we were always meant to be.

The Hebrew month of Elul is the last month of the Jewish year. As such, it is considered a month of spiritual preparation for the High Holy Days. Special meditations are added to the daily service for some, known as S’lichot, or penitential prayers. (*The Saturday before Rosh Hashanah is also known as S’lichot, and it is used as a night of contemplation and study.) For several years, a group of Reform clergy and educators has collaborated on a series of Elul Thoughts. These are shared with our congregations in a daily email throughout the month.

It is with great honor that we once again bring Elul Thoughts to our congregations across the United States and Canada this year. We have been sending Elul Thoughts to our congregations since 2008 when Rabbi David Young worked with Rabbi Alan Litwak at Temple Sinai in North Miami Beach, FL. This project was his brainchild then, and it has taken on a renewed life again and again as we connect with colleagues and friends who want to contribute. Every year we invite cantors, rabbis, and educators. Some years we invite congregants or teachers from other areas of expertise. This year our participants were asked to write on the theme of “Makhloket l'shem Shamayim” (argument for the sake of Heaven). We hope that you find inspiration for positive change from these messages, and we wish you a blessed Elul full of discovery and renewal.

08/13/2026

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Join us for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur (and associated holidays) We would be happy to have you join us.
Please RSVP

08/06/2026

August 2, 2026

To our friends at Congregation Tifereth Israel,

It is with great sadness and sympathy that we extend our deepest condolences to the CTI community on the shocking loss of your Rabbi and teacher, Irwin Huberman. We know how beloved and respected he was, not only to those affiliated with CTI, but also to the greater Glen Cove population. As neighbors and partners in the Jewish community, we share in your grief and mourn Rabbi Huberman’s passing with you.

Please know that we, the members of North Country Reform Temple, are here for you as loving supporters, and we are ready to step up and do all that we can to help you through this difficult period.

As we approach the month of Elul, a time where Jews traditionally reflect upon the year we will leave behind and begin to prepare for the one ahead, may we keep Rabbi Huberman’s memory close to our hearts, and may it help inspire us towards acts of peace and loving kindness.

Baruch Dayan HaEmet.

May Rabbi Huberman’s memory be a continued blessing to each and every life that his presence touched.

Your friends at NCRT,

Michael S. Churgel, RJE, Senior Rabbi
Amelia Fox, Cantor
Paula Frome, Temple President
Jenny DeBeer Charno, Immediate Past President