Our holiday season began in mid-September and ended early this month. I am referring, of course, to the Jewish High Holidays and the ones immediately following. It is a platefull.
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles.
Shemini Atzeret, the Eighth Day of Meeting.
Simchat Torah, the Rejoicing of the Law.
I had the honor and privilege of leading services during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Under the best of circumstances, these are lengthy affairs requiring an enormous amount of vocal and spiritual energy. This year, our rabbis and synagogue staff made sure that accommodations were in place to enable me to function. It was a most gracious gesture that allowed me an opportunity to deliver what I knew to be my valedictory.
On Simchat Torah, both Dee and I were honored by being called to recite the blessings at the end of Deuteronomy and the beginning of Genesis. For our cycle of reading the Torah never ends: as we finish we begin anew. And seeing Dee standing on the bimah as the story of Creation was read will be one of my sweetest memories.
For extra fun, fully one-third of the congregation was wearing colanders. Those of you who know me will understand.
“Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” - Dr. Samuel Johnson
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
NAMING CONVENTIONS
When I decided to start this blog - my third! - I had to select an appropriate name for it. I decided on the one you see above, but several...
Popular Posts
-
When I decided to start this blog - my third! - I had to select an appropriate name for it. I decided on the one you see above, but several...
-
Yesterday we endured a three hour round trip to the Emory Clinic in order for them to tell me what I already know: I am beginning to circle ...
-
This years Thanksgiving was exceptional in so many ways. For one thing, I wasn't 100% sure I was going to make it to Thanksgiving. Whe...
-
I apologize for the lack of new posts since our return from Alaska. One of the reasons is that composing my posts has become much more diffi...
-
There are plenty of belief systems out there. In some of them, angels play a role. In my younger days, I used to lump the belief in ange...
An honor and a privilege, indeed. Did anyone upload video? Including a pan across those in attendance? I'd have loved to see and hear the recitations, not to mention catching a glimpse of those colanders.
ReplyDeleteA video or photo would have been a nice souvenir of the occasion. Alas, it is our tradition to abstain from photography on religious holidays. The memories are the only record.
DeleteUnderstood. Judaism is nothing if not a tradition that affirms the power and holiness of memory.
DeleteAh! I wish you had a photo of the colander crew!
ReplyDeleteThis one.
ReplyDeleteThis post moves me, Steve.
This is how I feel like I know you! <3
grt
ReplyDelete