This letter was sent out to my congregation today in response to my Rosh HaShanah sermon that will be posted here in a few days. In my sermon, I challenged everyone to use this list to pick their top five virtues and send them to me before Yom Kippur. Below, I summarize the responses that I received.
Thank you to all who did your Rosh HaShanah homework and sent in your top five virtues. You can still download the list of virtues here. I shared our top virtues on Yom Kippur, but wanted to share them again with you today.
As I mentioned, I was overwhelmed by the response. After compiling your answers, I had an extremely long list! I have attempted to group your responses into virtue categories. They are presented here in alphabetical-ish order.
TOP 10 VIRTUE CATEGORIES
Acceptance
Balance
Compassion (Includes Caring, Empathy, Helping Others, Thoughtfulness)
Family
Gratitude (Includes Appreciation, Thankfulness)
Happiness (Includes Fun, Humor, Joy)
Integrity (Includes Honesty, Honor, Truthfulness)
Love (includes Kindness)
Optimism
Perseverance (Includes Problem Solving, Stick-to-it-iveness and Tenacity)
VIRTUES THAT ALMOST MADE THE TOP 10
Allowing for Failure
Appreciation
Confidence/Self-confidence
Courage
Creativity
Dependability/Reliability
Dignity
Energy
Failure (Allowing for it)
Fairness
Friendliness/Friendship
Health
Learning
Logic
Organization
Patience
Pragmatism
Tolerance
Many of you have asked for copies of my High Holiday sermons. I am in the process of getting them ready to upload to my blog. I hope to have them posted by next week.
Spending the High Holidays with so many of you was truly special. I hope Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur were transformative for you and your family. Thank you to our teens who led us in prayer, read Torah/Haftarah and even chanted Kol Nidrei. Thank you to Daniel and Carly Tokar and all of you who joined them in supporting our community. Thank you to Barry Sanders and all of you who brought food to support those in need. Thank you to Cantor Debbie, our choir and Harold. Thank you to Beth Michell for leading our children’s programming. Thank you to Craig Mayer and our Board members for ushering all of our services. Thank you to our Executive Director, Leslie Goldman, for all that she does behind the scenes. And thank you to all of you for filling our sanctuary with your voices and your spirit. Now, it’s time for Sukkot!
