Return and Renewal – Make your Kol Nidrei gift today
Dear fellow members of Harvard’s Jewish community,
I hope my message finds you, and those you love, well, in these first days of this new year.
Amidst all the well-placed worry of the world, and the personal intensity of Yom Kippur – we can be forgiven for forgetting where the holiday ends: in joy, release, celebration, and hope. The holiday centers around the rites of the High Priest, and our prayerbooks recount the radiance with which these ancient figures completed the complex rituals, in a litany of expressions that burst the bonds of what black letters can convey on a white page: like a rainbow breaking through the crowds, like the energy rebounding between the heavenly angels, like a groom on his wedding day. All this through the rise and fall of nations and kings, decrees and migrations – troubles that echo in our present day. Our prayers and our history teach us that joy and hope are possible in the midst of, and despite, any and every upheaval and trial.
That joy, the combination of hope and confidence in the future – is alive and well in Harvard’s Jewish community, right here at Harvard Hillel. Please take a moment to watch this video, narrated by elected members of our student board, about what this community means to them:
The brightness of faces, the energy of potential, the confidence of a community – these are the stories that students have been writing with and for one another this year. Tonight they will lead services, raise their voices in song, and ask for and grant forgiveness from one another. And tomorrow night they will joyously break their fasts, and return to the delight of the work of creating life anew, as Jews have done every year for thousands of years.
I hope that you feel pride in participating and supporting this work – and continuing it in your own lives and own communities throughout your lives. As the gates close, and we act and contribute in hopes that our piety and purity will set a good course for this year – I want to ask you to consider strengthening this remarkable effort.
Make Your Kol Nidrei gift today
Please make your gift today and in recognition that the strength and promise of Judaism are eternal, and are coming to life in the lives and hearts of today’s students – thanks to your generosity. On behalf of every student who will find meaning, friendship, and purpose within these walls this year, thank you for making our community possible.
May you, those you care about, and our entire community be inscribed and sealed for only goodness and blessing in this new year. G’mar chatimah tovah,
Rabbi Jason Rubenstein
Executive Director