Yom Yippur Reflections

When I was a teenager, in the way of teenagers, I wanted to be seen as an adult.  Now as a Jewish teen, I believed I had a leg up on the whole being treated like an adult thing because after all, I was an adult by Jewish law.  And what was the best way to prove that I was ready for my Jewish adult, and therefore all adult, responsibilities and privileges, fast on Yom Kippur.  This might shock some of you who know me, but I was a bit of a type A personality, and tended to attempt to follow the rules fairly strictly.  So there we were on Yom Kippur, my parents, my siblings, grandparents, and assorted other relatives, waiting to eat at the end of Yom Kippur.  And there I was, calmly informing my family that we couldn't eat because it wasn't late enough.  They asked me, what time could we eat, and I responded - when there were 3 stars in the sky. They did their best to humor me and wait, just one little problem - I lived in NYC, good luck finding 3 stars in the sky.  I was so excited to fast back then.  Now, I find myself marking my annual calendar by the High Holidays the way some people mark the year by a birthday, first day of school, or January 1.  Only now it's more like, 6 more months till I have to fast, 3 more months till I have to fast, 1 more week, etc.  At the beginning of summer I'm not worrying about summer being too short because winter is coming, no, I'm thinking, summer's too short, at the end of summer it is time to fast.  At the end of this year's fast my first thought was bonus, it's a leap year - 13 months before Yom Kippur.  Truthfully though, this year's fast was
really not so hard.  Occurring so early in the season, I thought it would be much harder as it ended so late, but it wasn't.  I give credit to our beautiful services at Beth Tikvah.  I wrote about our Yom Kippur services in the Beth Tikvah Synagogue newsletter, but I only scratched the surface.  Sometimes it is the little moments that make the most lasting impressions.  One of those moments for me was watching my friend's husband have an aliyah with his father-in-law.  I first must set the stage, my friend's father is elderly, has trouble walking, needs a lot of care, and lives with them.  I watched her husband tenderly escort her father into service, and sit with him and take care of him during the service.  If you didn't know it was a father and son-in-law, you would swear they were father and son because no son could treat a father with more love and clear affection.  I thought to myself that my friend was so lucky to have such a husband.  In the dictionary, next to the word "mensch" is that man's picture.  Then, they were called to the Torah for an aliyah.  So carefully, her husband escorted her father up to the Torah.  Her father was so happy and honored to have an aliyah, it just shone from him. I came to a rather harsh conclusion about myself at that moment.  As a Bat-Cohen, I get called to the Torah rather often for an aliyah, after all, there are only so many cohanim. I realized, I take it for granted.  Somewhere, along the way, it became mundane and I lost the meaning.  Well, that slap in the face was a wake up call to me, to remember the meaning and significance of the rituals and not just do them for form's sake.  With that, I began to think more about the fast, why was I fasting? Was it just because I was supposed to fast?  Was it to prove that I could like I did as a child?  I began to reflect further on my journey of self-improvement.  Where had I been missing the mark, and where could I improve? While this self-analysis really can't be resolved in one day, Yom Kippur is a great start.

Enjoying the Break-Fast at Beth Tikvah

At the end of Yom Kippur, our congregation had a community break-fast.  Having prayed together for a good chunk of the previous 24 hours, it was so wonderful to break the fast together.  We had a very nice turn-out, and so much food!  Such a great time with my Beth Tikvah family.
Tomorrow morning, the Beth Tikvah and Boroughs Jewish Community Center will celebrate Sukkot together with a "Brunch in the Sukkah".  Unfortunately, weather may have us forgoing the "in the Sukkah" part of that, but we will still have plenty of food and fun activities.  More information about this event can be found at our website, www.bethtikvahsynagogue.org.