Rabbi Weitzman: Looking to the Horizon

This article first appeared in our Sept/Oct '25 edition of The Bulletin

Mission, Vision, and Our Sacred Future

As we prepare to gather on Academy Road for the High Holy Days, I want to take a moment to share with you a sacred journey that is beginning within our community - one that connects our past, centers us in the present, and charts a course toward our future.

Nearly 25 years ago, Congregation Beth Emeth undertook an extraordinary process called The North Porch. Led by visionary Past Presidents Ilene Sykes and Steve Einhorn, this initiative asked deep questions about who we were and who we needed to become. The answers helped birth the space in which we now pray, learn, and lead. It gave us new streams of worship, a reimagined physical campus, and renewed spiritual energy.

Today, we stand at another threshold.

This year during the High Holy Days, we will turn our hearts toward one of the most stirring and powerful prayers in our tradition: Un’taneh Tokef. In it, we are asked to imagine a Book of Life opened before God - a time of judgment in which the future is uncertain, and the path forward is shaped by our choices. It is a prayer that reminds us of life’s fragility, but also of life’s possibility. “Who shall live and who shall die?” the prayer asks - not only in the literal sense, but spiritually: Who will truly live with purpose, intention, and meaning?

The Un’taneh Tokef tells us that teshuvah (repentance), tefilah (prayer), and tzedakah (acts of justice and giving) can transform the severity of the decree. In other words: we are not passive recipients of fate. Our actions matter. Our engagement matters. Our vision matters.

This is the spiritual foundation for the mission and vision work we are now undertaking as a congregation. As we look to enter our third century together, we are asking again: Who are we? What matters most to us? And how do we build a Beth Emeth that reflects the best of our tradition and the hopes of a new generation?

This is not simply a strategic exercise. It is spiritual work. It is holy work. Just as the Un’taneh Tokef challenges each of us to reflect on our lives and recommit to our values, our mission and vision process asks the same of us as a kehilla kedosha - a sacred community.

Over the coming months, you will be invited to share your voice and your vision. We want every member of our community to be part of this journey. Just as The North Porch helped shape our congregation 25 years ago, this process will shape the Beth Emeth of tomorrow.

On behalf of my family, Ashley, Eden, Jonathan, and me, I want to wish you and your loved ones a Chag Sameach - a joyful, meaningful New Year. We are so looking forward to being together once again on Academy Road - hearing the blast of the shofar, lifting our voices in prayer, and imagining what’s possible when we dream and build together.