Sticky notes symbolically bearing congregants’ holy thoughts dotted the surfaces of a temporary ark at Tikvat Israel Congregation in Rockville on Rosh Hashanah. (Photo by Sam Freedenberg)
As part of the observance of the second day of Rosh Hashanah at Tikvat Israel Congregation in Rockville, Rabbi Benjamin Shull issued a charge to the congregation during the Zichronot (Remembrances) section of the service: “Think of something that you want God to ‘remember’ in the coming year.”
Prior to the start of Zichronot, Rabbi Shull, the congregation’s new spiritual leader, had arranged for a small blank Post-It note to be inserted inside every machzor (High Holiday prayer book). He introduced the remembrance concept and then invited congregants to bring their Post-it notes to the bima (proscenium) and stick them — along with the mental remembrances they represented — onto either of the two temporary furnishings that were used for Tikvat Israel’s High Holiday services: the ark or the cantor’s lectern. Rabbi Shull said this symbolic activity evoked the practice of visitors to the Western Wall in Jerusalem stuffing small notes (kvitlachim) in the cracks between the wall’s stones.
For the next fifteen minutes, while Cantor Rochelle Helzner’s evocative melodies filled the air, congregants filed onto the bima one at a time, stuck their notes on the ark or the lectern, and received a greeting from the rabbi.
At the conclusion of the service, Rabbi Shull announced that the multitude of small “stickies” — by dint of their association with the remembrances from God requested by the congregants — had become holy. They will be collected and sent to a geniza for the ritual burial that befits holy writings, he said.
Many members of the congregation expressed positive feelings about the rabbi’s addition to the service. Some stated that they enjoyed the interactive nature of the activity, while others declared that it gave them a new appreciation for the Zichronot prayers.
(This article was written by congregant Susan Urban)
