Notes from Rabbi Seltzer

This Saturday night, we will gather in our synagogues to recite special poems and prayers called “selichot.” Selichot focus on themes of reflection and forgiveness and move our preparations for the High Holy Days into high gear.

I always think of my Bubby on Selichot. Because she didn’t drive on Shabbat and was not healthy enough to walk to our synagogue, the Selichot service was one of the only times we could sit together in shul. Once I had my driver’s license, Selichot became our date. I would pick Bubby up and we would go to shul together. I always knew how happy she was to spend time with me, and I was equally happy to spend the time with her. I would watch her be uplifted by the service. I was moved by her faith, her love of God, and her love of being in the synagogue. Our time together was very special. Despite the difference in our ages, we seemed to share many of the same values. So, every year, during Selichot, I think of my Bubby.

My Bubby, Tamara Katzman, who survived the pogroms of Russia and the floods of Ansonia, who fled her home and family, who lost her husband at a young age, never lost her joy in living or the miracles of every day life. I can still hear her voice: “Look, at that beautiful rabbit, Stuie, or listen to those birds or her obligatory, eat, eat, as she filled my soup bowl to the brim.” When I used to come home from college, I would visit with my Bubby daily. Each time I left my Bubby’s home, we exchanged the following words. “Bubby, stay well. I will come visit you tomorrow.”

“I hope so,” she would immediately respond, and then she would bless me in Yiddish, “Go in good health, be in good health, and come in good, health.”

One Friday night, before leaving for shul, I stopped by to visit her. I told her that I would definitely come to visit with her on Sunday.

Before leaving, she gently instructed me, “Stuart, you should never say that you will come to visit without saying the words – “I hope so.” You never know what tomorrow brings. We shouldn’t take life for granted. Live every day like that.”

Perhaps her words encapsulated the most important message of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur: “We shouldn’t take life for granted. Live every day like that.”

So, on this Friday, before Selichot, I am thinking about my Bubby, and how grateful I am to be alive.

Rabbi Stuart Seltzer, Dean of Judaic Studies