RABBI DAVID SEGAL

Yom Kippur Morning Aspen Jewish Congregation One night while he was running for reelection, the mayor of Reading, Pennsylvania went to a bar and paid for a woman’s drink. She thanked him but asked why a stranger had bought her a beer. “I’m running for mayor,” he told her, “and I want your vote.” “You got it,” she said, taking a swig. “Anyone’s better than the jerk who’s in there now.” It feels like we are simmering in a social stew of resentment, ignorance, and disillusionmen

Yom Kippur • Kol Nidrei Aspen Jewish Congregation Just before Rosh Hashanah, I learned of the loss of Allyn Carol Ravitz z’’l, beloved sister of our longtime member Marilyn Gallant. Marilyn told me a story about Allyn that stayed with me. Allyn was a “flaming” liberal, and she walked the walk. She went to marches and protests for women’s rights, gay rights, workers, minorities, you name it. Her third husband, though, was a lifelong conservative. They were so in love, so happy

A poem by Mark Nepo to help us enter into Kol Nidrei, a night of diving into our soul-depths and then reemerging, refocused and renewed. Breaking Surface Let no one keep you from your journey, no rabbi or priest, no mother who wants you to dig for treasures she misplaced, no father who won't let one life be enough, no lover who measures their worth by what you might give up, no voice that tells you in the night it can't be done. Let nothing dissuade you from seeing w