So we’re heading into Yom Kippur.
I know for many, there are plans for get-togethers to break the fast.
And it is wonderful that we choose to get together after a meaningful, soul searching day in shul.
I think, though, that after we pray to for our names to be sealed in the Book of Life, it would be a great thing if we started off by still remembering there are those among us who aren’t going to be breaking the fast so easily.
There are those among us who “fast” involuntarily because they sometimes run out of food.
There is nothing symbolic or religious about their hunger.
Please consider perhaps a little less of an party-like break fast, contributing instead to organizations such as Ahavas Yisroel, Jewish Community Services, the Maryland Food Bank or other charities.
Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkoth and Simchat Torah are joyous occasions and holidays. But they can be expensive when the cost of High Holiday tickets, meals, lulavim and esrogim and much more.
Have an easy, but meaningful fast. And remember your neighbor.

Somewhere in a synagogue close to home, the phrase “love thy neighbor as thyself” was said during Rosh Hashanah services.
When it was heard, the congregants all probably automatically nodded in agreement.
And then the thought was gone, and it was about turning the page to the next passage.
Why is that sometimes we can read or hear a phrase like “love thy neighbor,” a clear instruction from HaShem, and so fervently agree with it, then do nothing to live it.
When it comes to actually loving our neighbors, well maybe we don’t always.
This morning, I came to the intersection of Strathmore and Cross Country to make my usual left turn on my way to work.
As we’ve reported in the Jewish Times, this isn’t an easy intersection. There have been a handful of drivers coming from the area of Taney Road in one direction or Clarks Lane in the other, if driving too fast, can have a difficult time slowing down. So making that turn is often a dangerous “adventure.”
Today that adventure had another little twist to it. A driver in a minivan was at the intersection going the wrong way on a one-way street.
We both waited for traffic to clear as best as possible, but instead of taking an easy right turn, she went left.
Beyond her van I saw at the corner house a zoning hearing notification sign. The zoning sign it turns out is notifying neighbors of a public hearing that will enable the home to house a day care center. The van didn’t help the cause of the day care center.
Mind you, this house sits on a corner where a car plowed through a fence and into its yard.
There is no implication here that the people who own the house will run anything but a stellar day care center. But all the planning in the world can’t prevent a person in a van from going the wrong way down an already busy, dangerous intersection, and making the more difficult left instead of right.
The recent accidents at the intersection happened during the warm months. There was no ice on the road…yet. The approach on Cross Country of that intersection is known to be slippery as black ice forms near the sewage drains.
While many neighbors certainly don’t mind the presence of a daycare center at the corner, there still are others who fill find it objectionable. Most, if not all, of the neighbors have been in their homes long before this house was even constructed.
Love thy neighbor?
Everything will be done on the up and up and legally. The zoning hearing will come before people who possibly don’t walk the streets on Shabbos and look both ways twice before they even think of walking or pushing a stroller through the intersection.
In the past eight weeks, there has been a utility pole knocked over, the fence smashed in and pieces of automobile wreckage strewn many yards away.
And what else is this going to do?
It could open up a can of worms that I don’t think many of the neighbors would care to face. And that is the operation of several basement businesses, perhaps some without appropriate licensure, creating foot and car traffic in neighborhoods zoned only for residential use.
If this day care center proposal gets more than a cursory look by neighbors and elected officials then it isn’t beyond the impossible, that oppositional neighbors will start making the authorities aware.
However, if the City doesn’t care, and doesn’t look into it, then there is nothing that will ever change in the spirit of the “love thy neighbor?”
And why is it that on the same street on the corner intersecting Park Heights Avenue, that the construction of a building has caused so much angst among its neighbors and the Cross Country Neighborhood Association leadership, City Council Woman Rochelle “Rikki” Spector and even CHAI?
The strewn remains of construction debris are a common site on the construction grounds. It seems as if little if any effort has gone into the care and concern of the people who live adjacent the property. There’s nothing anyone can do. There aren’t any laws or codes that have seemingly been broken.
The only code broken is the one asking for civility. People have lived in the vicinity of this construction site for generations. They deserve better than the disregard for their dignity as homeowners and tax paying citizens.
“Love thy neighbor? Maybe it is more of a case of loving thy neighborhood.

