Yom Kippur

So I really should be sleeping right now, but like the Disney World commercial, “I’m too excited to sleep!” Michael just left for the airport to come visit, and I can’t wait! Of course, I still have a day of class to get through first, but that is way beside the point. I also realized I haven’t blogged since Rosh Hashanah, and that’s a problem. Here we go…

Yom Kippur

Unlike Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur is out of this world in Jerusalem. Israel’s government decided some years ago to tie fall daylight savings time to the holiday, so in Israel, daylight savings time is the Saturday night before Yom Kippur. I went to my pre-fast meal (“lunchdinner”) at 3:00 in the afternoon. Kol Nidre services were at 5:00. I enjoyed HUC’s Kol Nidre service, and because of the crazy times, the service was over before 8:00. (I enjoyed the service. It was still pretty long for Kol Nidre.) After services, one of our professors wanted to take interested students on a walk down a main street a little ways away to show us what Yom Kippur looks like in Jerusalem. I decided that since it wasn’t too far from home, and I wasn’t hungry yet, I would go along. It was pretty unbelievable. We walked down to a street that is lined by restaurants and shops. Everything was closed, but almost everything is closed on Shabbat as well. Traffic is light on Shabbat, but on Yom Kippur, the traffic lights were actually turned off. It turns out, it’s a law in Israel (or at least in Jerusalem, I’m not sure) that only emergency vehicles can drive on Yom Kippur. A couple of my classmates decided it would be fun to lay down in the middle of a main intersection, just because they could. People were just walking down the middle of normally very busy streets. And there were bikes everywhere. Apparently this is the holiday when all non-religious children learn to ride their bikes. There were zero cars on the road, so in addition to the zillions of pedestrians just walking around, there were huge numbers of children on bikes, scooters, and running around. It was like a block party! Except, without music, or food, or drink… I was home by 9:00ish, and in bed before 10. I slept for nine and a half hours!!

The next morning, I had made plans to go to the same synagogue I went to for the second day of Rosh Hashanah. There were a handful of HUC students there, and it was a good, all in Hebrew service. I liked the Rosh Hashanah one better there, but Rosh Hashanah services are also much happier and more upbeat, which I prefer to tired and hungry. Also, there were two Torah readings, which meant two different people spoke about the Torah portions. They both spoke in Hebrew. Several of the other HUC people left after the first sermon. When we got to the last section of the service, and a few pages in someone got up to give a third sermon in Hebrew…we gave up. We figured there was only another half hour or so left in the service, and we were already in the section that is cut out of Gates of Repentance, so we were essentially in bonus time, right? Yeah, we gave up and started the long, slow walk home.

I came back to my apartment and engaged in my favorite fasting activity: I took a two-hour nap. Then it was back to HUC for afternoon, memorial, and closing services. They cut out a lot at the beginning, but toward the end of the closing service, we all appreciated the service leader’s mark of being a truly good rabbi: he started cutting passages as it got closer to the 5:58 break fast time. We got out of services promptly at about 6:05. Before the end, there was a massive shofar blowing. Several students who had bought shofarot and been practicing basically had a competition on the bima to see who could hold the blast the longest. I was impressed that they had anything left in them to blow the shofar. By the end of not eating or drinking for 25 hours, I was proud of myself for standing there! I went to break fast at a friend’s apartment, and it was delicious, as break fasts always are.

Today was back to the grind, temporarily. Tomorrow we have our Israel seminar, and tomorrow is yet another field trip day. And then, I take a shuttle to the airport to meet Michael! (Yes, I have class on Thursday too. But only in the morning.) And then I’m on sukkot vacation!! I’m staying in Israel this vacation, with Michael for the first half and figuring out who else is around for the second half. I’m ready for the break! But now…I guess it’s bedtime.

Hopefully there will be lots of sukkah pictures coming soon!