High Holy Days 2025/5786

We are honored to gather as a community for the High Holy Days, a time of prayer, reflection, and renewal. Services will be held with Mishkan HaNefesh, our beautiful Machzorim, made possible through your generosity during a past High Holy Day fundraiser. We are proud to continue offering our services without the need for tickets, ensuring that anyone who wishes to join us feels welcome.

High Holiday Food Drive
As part of our observance, we invite you to participate in our annual High Holiday Food Drive. Please bring non-perishable items to services so we can support the food bank and help care for neighbors in need.

Special Memorial Service
In addition to our regular High Holy Day services, we will hold a special service on October 7 to remember the lives lost in the attack on Israel and to pray for those still held hostage two years later.

We look forward to sharing these sacred days with you.

Here is the schedule of events. Unless noted otherwise events are at the synagogue.

Monday, September 22
Erev Rosh Hashanah Service at 7:00 pm
(Drop-off childcare for ages 1-5 available during service)

Tuesday, September 23
Rosh Hashanah Family Service at 9:00 am
Rosh Hashanah Day 1 Service at 10:00 am
(Drop-off childcare for ages 1-5 available during service)
Tashlich at 1:00 pm at Campbell Airstrip Trailhead

Wednesday, September 24
Rosh Hashanah Day 2 Service at 10:00 am

Friday, September 26
Shabbat Shuvah Service at 6:00 pm

Saturday, September 27
Shabbat Shuvah Morning Service at 10:30 am

Sunday, September 28
Religious School sign-up at 10:00 am
Kever Avot v'Imahot at 12:00 pm at the CBS section of Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery

Wednesday, October 1
Kol Nidre at 7:00 pm
(Drop-off childcare for ages 1-5 available during service)

Thursday, October 2
Yom Kippur Morning Service at 10:00 am
(Drop-off childcare for ages 1-5 available during service)
Yom Kippur Afternoon Service at 3:00 pm (Torah Service, Yizkor Service, Ne'ilah Service)
(Drop-off childcare for ages 1-5 available during service)
Break the Fast immediately following at approximately 6:00 pm (dairy/vegetarian potluck)

Monday, October 6
Erev Sukkot at 7:00 pm

Tuesday, October 7
October 7th Memorial at 7:00 pm

Friday, October 10
Sukkot on Shabbat at 6:00 pm

Tuesday, October 14
Simchat Torah at 7:00 pm

Children's Programming
• Rosh Hashanah Morning: Rock painting for Kever Avot v’Imahot, Sukkah decorations, and Lego building
• Yom Kippur Morning: Jonah Puppet Show in the library

Our Long Redemptive Trek

From about the 1500 CE Jewish communities lived behind the tall walls and locked gates of the ghetto lifestyle. These weren’t necessarily the devastating ghetto’s of World War II, but the isolated tradition of a people who kept to themselves. They were not active in the greater community of their chosen address, and the greater community wanted nothing to do with the Jewish community. This was not a perfect arrangement, but mostly Jews were allowed to be Jewish. Modern Judaism has been the experiment of those walls coming down and those gates being thrown open. Over the course of our modern tradition starting in the 1500’s and culminating to a bunch of Jews congregating for Rosh Hashanah in Alaska, we’ve figured out what it looks like for our people not to be hidden away behind tall walls. We have been emancipated. It didn’t happen all at once, and it didn’t happen the same way. But country after country slowly let Jews become citizens.

And today I ask the question what does it mean to be Jewish and a Citizen? It’s a complex question that comes with our complex history. In 1806 Napoleon asked this very question of the French Jewish Community. “Do those Jews who are born in France and who are treated as French Citizens regard France as their native Country?” Asks Napoleon. And this is 10 years after the French Revolution, a movement that should have easily seen Jews as emancipated, but struggled to do so. And even though Napoleon was satisfied with how the French Jewish community answered his questions. The French Jewish community endured horrible antisemitism that culminated with the Dreyfus Affair in 1894. Where a Jewish French artillery captain was purposefully  and wrongly convicted of treason. My point is that our path to citizenship did not happen in a straight line. But we got there.