If you maybe are falling a little short on Rosh Hashanah inspiration, maybe a social networking vehicle like YouTube could offer some help.
There is a remarkable piece of archived film, made possible through the American Jewish Committee, where an actual recording of a Sabbath service can be heard.
With First Infantry Division Chaplain Sidney Lefkowitz leading the service and Pfc. Max Fuchs serving as chazzan, the voices of men who experienced D-Day and other horrific battles can be heard singing Ein Keloheinu. The soldiers were just outside the town of Aachen, Germany. The service was held in October of 1944. It was broadcast by NBC back to the U.S.
If you are reading this somehow prior to tonight’s beginning of Rosh Hashanah, I would strongly urge you to go to YouTube and search for it. We will not hear the shofar blasts on the first day of the holiday because it falls on Shabbat. The sounds of these Jewish men, who were fighting in Germany, can act as those awakening sounds.
If ever there was a symbol for goodness and freedom winning the battle over evil, it is this recording.
And if ever there was a hesitancy among any of us to gather as Jews…
Whatever reasons we find not to be together.
Just remember that these 50 men, who had seen fellow GIs in their own units, decimated by enemy fire, who had relatives who disappeared in the concentration camps.
These men got themselves together in the theater of war, because they were Jews, and prayed to the Almighty.
The recording and the stories one can find over the Internet about the participants will inspire me throughout the holidays.

It was in May of 2006 that about 20 survivors of sexual molestation met in a side room of the Ohel Yaakov synagogue on Glen Avenue.
Almost all in attendance were Orthodox. The gender ratio was equally divided. Three community leaders were there to share, witness and support. They included Rabbi Peretz Dinovitz, Rabbi Shmuel Silber and Mrs. Zipora Schorr.
The event was organized by one of the survivors who shared his story that day. One by one the survivors would say what they could say. Some told their stories publicly for the first time. For others, their molestation story is the root of their recovery story, one that was shared many times in various 12-step programs.
For some it was daunting to see friends and neighbors there that we never knew shared this common bond.
There was one door leading in and out of the unseasonably hot May day. We all eyed that door, especially when it was closed and the air became stagnant.
But stayed we all did until every last story was told.
When it was over, I picked up my wife and went on a long, long drive, sometimes getting coherent sentences out in between sobs.
This, I think, was among the first meetings of this type. We weren’t sure who we would see there. And we weren’t sure really what difference our words would make.
So here we are on the eve of a New Year.
Last Sunday, the Baltimore Board of Rabbis teamed up with Associated agencies such as JCS, CHANA and Shofar, and offered trauma survivors an opportunity to hear one another speak their pain. They offered an environment of safety, of spirituality and most of all of validity. There were well over 200 people in the room. There were 15-20 rabbis and community leaders. Associated President Marc Terrill was there. Some in attendance I’m sure were survivors who I hope felt empowered by the experience.
For many, last Sunday might have been their Rosh Hashanah enlightenment.
What it said to me was that there really is movement, there is really commitment.
I could dwell on the rabbis and community leaders who weren’t there, but the point is there was enough of a critical mass transcending the denominations, that the word has already gotten out.
We don’t have to go back to private rooms with closed doors if we choose not to.
We don’t have to be embarrassed to seek help anymore.
And after years of wandering around with the issue of sexual molestation, I think survivors are feeling less like social outcasts, and feeling more welcome.
The reason for that change is has many layers.
But when I think about that meeting in 2006, which had a feel of secrecy to it, and then I looked out at a crowded, respectful JCC audience this past Sunday, I knew that we’ve all come a long way. A good way.

Shomrim, the all-volunteer public safety organization, has helped the area police jurisdictions flag down criminals and would-be criminals for going on four years.

So, it is appropriate that this group, that acts as the eyes and ears for the police in the Upper Park Heights and Pikesville areas now takes on the City Police Dept.’s Northwest District in a game of flag football.

With all that is going on in the next few weeks regarding our beautiful holiday season, we ask that you mark down 1 p.m., Sunday, November 15, on your calendars. Shomrim and the Police will be playing at the Northwestern High School football stadium.

With the help of the City and Mayor Sheila Dixon, there are going to be many activities for families and children.

For those of us who are Ravens fans, no worries, the mighty purple doesn’t play until Monday night and in Cleveland.

Of the important goals of this game is to raise needed funds for the City’s Mounted Police Unit. This safety and security group has been in operation since 1888. Shomrim wants us all to do what we can to help especially with municipal budgets tightening here and all over the nation.

Businesses and individuals, we could really use your tax-deductible donations here. Monies can be mailed to Shomrim, c/o Nathan Willner, Esq. 10461 Mill Run Circle, Owings Mills, Md. 21117 or by calling 410-602-2400.

The mayor and the police commissioner are scheduled to be there as are many of our local elected officials and leaders.

This is going to be more than just a football game. However, the police department might have a score to settle. After all, they were soundly defeated by the Shomrim guys last year, 41-13.

What really is more important is that the community come out and show its support for the Baltimore City Police Department. It’s the mounted police unit needing our help, but also, it’s will be great for the men and women in blue who have dedicated their careers to protect us, to see us, interact with us and hear us in the stands cheering both teams along in the big game.

We’ll keep you posted at this blog.

But do plan to be there.

You’re going to have a great time.