Telephone Minyan Yom Kippur Services
The Telephone Minyan Yom Kippur service will be held this Saturday afternoon, September 14th, 2:30-3:30pm. It’ll include the traditional Yom Kippur confessional prayers and a Yizkor service. Scroll down for a collective Machzor (prayer book), Yizkor Attachment 2013 and dial in instructions.
BCC members and guests: Click here for actual dates and times of Yom Kippur services , and come to mark this special day with us
What is Yizkor?
The essence of Yizkor is remembering. Some memories come in an almost overpowering rush; others drift into our consciousness much more gradually. We need time for remembering. Sometimes, the little things that gradually come to awareness only after we leave time for waiting turn out to be the most precious and important of all. So quiet yourself, and listen to your heart murmuring. Now is the time for remembering…
(Kol HaNeshamah Machzor)
To join in on the Telephone Minyan High Holy Day Services conference call, please dial 702-851-4044, when prompted punch in 2, then our pass code 22252#.
Click here to open (or download) the Telephone Minyan Yizkor Attachment 2013
Click here to open (or download) BCC’s Telephone Minyan Yom Kippur Machzor
Additional Links:
Rabbi Heather Miller’s drash for Yom Kippur
This last Thursday, I gathered with my brother, mom, uncle, aunts, two step-brothers, step-sister, and step-dad, Mike, around a table for a meal. Mike, had a healthy dose of soft-serve and chocolate and was up to his usual witty joke-telling. A great stabilizingforce in our family, his even temper and gentle care combined with his positive outlook on life continue to benefit us all.
Our large family has always been “special”– when Mike and my mom got married over 18 years ago, our new family debuted at the wedding reception to the theme from the Brady Bunch. Unlike T.V., life in blended-family land is all but simple, and we’ve had our ups and downs like anyone else, but we’ve always been there for one another. The only thing different about Thursday’s family gathering was that took place at the UCLA Medical Center cafeteria.
This week, my step-dad, Mike, was diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer—what this means is that it has already spread in his abdomen where it is difficult to access. To say the least it is a very difficult time for my family.
This year, so many of us have faced so many tragedies. I have wrapped my tallit around those who have had to bury your child or parent, held the hand of you who were deciding which poisonous course of chemotherapy you might take, I’ve witnessed the tears of you facing divorce, a terrible diagnosis, infertility, layoffs. None of us are immune from the circumstances of life.
This past year has been particularly devastating for so many. But, even as I had prepared my remarks for this sermon this evening on the ability of the Jewish tradition to help move those in dire circumstances through their despair, I was not prepared for the news of my step-father Mike’s cancer that I would receive this week. I was not prepared to personally need to find strength in the words that I will relate to you tonight. But then, who is prepared for devastating moments when they break into the daily rhythm of our lives?
Read Rabbi Heather’s full drash here
Rabbi D’ror Chankin Gould’s Drash for Rosh Hashanah
A few short months ago, I became the first openly gay man to receive ordination from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, the Los Angeles seminary of the Conservative Movement.
In that historic moment of inclusion for LGBT Jews, I was granted the immense privilege of speaking to the assembled on behalf of my class. I opened with these words:
“They shut the door behind him. He never looked back. We lost him forever.
Today, Elisha ben Abuya is our teacher…Though his true name was Elisha, he was called, simply and painfully, Acher: Other.
It is the Other’s broken voice which calls out to us this morning.
Let us imagine that the text we are about to learn, a selection from Avot d’rebbe Natan (an early Rabbinic collection of wisdom and ethical guidance) were Elisha’s last angry words as he shut the door behind him, as he marched away from all those who had once loved him, as he glanced over his shoulder at those who had learned to despise him, as his eyes begged for recognition for humanity for another chance.
Read Rabbi D’ror full drash here
