We had another Limmud (learning session) with a candidate for Senior Rabbi at Shir Hadash this evening. Even though Hanukkah ended earlier today, the candidate talked about the lights of Hanukkah and their meaning and how they relate to the lights of Creation – it got rather Kabbalistic at times, but it was quite interesting and led to some good discussions.

Today was the Shir Hadash Board Retreat, an all-day event where the Board focuses on important issues for the synagogue. It’s usually held in the summer to help the new Board strengthen its ties, but that was infeasible this year for the obvious reason.

It was a productive day; we drafted a new mission statement for the synagogue and used that to establish goals to bring the statement to life. There is still a lot of work ahead (and a Board Work Day to come in January), of course – I’m looking forward to it.

After I got home, we lit the menorah for the last time this year. We were a little nervous having 9 candles burning without being in the room, but we didn’t want to stay there – so I set up the world’s most boring Zoom meeting so we could watch the candles while doing other things (mostly watching TV).

Happy Hanukkah!