When the walls of our Ghettos came down, a lot changed for Judaism. No longer were we the tight nit shtetl of the past, but we became individuals who chose to be Jewish. Free to participate in our Judaism, but also free to participate in everything else our citizenship earned us. This is the way of modernity. We embraced the privileges of citizenship, and yet we have not assimilated. Our Judaism empowers our citizenship rather than our citizenship watering down our Judaism. And we are still a covenantal people with particular values. Our Covenant informs our values which in turn informs our decisions as citizens.

The great modern Jewish thinker Rabbi Eugene Borowitz once wrote, “Every Jewish generation has a responsibility to every prior generation as well as to all Jews yet to come to empower the long-range continuity of the Covenant. “Hence every decision,” continues Rabbi Borowitz, “requires us to consider whether a given action lends endurance to our people for its Long Redemptive Trek.”

In other words, the advantage of Emancipation is that we get to choose our long redemptive trek. Surviving behind a wall is no longer the future of our people. We get to plan a future for ourselves and plan a future where our children don’t have to know fear because of their religion. And yet, still some of our children experience fear because of their Judaism. The joy of emancipation can be quickly subdued by the reality of hate. Citizenship is a gift given to us by a government, but it’s not necessarily ratified by its people. Thus, we often find ourselves as citizens protecting our Judaism. And I have come to believe that we protect our Judaism by projecting our values.

Let us consider the value of Kiddush Hashem. Kiddush Hashem means sanctifying God’s name and it the idea that Jews should act in way that always sanctifies God’s name among non-Jewish people. This value comes from millennia of experience with Jewish persecution. Historically we were not well regarded by peoples, kingdoms, and nations and so we must not make our situation harder by acting poorly around non-Jewish folks. Instead we must endeavor to act the most upright, the most courteous, and the most rule abiding. So that as a covenantal people we represent Adonai as paragons of virtue. Or said in another way and quoting a Yiddish Maxim “You must love your neighbor even when he plays the trombone.”

But I believe being a Jewish citizen is more than acting upright among our non-Jewish peers and colleagues. Our Long Redemptive Trek is taking our tradition and living by its message. It’s our job as Citizen Jewry to make our world a better place. Modern Jewish Thinker Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan once wrote, “The purpose of Jewish existence is to be a people in the Image of God. The meaning of Jewish existence is to foster ourselves as Jews, and to re-awaken in the rest of the world, a sense of moral responsibility in action.” I believe A universal Truth of Judaism is that we are a tradition of doing, a religion of action. We protect our religion by projecting our values and we project our values by acting on them. And we are empowered, motivated, and inspired by our Covenant with Adonai.

Professor Emanual Goldsmith while commentating on Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan wrote, “God is the Power, Force, Process, Dimension, or Energy by means of which people are motivated to exercise their rights, pursue their responsibilities and strive to be at peace with themselves, with nature, and with other people.” This is what I believe our citizenship looks like! With the walls of our Ghetto down we can exercise our rights, we can pursue our responsibilities and we can strive for peace. This is our Long Redemptive Trek. But of course, while Professor Goldsmith explains what we can now do, what he doesn’t divulge is how we exercise our rights, how pursue our responsibilities, or how strive for peace.

Inspiration for the how can be found in countless places in our tradition. We can draw inspiration from our Torah in which Moses states “Justice, Justice you shall pursue.” We can find inspiration from the book of Isaiah which states in its first chapter, “Devote yourselves to Justice; aid the wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; and defend the cause of the widow.” Or in Jeremiah which states, “But let Justice well up like waters, righteousness like an unfailing stream.” Perhaps you are noticing a theme. Modern Jewish Citizenry has always been about pursuing social Justice. It’s the very foundation of the Reform Movement. The Eighth principal of the 1885 Pittsburgh Platform, a foundational Reform document, states, “In full accordance with the spirit of the Mosaic legislation, which strives to regulate the relations between rich and poor, we deem it our duty to participate in the great task of modern times, to solve, on the basis of justice and righteousness, the problems presented by the contrasts and evils of the present organization of society.” This is our inheritance, our responsibility, our action, our pursuit of peace. We are called to civic engagement because we have signed a covenant with Adonai. The founding director of the Religious Action Center Rabbi Richard Hirsch once wrote, “Ethics requires action and action involves risk; but social actions will be a stimulus for the renewal of tradition.” In other words Social Justice is the Long Redemptive Trek of our people.

