October’s glorious colors of seasonal transition accompany the most active days of our annual holiday cycle. This year, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah all occur in this month. The changing moods of the holidays mirror the changing seasons.

Yom Kippur is our most solemn day, a time of intense introspection. But once it concludes we immediately turn to the external world. The sounds of sukkah building and decorating replace the haunting melodies of our High Holiday period.

"How's your summer going," I'm often asked. The answer is simple: It's going way too quickly! Soon we will return to TBS from places far and wide. With what seems to be startling abruptness, we move from travel, beaches and camps to classrooms and our other "regular" pursuits. Most years, we at least transition between the summer and High Holidays with at least one regular Shabbat service... to reconstitute our community and ease ourselves into Judaism's weekly rhythm.

This year, however, our transition will be all the starker. For our first service, TBS will host a community-wide commemoration of the tenth anniversary of 9/11 on Friday evening, September 9th at 7:30 pm. This service will be sponsored by the Melrose Clergy Association. Rev. Barbara Threet, of the Melrose Unitarian Universalist Church, and I have collaborated on the form and content of the service, which will include leadership roles for several of my clergy colleagues as well as special music. Rev. Larry Starr, our good friend from Green Street Baptist Church, will be the speaker for the evening, and we will also hear from Mayor Rob Dolan. I hope that many in our congregation will attend! And then... directly on to High Holidays.