This year we have both the familiar and the new to look forward to in our High Holiday Season.

This year we have both the familiar and the new to look forward to in our High Holiday Season.

Having given a loving send-off to Rabbi Friedman in June, we welcome two exciting additions to our team, full-time Ritual Director Moshe Pinchover and Student Rabbi Daniel Victor. Moshe will be responsible for reading Torah, running the daily minyan, leading shiva minyanim, teaching B’nai Mitzvah students, organizing the name information for Torah honors and participants in Shabbat and Yom Tov services, managing the many details of our Sifrei Torah, our yahrtzeit plaques and notifications and training and mentoring our members to read Torah, Haftarah, Megillot and daven. He will also be a regular participant in bikkur cholim, visiting the sick. Moshe holds a B.A. in Jewish Studies from Bar Ilan University. He is a cantorial intern of the Cantors’ Assembly. He has served in the Israel Defence Forces, and comes to the Emanuel Synagogue after serving for twelve years at Congregation Agudas Achim in West Hartford, where he was well loved for his excellence in tefilah (prayer) and kriat hatorah, his warm and welcoming demeanor and his Jewish knowledge and commitment. Moshe is married to Dr. Gail Harris. We welcome Moshe and Gail and their children Zach, Lisa, Mati and Ariel to the Emanuel Family!

Daniel Victor is a Fourth-year student in the Rabbinical School and the Davidson School of Education of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. Daniel is a graduate of Brandeis University. Daniel is well-regarded for his energy, intelligence and his innate love of Judaism. He has extensive experience in working with young people including summer camping and college campus work. This summer he served as staff trainer and Jewish educational program guide in the Staff Resource Center at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires. Daniel will be with us beginning with Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah. He will be at Emanuel two weekends a month throughout the school year. He will focus his work on the B’nai Mitzvah and High School students, leading B’nai Mitzvah Club and a Teen Service. He will also be active in our Bet Sefer Tichon High School program. Our adults will also encounter him in a variety of settings on Shabbat and Sundays as well as during the Chagim (Holidays). Daniel and his wife, Sabrina, will be hosted by families in our community. If you would like to serve as a host for an overnight stay or a Shabbat meal, please contact me. We welcome Daniel and Sabrina to the Emanuel Family!

Look for familiar style of service on Rosh Hashanah First Day and Yom Kippur. Cantor Cohn, accompanied by our choir and organist, will lead an "Emanuel Classic" service. The Ohel Service will be available for Musaph on each of those days. On the
at Neilah on Yom Kippur, we will have an "Unplugged" service, with the Cantor and the congregation responding to each other, completely a capella, and without a choir other than the congregation’s voices. We are in a time of transition and are seeking to preserve familiar modes of worship while continuing to embrace traditional, participatory and somewhat less formal modes of prayer.

Please remember that Emanuel is hosting a communal Selichot Service this year on September 8, featuring our Cantor Cohn and speaker Maria Sirois, Psy.D. Our annual Cemetery Service takes place on September 9 at 1:00 p.m. and Tashlich will be held at two locations at 4:00 p.m. the first Day of Rosh HaShanah. Please be sure to bring non-perishable food items to feed the hungry when you come to Kol Nidre. B’yadeynu will distribute bags for this purpose on Rosh HaShanah.

Debbie, Gabi, Sharone and Ilan join me in wishing you a Shanah Tova Umetukah, A Good and Sweet Year. May we be written in the Book of Life!
— David J. Small