Each year as the summer comes to a close, a pulpit rabbi's eye turns toward yontif. There are services to prepare, sermons to write, music cues to coordinate, deadlines for the program. It's a seemingly endless series of tasks to perform so everyone and everything will be ready for "the big days." By the time yontif itself comes, we've been living with them for months, and it seems like they will be a letdown.

And yet every year, in spite of what it seems Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur will be like, they take on a life of their own and are as fresh and invigorating as if we had just walked in the door. Such is the power of these two holy days - a power that transcends the myriad of mundane details we go through to prepare for them. Suddenly, it's white robes and the special musical mode set aside for just these days and the sound of the shofar, and all the preparation fades into the background.

I've never quite understood how what I've said can be so, and I certainly can't explain it. But it is so, at least it is for me. It happens every year. One day I feel mired down in getting ready, and the next day feels as fresh for me as I suspect it does for you.

A member who admitted she usually only attends Temple twice a year once asked me if I thought Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are less special for me than for her, since I attend Shabbat worship every week. Actually, it's quite the opposite. At the risk of using an image some may not appreciate, being "in prayer shape" actually enhances the yontifs for me, and I find the same to be true for other regular worshipers. Worship and the things that comprise it are a regular part of my life.

Being in the sanctuary, watching you pour in with the special buzz that accompanies you as you greet one
another, then hearing the cantor and choir sing the prayers, reading familiar words that have been augmented for the yontif service - these are all variations on what happens in my life every week. They are like special spices one adds to a familiar dish that make it tastier.

Suddenly, all the preparation and work we go through to see that everything happens the way it's supposed to seems to melt into the services and a spiritual air overpowers them.

Since the holidays are only a few weeks away, we're in the throes of getting everything ready. It will be the 5767th time we have started a new year. Like you, I'm anticipating them. I can't wait to once again feel their power.