Thoughts from Yom Kippur

From Lior: "Looking back on the amazing week we spent in NY I believe the most meaningful experience for me was Yom Kippur. It’s the first time I felt really comfortable in a synagogue. All the people I met made me feel welcome and accepted, this feeling is incredibly unfamiliar to me in a synagogue. I hope that one day we could have the same ‘Yom Kippur Experience’ here in Israel."

As we entered the Javitz center we were amazed by the size and beauty of the space, and the view of the Hudson. We met with Steve Fruh and were briefed as CBST ushers. Our job was to welcome the members as they came into services. Many of the members were happy to see us, greeted us and asked us questions.

It was incredibly moving for us to see so many LGBT people gathered together for Jewish prayer.

As the service began, the music, the chorus and the presence of women on stage were new and inspiring for us.

The drash was the highlight of the service for us. It moved us to activism. It gave us a new way to view Judaism. Though most of the mishlahat are not religious, the question "where are you?" in the drash, resonated for all of us, and moved us to activism.

From Or: "This was the most significant Yom Kippur I ever experienced, religiously. I loved ushering. I learned so much, and embraced the experience of the service. Rabbi Kleinbaum's drash moved me and motivated me. Through the drash I saw aspects of Yom Kippur I had never seen before. The experience of Yom Kippur at CBST was very different from my previous Yom Kippur experiences in Israel. I will take that with me for next Yom Kippur. I have learned that I need to look inside myself. To ask myself where am I? How do I fit in? Where do I come from and where am I going?"

The Yizkor was very moving to us, In particular we remember the appeal by Aari.

In the Yizkor we got to speak about Nir and Liz z”l. Eden spoke about Nir’s smile and how he tried to take the smile with him everywhere. Mor spoke about the night of the murder: being in Tel-Aviv and then spending the night with the community at the Open House.

All week long people came up to us to speak about our words during the Yizkor. Members shared with us how moved the congregation was by their deaths and how they share our grief.

After Yizkor we went to the children’s service: There were so many children! Of so many different kinds of families!

We were very impressed to see the effort to reach out to kids and to make Judaism accessible to them.

During the break Rabbi Kleinbaum led a discussion group with us. Many CBST members came to hear us speak with us in the break. We shared our lives and feeling after the murder. We felt we managed to connect with the congregation as our own individual selves and not only as LGBT Israelis.

Karen Benezra and Brian Blitzer took us to dinner breaking the fast. We enjoyed the opportunity to meet the 20s/30s group, and of course the great food after the long fast.

From Rotem: "I had never been to synagogue in Yom Kippur in my life… I was totally surprised. Even though I didn't know the service before-hand I felt connected. It was incredibly moving to see the amount of people that participated in the service. It was very powerful. Yom Kippur was essential for us to really know and understand CBST"