Rabbi’s November-December 2024 Column

Shalom friends,

We are just coming off of another meaningful high holiday season.  It was wonderful to wish so many of you Shanah Tovah in person, and to know that so many more were participating from home.  We cried together on Yom Kippur, laughed together in the sukkah, and celebrated the completion and start of the Torah once more.  Mazal Tov again to Sylvia Schulman on her big honor as our congregation’s Kallat Breishit 5785!

As November arrives, it’s time to move into the program year, and I hope you will look for the ways to connect with our Beth El family throughout the year.

I also want to share with you that in just over a month, I’ll be heading to Israel once more.  Even before the attacks of October 7, the Rabbinical Assembly, my professional organization, decided that the 2024 RA Convention would take place in Israel.  Planning has been in the works for over two years, and of course the focus has shifted quite a bit in the last year.  As of this writing, over 170 Conservative rabbis will be gathering in Jerusalem!  In case you’re interested, I’ll share that 50 of those rabbis are Israeli and work in Israel; about 100 are coming from the US and Canada; and about 20 are coming from Europe and South America.  A major kudos goes to the RA itself and to the Jewish National Fund (JNF) for offering steep scholarships to many rabbis so that we could attend this vital gathering.

I have gone to several RA Conventions, but never one in Israel.  I have to say that while it’s always nice to be together with “my people”, this time it’s different.  I really feel a deep pull to be with my people in our homeland.  Many of the non-Israeli rabbis have traveled to Israel at least once in the last year, but for some it will be their first time since October 7.  Unlike most RA Conventions, this one will devote 2 of the 4 days to experiential travel around the country.  I’ve been serving on the Convention Experience Committee, which is devoted to creating connections and community around the actual program.  We’re working on building connections at the start of each day and reflecting on our experiences at the end of each day, as well as crafting the opening and closing ceremonies.  I hope to deepen my friendships with colleagues and to meet many new ones.  And of course, I expect to reconnect with Israel—again—and to visit with friends and family.

I’ll be away from our Beth El from Sunday, December 8 until Sunday, December 15.  I promise to take a lot of pictures and to share about my experiences after I return home.

B’Shalom,

Rabbi Ita Paskind