Dear Congregation Beth Israel members and friends,

November is a quiet month on the Jewish calendar. The first half of this month falls during the lunar month of Heshvan, which contains no holidays at all (aside from Shabbat, the holiest day of them all, which returns to enliven us every single week.) And the latter half of November will usher in the lunar month of Kislev, which contains the festival of Chanukah, though we won’t reach Chanukah until early in December.

Nava Tehila, a group of musicians in Jerusalem whose melodies we often sing at CBI, wrote a niggun – a wordless melody – for the lunar month of Kislev, and it is here: Niggun for Kislev. This may be my favorite of their niggunim. Once I’ve started singing or humming it, it just flows in me like a perpetual motion machine, like notes cascading around a never-ending figure-8.

They gave this niggun a name: Kosi Revaya, which means “My cup overflows.” (The phrase is a quote from Psalm 23; my mother, of blessed memory, used to quip “my cup overfloweth” whenever life felt particularly abundant and sweet.)

I love how that title subtly connects us with Chanukah, when we retell the story about how what little reserves we had on hand turned out to be enough. As we sing this niggun this year, I hope it will help all of us reflect on what makes our “cup” feel filled to overflowing. What are the inner dynamics of feeling that sense of abundance – feeling that we can open our hands and hearts to one another and to the world because we know that we have more than enough? And what can we do to strengthen that feeling and lean into it more deeply?

Shabbat is one of the best tools I know for filling my cup, and so is singing. On that note (see what I did there?) we’ll sing this “Kosi Revaya” niggun melody at Shabbat services this month November. Those who joined us on November 6th for Shabbat M’varkhim Kislev, the Shabbat when we celebrated the incoming lunar month, got to sing it a bunch! (And when I say that Shabbat fills my cup – remember that “keeping Shabbat” can take many different forms, and your practices around Shabbat don’t need to be the same as mine – and can always change. If you ever want to brainstorm about ways to make your experience of Shabbat sweeter, I am so here for that.)

Our communal cup at CBI is overflowing for sure. As of this writing, the Board just held the shul’s second annual Sunday morning coffee-and-bagels social, which was a treat. In the realm of adult ed, this month we plan to begin a pair of Hebrew classes taught by Adam Green: one for beginners who are still learning the alef-bet, and the other for adults who can decode Hebrew words but don’t know what they mean. In addition to Shabbat, we’ll celebrate a community simhah (joyous occasion) this month with Rabbi Jarah Greenfield as her son Isaac will be called to Torah on Saturday, November 21. And every week we’ll continue offering the spiritual riches of this year’s Soul Spa cycle, themed around finding spiritual shleimut (wholeness/integration) in and through Torah. (All are welcome every week; feel free to bookmark this link so you can join us easily.)

Here’s to feeling all the ways in which our cups overflow: with kindness, with blessing, and with care for one another and our world.

Blessings to all,

— Rabbi Rachel