When I said the bracha and wrapped myself in my Tallit I was no longer an observer. I was not on the outside looking at others but feeling the embrace of my own tallit. And each time I run my hands through the fringe and wrap the tzitzit around my finger, I am transported back to being 3-years-old in shul, sitting next to my dad.
I feel that there is something artificial and forced about setting aside one day every year for us to admit our mistakes and ask forgiveness from others. This should be done every day! Just feeling that I am “required” to sit in synagogue, pray with more intensity than normal, and pour out my soul to God (or maybe just acknowledging my soul’s existence to myself) makes me feel less motivated to do just that. Yet, this is what Yom Kippur asks us to do.
1. Think of all your sins. Can you really atone for them in one week? Were any of them worth it? Which ones? 2. Be a Jewish fashionista. Count the diamonds and the rolexes in your row. Comment on the skirt lengths. Be judgmental. You have until the last shofar blows to repent.
Don’t let a fear of high ticket prices keep you from High Holidays services. Here is TC Jewfolk’s comprehensive list of those synagogues in town specifically reaching out to younger folk – those of us in our 20s, 30s and 40s – with free or reduced tickets for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Pick one [...]