When the walls of the Ghetto were up, our singular mission was to survive to practice our tradition. Back then as long as we could access food, water, safety, and shelter, we could be Jewish. While it was by no means simple to survive that ghetto lifestyle, there was not much complexity in how these Jewish communities regarded their non-Jewish neighbors. Emancipation while freeing us from a survival mentality also drove us toward complex relationships with our neighbors. We are American and yet being Jewish makes us a minority in the USA. But the great American experiment and experience is that even as a minority we are entitled the same inalienable rights as everyone else. But the laws, rules, cultures, and standards of our society are always shifting. Sometimes slow, but other times with lightning speed. And the best way for our community to manage these changes is to continue to hike on our Long Redemptive Trek. To project our values, not just Kiddush Hashem, but of Tikkun Olam repairing the world. To pursue Justice and our responsibilities, to exercise our rights, and to strive for peace. I’ll conclude with a quote from our own translation of Alienu, which states, “Cause Light to go forth over all the lands between the seas. And light up the universe with joy of wholeness, of freedom, and of peace.” Thank you.

Our Humanitarian Glow

In 1934 a young Jewish man would leave his home state of Wisconsin and travel to Washington DC to become a research assistant to a committee that would draft the Social Security Act. This Act signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, would serve as the backbone for the American social safety net for generations to come. And this young Jewish man, Wilbur Cohen, would become the architect of social welfare programs from the 1930s until the 1970s. Some of our greatest Welfare institutions are thanks directly to Wilbur’s efforts. Historians have much to say about Wilbur Cohen, but my favorite description of him was by the journalist Theodore H. White who wrote, "After all his years in the Capital, Cohen has lost none of his humanitarian glow-as though he feels every person in the country who is home alone sick is his personal responsibility."

Throughout his career Wilbur Cohen served numerous presidential appointments culminating as the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson. Mr. Cohen was described as the “Man that built Medicare,” The New York Times called him "one of the country's foremost technicians in public welfare." And portrayed him as a man of "boundless energy, infectious enthusiasm, and a drive for action." This was the man who built America’s greatest social safety net in our history. And he did so being driven by Jewish values.  Values such as Tikkun Olam, repairing the world,  bikur holim, taking care the sick. He interpreted these values not just as a means to help the Jewish community, but to help all Americans who desperately needed a social safety net from the travesties of the Great Depression. The country needed a man like Wilbur Cohen and Mr. Cohen heard and responded to that call by projecting his Jewish values.

My question to y’all this evening, is what does this call look like for us? What is our Personal responsibility? What does our Humanitarian Glow look like? Between the 1930s and the 1970s with help from our own Wilbur Cohen, our country built grand institutions to protect its citizens and prevent them from being sick and alone. Whether it’s Medicare for our aging population, Medicaid for those who find themselves in need of care and are low income, or SNAP, which is our food aid program, to name a few. Thanks to Mr. Cohen the government then took personal responsibility for its citizens and these institutions have successfully helped countless Americans recover from hitting rock bottom and bouncing them back up again to success.  And yet, currently there is a vehement conversation occurring around the question, is our social safety net the responsibility of our federal government?

It looks like our federal Government has made its decision. Starting with the dismantling of USAID, continuing with the Reconciliation Bill and culminating with not renewing subsidies for the American Cares Act, our government is making the choice that it’s not their problem if citizens need assistance. Whether you agree with our federal government or not, it’s the direction it is currently moving. Defunding and understaffing the USAID limits the goodwill and assistance from other nations for our country.  The Reconciliation Bill passed in July diminishes our social safety net to decrease taxes. And in January up to 20 million Americans enrolled in the American Cares Act could see unaffordable and unmanageable increase in their healthcare costs. This will include at least 25,000 Alaskans. I believe what we should now be asking ourselves is, What role do we play as a community in this shifting landscape?

