Priests and deacons who feel the pressure of preaching weekly (or sometimes more often) may be interested in seeing what our Jewish counterparts have to go through during the high holy days.

In a word: oy.

The Philadelphia Inquirer today profiled some local rabbis gearing up for Rosh Hashanah:

Rabbi Jerome David sat at the edge of Pleasant Bay on Cape Cod’s elbow a few weeks ago and thought hard about his Rosh Hashanah sermon.

He mused over what he would say to his congregation at Temple Emanuel, back in Cherry Hill, pondering the wisdom he could extract from all the reading and interviewing he had already done.

Preaching at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is one of the most challenging assignments in the rabbi’s calendar, and tonight David’s congregation will hear the results of his research and reflection.

Rosh Hashanah, which begins at sundown today, ushers in the High Holidays and the Hebrew year 5768. In 10 days comes Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the end of the High Holidays. It’s the most intense period in the Jewish calendar, and synagogues are packed.

It’s also a time of pressure for rabbis, some of whom may preach as many as five sermons over the High Holidays, in addition to leading studies of Torah. But the pressure is of a good kind, says Rabbi Ira S. Grussgott of Congregation Kesher Israel in Society Hill. A rabbi can “take that pressure and turn it around, make it a conduit for energy.”

It’s tougher on the inexperienced.

“There’s definitely more pressure on a young rabbi,” says David. In his 33d year as a rabbi, the stress has turned into “a good feeling,” and any pressure comes from wanting “to connect in the right way with people.”

No single topic has emerged this year as a must for High Holiday sermons.

David is preaching at Rosh Hashanah on anti-Semitism and, in a later sermon, on the 60th anniversary of Israel. Grussgott, whose congregation has been at 412 Lombard St. since 1891, is preaching on how a congregation can change without moving. And Rabbi Lance Sussman, of Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, is preaching about three authors who have recently attacked religion: Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. “They’re challenging all of religion because of the misbehavior of some,” Sussman says.

On Yom Kippur, a day that emphasizes divine mercy, sermons tend to dwell on sin and morality.

Rabbis often seem to preach on the same topics, so “sometimes rabbis are asked if there’s some central rabbinical agency that sends out topics to talk about during the High Holidays,” David says. The answer is no: “No list, no word from on high.” Just similar interests.

Sermon preparation differs from rabbi to rabbi.

David likes to get away and usually goes off to Cape Cod, where his wife takes continuing-education courses and he cogitates.

Grussgott goes into his study, clears off his desk, and surrounds himself with books and works with pencil and paper. “The pencil does have an eraser on it,” he says.

The length of a sermon also varies from rabbi to rabbi.

Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz, president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote and formerly a congregational rabbi for 14 years at Bnai Keshet in Montclair, N.J., says he always tried to keep the length of his sermons to 11 to 14 minutes. That is his personal standard. Other rabbis go longer.

“Different people will do different things and have success,” Ehrenkrantz says.

“No one ever comes up to a rabbi and says, ‘That was a wonderful service, but the sermon was too short,’ ” he adds.

David usually preaches for about 25 minutes, but is careful not to go beyond 30.

Grussgott, who speaks for about 12 minutes during sermons the rest of the year, doubles that to 24 minutes. “People are understanding of that,” he said. “I would like to think it is as much quality as quantity.”

Continue here for more.

It seems, when it comes to preaching, we have a lot in common.

Photo: Rabbi Jerome David, by Clem Murray, Philadelphia Inquirer