Our Newest Torah Carriers: Yom Kippur Morning at Neshamah

If you want to know what a community believes, don’t read its mission statement. Look at who is standing on the bima.

This Yom Kippur morning, I looked around our bima and saw exactly who we are. I saw teenagers who had just become B’nai Mitzvah holding the Torah in their arms. I saw congregants, not clergy, chanting from the scroll. I saw children leading us in prayer. I saw whole families standing shoulder to shoulder, reading words of hope and repentance to the community they love.

On the holiest day of the Jewish year, the service did not belong to me. It belonged to all of us. And I cannot think of anything more fitting.

The Newest Adults in Our Community

One of my favorite traditions at Neshamah is inviting the young people who became B’nai Mitzvah this past year to carry the Torah during the High Holy Days.

A year ago, many of these kids were nervous about reading a few lines of Hebrew. On Yom Kippur morning, they walked the Torah through the congregation with the confidence of people who know it belongs to them. As they passed, grandparents reached out to touch the scroll with their prayer books. Parents fought back tears. Younger kids watched with wide eyes, already imagining their own turn.

That moment is exactly what B’nai Mitzvah is supposed to mean. It is not a finish line. It is the day a young person steps into their place in the chain of Jewish life. When our newest B’nai Mitzvah carry the Torah on Yom Kippur, they are telling all of us: we are here, and we are staying.

When the Congregation Reads the Torah

In many synagogues, the Torah reading on the High Holy Days is left to professionals. At Neshamah, we do it differently. Our Torah readers on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur morning were members of our community who spent weeks preparing, practicing the ancient trope and learning every word.

There is something deeply moving about hearing the Torah chanted by someone you know. You recognize the voice from the Shabbat table or the carpool line, and suddenly that familiar voice is carrying words that are thousands of years old. It reminds every person in the room that Torah is not the property of rabbis. It was given to all of us at Sinai, and it is ours to read, to wrestle with, and to pass on.

Every year, someone tells me afterward, “I didn’t know I could do that.” That sentence might be my favorite part of the whole holiday season.

Children Leading the Way

Yom Kippur is a long day, and people sometimes assume it is not a day for children. I believe the opposite. Kids need to see that they have a place in the most sacred moments of Jewish life, not just at the snack table.

Families on the Bima

Some of the most powerful moments of the morning came from our families. Parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, spouses and siblings came up together to share readings with the community.

A reading about forgiveness hits differently when it is read by a mother and a son standing side by side. A prayer for the new year sounds different when a grandfather reads the first line and his granddaughter reads the next. These families were not performing. They were praying out loud, together, in front of the people who have walked through life with them.

At Neshamah, we have always believed that Judaism is lived in families of every shape: interfaith families, blended families, multigenerational families, families of choice. On Yom Kippur morning, every one of those families had a place on the bima.

Do Not Hide Yourself

In my sermon , I spoke about the prophet Isaiah’s charge that we read on Yom Kippur morning: do not hide yourself. We usually think of Yom Kippur as a day to confront our mistakes. But it is also a day to step forward, to be seen, and to reveal the good that is in us.

Your Place Is Waiting

Neshamah is dues-free and membership-free, and every family who walks through our doors is invited to participate. If you would like to read Torah next year, share a family reading, or have your child take part in the service, just let me know. We will teach you, practice with you, and cheer you on.

Tickets for High Holy Days 5788 go on sale in May 2027. Everything at Neshamah starts with a conversation. We’re here whenever you’re ready.

With love and blessings,

Rabbi Amy