Welcome to New Toco Shul
NTS is an intellectually vibrant, family friendly Orthodox synagogue. We are founded on the ideas that every individual has unique abilities and perspectives, that we are obligated to share our talents with others, and that our community is strongest when our members contribute to its success and well-being. Our rabbinic and lay partners work together to provide a platform for sophisticated and nuanced Torah, reflective and meaningful Tefillah, and supportive and enriching Gemilut Chassadim.
Find us at 2003 Lavista Rd, Atlanta GA 30329.
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Special Upcoming Free Dinner-and-Shiur Series with Rabbi Broyde on "Themes in the Book of Exodus".
Currently @ NTS
-- Vatikin Shacharit this week at 6:45 am
-- Mincha/Maariv at 5:20 pm
Special Message From Rabbi Seeman
Dear NTS and KYA family,
I arrived in Israel for the first time at the age of eighteen, just in time for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. My small, mostly American and mostly Ashkenazi yeshiva joined with a small, mostly Sefardi yeshivat hesder (combining yeshiva study and military service) for the holidays (does this sound familiar yet?). The Rosh Yeshivah of the hesder program spoke on Yom Kippur (which started at dawn and ran through Ne’ilah) about all of the students he had lost on that day in 1973. My Hebrew wasn’t great at the time, but this left an extremely powerful impression on me; it helped to shape my understanding of what it means to be a Jew among other Jews, from every background and walk of life, in this age of almost unbelievable celebration and unbearable sorrow for our people. This is still part of what motivates my own avodah, and my desire to contribute what I can.
At some point over those holidays, the Israeli bachurim taught us the incredible piyyut called ‘Et Shaarei Ratzon (the Hebrew lyrics are here) that I want to share with you now. It is found in many tunes in many different Sefardic and Mizrahi liturgies for Rosh Hashanah and, to be perfectly honest, after reviewing dozens of recordings, I still cannot find the exact one they taught us, but this one is close. It is built on the many midrashim that tell of Abraham and Isaac’s journey to Moriah, the grief of Sara on learning that they were gone, and Isaac’s desire to spare his mother any pain while still fulfilling the test his father had laid out for him. It is also about the opening of the gates of prayer for us, their children. The refrain is, “The Binder and the Bound and the Altar.” Most Ashkenazim don’t sing this in shul, but I make a point in sharing it every year at home or among guests, and this year, I am sharing it with you here in two versions—the second is the closest to what I fell in love with those years ago.
May everyone from our diverse and growing community find blessing and open gates in the merit of Avraham.
Yours,
Don Seeman
Rabbi, NTS
Upcoming @ NTS
