Announcements
Happy New Year - Please join us:
Tashlich
Sunday, October 1 - Untermeyer Gardens at 11:00 AM
Sukkot
Saturday, October 7 - RYSEC at 6:45 PM
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Please use the links below to make your payments |
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The Riverdale Y Sukkah is up and ready for you. You are welcome to sit, eat and socialize in the sukkah any time we are open.
Click HERE for pizza, a program on Monday for families with young children.
Click HERE for dessert, a program on Tuesday for older adults.
Please RSVP
Rabbi Scott Kalmikoff
Director of Community Engagement
at the Riverdale Y
skalmikoff@riverdaley.org
347.913.4432
5625 Arlington Avenue
Out of the Darkness
Bronx Walk
Sunday, October 15
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) is organizing the Out of the Darkness Bronx Walk to raise money to invest in life-saving research, education, advocacy, and support for those impacted by suicide. The Walk is a journey of remembrance, hope, and support that unites our communities and provides an opportunity to acknowledge the ways in which suicide and mental health conditions have affected our lives and the lives of those we love and care about. Click HERE for more information and to register.
Rabbi's Message
September 29, 2023
15 Tishrei 5784
EREV SUKKOT
Dear Friends,
Sukkot is upon us. The holiday of fragile structures, buzzing bees, aromatic etrogs, waving palms, meals eaten outdoors, and the reading of Ecclesiastics, is a celebration of simply being alive amidst the uncertainty of a good harvest and a good year ahead.
Sukkot is certainly the holiday that enjoins us to celebrate the moment, to put ourselves in the now, all the while acknowledging how fragile it all is. It also stresses the importance of inviting others into our fragile abode, whether they be our ancestors or our friends and neighbors. This year the fragility truly resonates for all of us.
This past Wednesday our children ranging in age from four to seventeen decorated our Sukkah. Knowing that rain was forecast for the next few days, we worked hard to create decorations that would withstand the inclement weather. We will soon find out if we succeeded. But more than that, we created signs welcoming all who enter into the Sukkah. These signs were meant to go beyond the Sukkah into the real world. This idea of the fragile Sukkah as a place of welcome is exemplified by two adjacent Jewish ideas. One comes from the Torah and the other from the mystics.
Mitzvah of the Week
Our mitzvah of the week is to say thank you to the many of you who worked so hard to make these High Holiday services so very special. If you appreciate what someone did, let them know, it truly makes a difference. Here are the very special members of our community who made it all possible. Thank you to all for your generous Kol Nidre pledges and donations.
Special thanks to Sariel Beckenstein and Jerry Fishman and we acknowledge the incredible miracle of their presence with us this year. With that in mind, a generous anonymous donation has been made in honor of Sariel & Jerry and the extraordinarily soulful service they shared with all of us.
