Three More Interesting Things about YK

1) It was the first time I heard a rabbi talk about when the Torah was canonized.
2) The cantor started off yizkor by playing guitar and singing a song from Wicked.
3) There was no PAINFUL part at the end where you have to stand for an hour.

Before you get the wrong idea, I will tell you that I liked all of these things.

1) The Rabbi did a study session on Yom Kippur afternoon, and it was looking at a piece of Torah that we read that afternoon (which, btw, is something different than all congregations I have been a part of reads). I really enjoyed the session and the way he conducted it. One of the points that he brought up was that one of the sentences we were studying - in Leviticus 19 - has a very similar sentence in Deuteronomy, but it's sort of the expanded version. Then a discussion went about which might have been written first. I have to say that I DO NOT believe that God told the Torah to Moshe at Sinai. I do not believe that Moshe wrote it all down and it has been passed down in that form for thousands of years. However, nearly EVERYONE I have learned with HAS believed that (or at least they act like they do), and it was a bit shocking for me to hear the discussion around when the Torah was canonized - led by a rabbi!

The good news is that I enjoyed this session, and I think I respect this rabbi more than so many others, because the conversation seemed so much more real and honest (and for so many other reasons too - he's really great). Maybe I should go study with some progressive people.

2) At the beginning of Yizkor (where you remember the dead), the cantor started singing the song, "For Good." I heard myself singing the words, but I could not place it. Was it a cheezy song from camp in the early 90s? Was it Dar Williams or some other folky person that I learned about after college? I really couldn't place it. I asked Shoshana, who was sitting next to me, and she didn't know, but she also recognized it. Matt didn't know. I finally thought - maybe this is from a musical? Finally it hit me that it was from Wicked. It was really beautiful, and really enjoyable. It was also pretty hilarious that I had the book, Wicked, with me at services...

3) I hate fasting. Being hungry is seriously one of my least favorite things in life. I know most people don't like it, but I have fasting-anxiety. I really hate it a lot. I think that a major part of my hatred actually has to do with the fact that growing up, we had to stand for an hour at the end of Neila (the ending service of YK) each year. The ark is open, so you really can't sit down (or you feel super guilty). My back would hurt, my knees would shake, and I was really hungry. With this service, we did stand at the end, but it was for about 15 minutes, and it wasn't painful at all. Is it really necessary to stand for the entire amidah and the repetition AND the sh'mas AND havdalah? No. I like it better the way we did it in Singapore (Reform). Are we becoming Reform Jews? Probably not - but we (MATT TOO!!) just really like Rabbi Thal and this great community.

In addition, Rabbi Thal's sermon totally related to something I'm going through at work, and it really spoke to me. I appreciated that. It took a conversation I keep having with Matt one step further.

In other news, we went out with a bunch of great Jews after break fast. We were with a couple from Australia who are living on an island in Indonesia, Lombok, near Bali, a girl from DC who is doing some relief work in Aceh, Indonesia, a girl who went to grad school with Matt and lived on his hall in DC who is living in Cambodia, and about three people young Jews living in Singapore. Great people.