Rosh Hashana

Happy New Year everyone! I just spent my first Rosh Hashana here, which was wonderful, strange, lovely, and everything in between. I have been thinking a lot about everyone at home, and hope that everybody has a sweet new year. It was very strange not to be with the family - none of Mom's brisket, no going to grandma's house, and no seeing EVERYBODY on the first day. That said, I had dinner with two wonderful and warm families who invited me into their homes and really made me feel welcome. I am so lucky to have found such a welcoming community to help me feel so at home.

One of the biggest differences between the way people celebrate is that here services are PACKED at night and only half full during the morning. They used a lot of familiar tunes, but even so they were slightly different. The music was beautiful and I enjoyed hearing their stuff, sometimes I just wanted to sing everything the HP/CJC way, with the tunes I already knew. The other big difference was the instruments. At night they had a keyboard and violin and in the morning they had a keyboard and clarinet/saxophone (he switched back and forth). It was really beautiful and went along well with the general vibe.

I had two favorite parts. The first is that everything was very relaxed - this is something that the American community could definitely learn from. People were nicely dressed, but going in corduroy pants and a short sleeve sweater was fine. A few men wore suits, but almost all the women wore slacks - some even wore jeans. The atmosphere in general was much more laid back and felt less formal than American high holiday services. To me, it seemed like people were there because they wanted to be and because they enjoyed it. Everybody sang along and there was a real sense of community between the people. There was the regular cast of synagogue characters, just like we have at home (the old men who know everybody, the lady with the crazy hair, the little kids running around, etc.) which also made me feel more comfortable!

My second favorite part was the sermon. His speeches were interesting, well written, and related well to what people think about. One was about doubting and the importance of doubt in life. It was very timely and seemed to go over very well with the congregation. The other was related and about what can be learned from the story of the binding of Isaac - roughly, whether Abraham was right to have absolute faith and (almost!) sacrifice his son. Besides from the interesting content, I UNDERSTOOD THE WHOLE THING! This was particularly important for me - the first time I ever heard him speak I understood most of the speech, but when he really started preaching I lost him completely. This time I knew what was going on the whole time and even understood most of the jokes!

I'm off to bed. Next weekend is what Mom likes to call "the big YK" (Yom Kippur). It should be yet another interesting experience!

Sending lots of love and wishes for a happy sweet new year!

~Becca