As we enter the season of “teshuvah” and return, I have been thinking a lot about the Jewish community I grew up in.

I grew up in Sioux City, Iowa. There weren’t many Jewish kids, but our synagogue was a true intergenerational community. I was always invited in, encouraged to attend services, to lead, to show up as I was. Sometimes I was the only student, sometimes the only young person at all. But I was always greeted with warmth and smiles, with people who believed in me. The older generation made it possible for us to go to youth events, and to visit Israel. They created scholarship funds, just like we have here at KI (click to donate) because they knew that investing in our Jewish future mattered. That quiet support helped shape me into the cantor I am today.

While the Sioux City Jewish community seems so distant in miles from our KI Community, the heart of the community is the same. The magic of one generation from the next is always happening at KI, whether it is encouraging those students who come on Shabbat, or encouraging them to give back at HaMotzi, we find a way to connect one generation to the next.

In this sacred season of return, it’s not always clear what we’re returning to or how we will find our way there. Sometimes, the path looks nothing like we expected. For me, returning has meant going back to college. But really, it is a return to lifelong learning, learning, that is already deepening the work we’re doing in The KItchen.

So I ask you: What do you want to return to this year? Can you be open to how that returning unfolds? And maybe, can you be someone who helps someone else return?

Sometimes the first step is just showing up. Coming to services on a Friday night might awaken something in you. And someone else may find their way back just by seeing you smile.

Our Hashiveinu prayer pleads: “Return us to You, and we shall return. Renew our days as of old.” Return doesn’t mean going backward. It means being made new again.

Take a step into returning- this Saturday night, September 13, we will begin our communal journey into 5786 with Selichot: Hush of Midnight. Join us for a soulful evening of learning, prayer, and music with the synagogues of Old York Road. We will gather at 7:00 PM for a study session and kosher dessert reception, followed by Ma’ariv at 8:00 PM and the Selichot service at 8:30 PM.

Let this be the moment where we return. Together.

Shabbat Shalom.

Cantor Amy E. Levy