Rachel Myers

You know, our spiritual leader, Ben Russell, did a fantastic job of really setting the tone.

You know, he was prompting us to be joyous and resilient.

I'm always the first one to kind of give a woo-hoo.

Like, I just feel like, you know, if there's a time to celebrate, there's a time to celebrate.

And it truly did feel like that.

I was struck by the fact that you said it was a joyful service, even after everything.

Yes, yes.

And that just, I think that's a Jewish tradition.

I think there is such a Jewish tradition to need to find joy together.

You know, the prayers are meant to be uplifting.

They're meant to, you know, bring us together.

This morning, I did get choked up at the very first prayer.

It's called Mato Vuh.

You're supposed to say it right when you enter a sanctuary to kind of be grateful to be in a sacred space together.

And we'll continue to sing that same song.

When I met with the Sunday school kids the very next day, I was very intent to show them photos of what happened inside the building so that they could see what was done to us.

And then we immediately started dreaming of what we were going to do next.

And they had some great ideas for things that they want in our next space.

You know, I was teaching them that Jewish people are resilient and we do not cower in fear and we continue.

We rebuild.