Elul Reflections - High Holy Days 2024
Cantor Wolman

It is hard to believe we have arrived in the season of reflection once again. Time has certainly flown by. I am perhaps more aware of it now as this is my 10th High Holy Days at Temple Chai. Lately, I have been thinking about my early days serving as your Cantor and how things have changed since Malka, our children, and I first came to Arizona from Chicago. While my arrival at Temple Chai was a change on its own, we introduced the concept of Prayer Lab to the community. This unique style of worship was first conceived on my interview during a series of lunches with Rabbi Mari. We discussed the types of prayer that drive us and dreamed about creating new ways to break the mold and experiment in order to help our community access a prayerful connection if standard prayer practices were a barrier.
 
So far, in my nine years at Temple Chai, we have created 54 Prayer Lab services, 18 of them for High Holy Days, and 36 for Shabbat. How remarkable is it that these are all multiples of CHAI (18). During these services, we have explored themes such as Longing for Connection, Creation, Is Anyone Listening, What if Prayer Works, Joy, Hope, Where I’m From, Courage & Strength, Holiness, How We’re Blessed, Poetry & Song, The Music of our Youth, Love, Embodiment of Prayer, Gratitude, Open Your Heart, Welcoming, Rest, What is My Legacy, and more.

I hope you will join us for our Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Prayer Lab services. They will take place on the evening of each Holy Day at 6:00pm in our Main Sanctuary. For Erev Rosh Hashanah, the theme will be Sh’ma: Listening. For Kol Nidre, the theme will revolve around the lyrics & meaning behind Billy Joel’s new song, Turn the Lights Back On.
 
As Rav Kook taught, הַיָּשָׁן יִתְחַדֵּשׁ וְהֶחָדָשׁ יִתְקַדֵּשׁ
(The Old Shall be Made New, and the New Shall be Made Holy.)
 
Wishing you a meaningful month of reflection this Elul.
​Cantor Wolman