President’s Bulletin Column September – October 2025

Fellow Congregants,

“Oh, won’t you stay

Just a little bit longer

Please, please, please, say you will

Say you will

Oh, won’t you stay

Just a little bit longer

Please, please, please, stay

Just a little bit more”

These lyrics—sung soulfully by Jackson Browne and penned by Maurice Williams—aren’t just a love song; they express a feeling that can be interpreted (if we so choose) to be deeply spiritual. Any feeling of connection, of intimacy, is a feeling that contains if not the Divine, then certainly the possibility of something sacred.  As someone who has been privileged for two decades to lead services at Beth El, I have a deep longing that feels especially poignant during the High Holidays; the desire to share with as many of you as possible sacred moments, to keep singing together, to hold space for one another and for those who can no longer pray with us. . . just a little bit longer.

Too often, the pace of life urges us to move on quickly. But from the beginning of Rosh Hashanah through the last of the Yom Kippur Ne’ilah service, most powerfully (to me) in our final Avinu Malkeinu, the last shared melody of the season—we are invited to pause. To resist the rush. To stay.

There is a Hasidic teaching from the Sefat Emet (Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib of Ger) that says:

“The gates of heaven are always open—but on the High Holy Days, our hearts are open, too. And that is when we can dwell just a little longer in God’s presence.”

What a blessing it is to be together during these Days of Awe. I hope you’ll not only join us, but also stay a little longer—through the final prayer, the closing song, the moment of quiet when the soul whispers most clearly.

For yourself.  For your community.  For the holiness that emerges when we hold time gently together.

K’tiva v’Chatima Tova – May each of you and yours be inscribed and sealed for goodness.

Warmly,

David Loewenberg

President, Congregation Beth El