Happy New Year!

Celebrate the High Holidays with the Nafshenu Community this year

Save these dates for the holiday season at Nafshenu:

• Friday, Sept. 13, 6:30pm: Kabbalat Shabbat service and meal at the home of Anita and Menashe Mizrachi. Call or email for details: rebdovid@nafshenu.org, (248) 508-0874.
• Saturday, Sept. 28, 9:30am: Shabbat morning and selichot service, with potluck lunch, at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Marlton, NJ.
• Wednesday, Oct. 2, 6pm: Rosh Under the Big Top, picnic dinner and Erev Rosh Hashanah service under the tent at Prince of Peace, Marlton.
• Thursday, Oct. 3, 9:30am: Rosh Hashanah morning service in the social hall at Prince of Peace.
• Friday, Oct. 11, 6pm: Kol Nidre (Erev Yom Kippur) service, Prince of Peace.
• Saturday, Oct. 12, 9:30am: Yom Kippur morning service, Prince of Peace.
• Saturday, Oct. 12, 5:30pm: Yom Kippur Ne’ila service and potluck break fast, Prince of Peace.
• Saturday, Oct. 19, 11am: Sukkot service and “open sukkah” lunch at the home of Rabbi David and Pearl, 8220 Manor Road, Elkins Park, PA.
• Thursday, Oct. 24, 6:30pm: Simchat Torah service and party, Prince of Peace.

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COMFORT, COMFORT

Let’s help ourselves – and each other – find strength, love and support in the New Year

A message from Rabbi David Goodman

Summer 2024/5784 is nearing an end, and new academic and Jewish years are about to start. The past year has been a tough one for many of us personally – and a traumatic one for the Jewish people. Lots of us are looking for sources of comfort and consolation. I hope that our Nafshenu community can be such a resource.

“Comfort, comfort, my people,” is the message that God tells Isaiah to offer to the exiled Jews of Babylon. They’re the opening words of Isaiah chapter 40, the first Haftarah of consolation that comes between the mourning day of Tisha B’Av for the Temple’s destruction and the coming High Holidays. This year, we have experienced the destruction of October 7 and the wars between Israel and its enemies to the south (Hamas) and north (Hezbollah). These have spilled over into our country, where anti-Jewish racism has risen on our streets and campuses. 

Now we can choose to “circle the wagons” in a fearful, defensive stance. Or we can choose to look to our family, friends, community, and tradition for the strength to weather the hard times and remain active in the world. 

These High Holidays, I want to bring in ideas from our tradition, and from the broader world, about how we can support, strengthen and comfort one another in the year ahead.