Because I happen to believe there is nothing more potent in this world than a community on a mission. A community with a Humanitarian Glow. A community working together can achieve powerful results through shared values. A community whose values compel it to help the most vulnerable. The same values that drove Mr. Wilbur Cohen to build Welfare institutions for our country.

Our community has options on the role we can play. We could say to our government that it is moving in the wrong direction, towards a direction that is harmful to those most in need. That the social safety net is the business of the government and our own Wilbur Cohen fought so hard for our government to specifically take care of those in need. Perhaps our taxes should fund programs that help those in need of assistance. And perhaps the federal government should be organizing those efforts. And it would become our personal responsibility to advocate and civically engage for a strong social safety net. Applying our time and energy into a democratic system that sways towards the will of the people. That with enough effort and determination our society swings towards a mentality that feels every person in the country who is home alone sick is our government’s personal responsibility.

Another option is to accept this is our reality for at least the next four years. And help build our own local safety nets for our community and the Alaska community. That the social safety net is now our business since our government decided it’s not theirs. It would be our personal responsibility to organize programming to help our fellow Alaskans who hit rock bottom bounce back and be successful again. Applying our time and energy to help support and build systems to catch people in need and offer them pathways to success. To roll up our sleeves and do what our federal government is choosing not to do.

A third option is to stay out of the way. We are a vulnerable community who is experiencing unprecedented antisemitism. We may need to ask for own advocacy and support from the rest of the Alaska community. We many need to let others decide what role our government plays in our social safety net. Because we may need to be quiet, keep our heads down, and endure.

No matter what option you agree with or disagree with, we have a choice in front of us. How we move forward needs to be a community effort. It feels as if our federal government is forcing us into uncharted territory. But, this is not the first time where our people have faced the unknown. Our entire identity is wrapped up in the Exodus story where our ancestors faced the unknown every day. And they showed us how the Jewish people perceiver, no matter the obstacles, because our values guide us. We should not hide from our values or let others erode our values. I am so proud of them. I am so proud to be Jewish and to be part of an ancient tradition that stands for freedom, that believes in helping others not for a reward in the hereafter but for the good work itself. I am proud that our values guided such heroes as Wilbur Cohen.

This past year I have learned so much about community. I have seen many of our members show their incredible concern for our congregation and their desire to make it place we all want to feel welcome, a place where we all belong. It’s taken a lot of work, and we have argued a lot, which is our right as Jews, but we did it. We figured out how to be a caring, functional, and compassionate community. And now I’m asking that we figure out how to be a community on a mission. We deserve to live in a place that respects our values. But, it is up to us to protect the values that we hold dear, no one is going to do it for us.

How might we do this, you may ask? Well here is an excerpt from a 1967 edition of the Magazine called Oasis who interviewed none other than Wilbur Cohen. It wrote, “The bouncy, energetic, indefatigable Mr. Cohen, will go just about anywhere, either to rally support for a piece of legislation or to attempt to convince opponents that the cause is just. Mr. Cohen will speak out loud for what he believes and ask others to join him.”

If one person can single handedly support a social safety net for the whole country, then our community can definitely support a social safety net for our city, our state, and our country. To do so we will need to be energetic and indefatigable, we will need to convince opponents our cause is just and we need to be loud for what we believe and ask others to join us. But we are already these things. Especially loud! The mantle of personal responsibility has fallen upon our community. It is time for us to shine our Humanitarian Glow. Yom Kippur is a holiday about redemption, repentance, and reconciliation. We go through this process so we can walk the path that Adonai sets before us. We go through this process, so we are not consumed by the mistakes of our past. So that we can prepare ourselves for the future.  So we can have the capacity to safeguard our values. And so we have the capacity to make our world a better place, a healthier place, and a place that cares for its citizens. The time for this is now. I hope as a community with our important and beautiful values we show our country how much we care, the way Wilbur Cohen showed us how much he cared. Thank you.