L’Shana Tovah! Happy New Year!
While I am not the most religious of Jews (I married the son of a Greek Orthodox Priest for pete’s sake!), I am a sucker for tradition. For me, my judaism is my family – it’s my heritage – and something I cannot leave far behind. I identify as a Jew. I’m proud of it, and I make no excuses for it.
That said, I’m a twice a year Jew when it comes to synagogue. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Why do I go? Because I think everyone needs a time of year set aside for reflection and repentence. Who among us has been the perfect individual – always kind to our family and friends and the strangers we meet? Not me. So I like to repent in my own way. I ask for forgiveness in my heart. I also really, really like the prayers. They’re soulful and mournful and old worldly and they’re only said once a year. On the High Holy Days, we use a different prayer book filled with prayers specific to the holidays. Kol Nidre is one of my absolute favorites, said on the evening of Yom Kippur. Done the right way (read: by a cantor I like) I can be moved to tears.
One of my favorite Rosh Hashanah traditions is Tashlich. Literally, the word means “you will cast away” and the way it works is that on the afternoon of the first day of Rosh Hashanah (unless it’s on a Saturday, but that’s a whole other ball of wax) you go down to the nearest body of flowing water and throw away your sins by tossing stale bread crumbs into the water. When we were little we used to go with my grandmother’s synagogue. We’d all walk as a group to Pennypack, following the rabbi, and throw away the bread my grandmother had been saving for weeks. Stale. Very stale bread. Then, on the way back, congregants would open their homes and we’d go from house to house for cookies and cakes and wine.
In the most recent years, it’s become a family event. We’d gather at my grandmother’s house and walk to the part of Pennypack creek that runs nearby and say our own prayers and toss our breadcrumbs and sins. I love this tradition.
So today, since I’m not with my family, I will walk to the Hackensack River that runs behind my house and toss some bread. For me, and my husband, and my family. I will make peace with myself for at least an afternoon. Forgiving my self is harder than forgiving anyone else for sure. And I will say the Shehecheyanu:
Ba-ruch A-tah Ado-noy Elo-heinu
Me-lech Ha-olom She-he-che-yanu
Ve-kee-ya-manu Ve-hi-gee-ya-nu
Liz-man Ha-zehBlessed are You,
our God, Creator of time and space,
who has supported us, protected us,
and brought us to this moment.
The Shehecheyanu is one of those all around wonderful prayers. Jews are encouraged to say it during times of unusual circumstances, at milestone life events (weddings, bar mitzvahs, brit milah). I’m pretty sure I said it at my wedding. And this afternoon I will say it – thanking God for getting me to this place in my life.
The sleeve fits on the Almost Everyday Cardigan! Jen came over yesterday and I did a hasty sew-up job and now it’s blocking for the real sew-in. I cast on for the second sleeve, but my wrist is bothering me, so I think I will take the day off today. And Jen also helped me see that the size 8 needles on my new shawl are working out just fine! Pictures when I get close to something resembling anything.
Have a lovely day!