Shanah Tovah,

[ellenkushner]

which is Hebrew for "[Have a] Good [New] Year."

We celebrated Rosh Hashanah last week with a small and very heterodox congregation in the city of Kobe, Japan - a mostly Sephardic service run by an Orthodox Lubavitcher rabbi. It was a hassle to get there, but I feel it's important to observe the holidays in community. To me, Judaism is not just about personal spirituality. I have yet to find a congregation I really feel a part of, but "community" is not just about the warm cuddlies. I'm glad we're back home for Yom Kippur, and sorry I haven't had the days in between to do what I traditionally do: get in touch with friends, pay off debts (emotional as well as financial), and take stock of my life in general . . . the days between Rosh & YK are meant to give you the chance to do all that - it's like a door being opened between sacred spaces, an opportunity to stand back from daily life and find your way out of the old year and into a new one. If you want to know more about it, please listen to my one-hour radio program, "A Door is Opened," which is available for online listening here (it's alphabetical, under Door - then click on Listen). It's a personal meditation on the holiday & what it can mean, interwoven with music by Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Richard Thompson & others, and additional commentary by Rabbi Harold Kushner (no relation), Joel Rosenberg, & Rabbi Barbara Penzner. It is, to my mind, some of the truest and most important work I've ever done; certainly one of the things I am most proud of. It grew out of my own profound experiences of the holidays (acquired as an adult, after some pretty alienating childhood ones in our suburban synagogue), and the comment by a friend on Yom Kippur that she didn't see why she "should have a special day to feel guilty." As I say in the show, it's not about guilt; it's about release from guilt.

Shanah Tovah.

Comments

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

If you and yours are ever in the DC/MD area for the Days of Awe, you are most welcome to come to shul here by us. We have an extraordinary and strange congregation, with the only incidence of gay-friendly chassidus I've yet encountered. It's meant a surprising lot to me, which is why I am emerging from squeeing fangirl territory and attempting an adult comment. :)

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

That sounds terrific! There was a lesbian rabbi at a Reconstructionist shul we liked a lot in Newton, MA - and everyone says that the GLBT shul here in NYC has the world's most amazing rabbi! But in both cases these excellent places are far from where we live; call me a wimp, but I like to be able to walk there - or at least not drive for more than 10 minutes. Not just wimpitude on my part; go to far from where I live, and I'm in someone else's community . . . .

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

My wife is my built-in shabbes goy. I don't have to worry about driving! :)

I hope you had an easy fast.

[miep.livejournal.com]

have a happy and a healthy, ellen!

round, sweet, and all of that...

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Thanks, dear! (And speaking of, let me *not* tell you about how I plunked the wine bottle right into the dish of honey at the table in Kobe....)

[miep.livejournal.com]

oh, you didn't! well, well done, anyway -- what could be sweeter than wine WITH honey?

*giggle*

[j-bluestocking.livejournal.com]

When Yom Kippur was first explained to me, I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I thought, "Everybody should have access to this. It shouldn't just be for Jews." In retrospect, maybe the sacrament of confession was supposed to serve this purpose for Catholics, but I'm an agnostic now, and in any case, from my childhood point of view, confession didn't seem to really be about searching yourself -- it was about whether you violated any of the rules men in robes had laid out for you.

Anyway. The idea that you can take an actual period of time to think about this kind of thing was just awesome. That was another thing that seemed absent from the confessional of my girlhood -- thought and judgment; judgment was something other people passed on you, not something you exercised yourself.

You have to wonder what the world would be like if everyone took a few days to consider and make things right.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

One of the nice things about being Jewish is that you can be agnostic and still be a practicing Jew! There's a delightful Chasidic tale about a guy who goes to his rabbi in torment because he's not sure God exists. "And does that trouble you?" the rabbi asks. "Of course!" answers the man. "Well then," says the rabbi; "you have nothing to worry about."

I find my habits are so ingrained that taking a few days to consider is rarely enough to make a difference in the lives of those around me . . . but it helps sometimes.

[redplum.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this.

(And for those who, like me, ran into WGBH's server snafu tonight, you can find the show at http://streams.wgbh.org/scripts/ram.php?show=020_door_open.)

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

Shanah Tovah. And may you have an easy fast.


I've come to really appreciate this period, for the reasons you cite, and even appreciate the long services. Of course, ours is a lay led shul, so we may have a professional veneer but we really get through the high holy days together (we don't hire in a cantor; we do it all ourselves).

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

I love "chavurot"! Lucky you. Shanah Tovah.

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

It's a wonderful shul, and we are very fortunate to have found it.

But I meant "we may NOT have a professional veneer." This is why I am not a proff0redder.

[renakuzar.livejournal.com]

Shanah Tovah! May you and those you love be inscribed in the book of life for a year of loving growth.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Amen!

[ellen-denham.livejournal.com]

Shanah Tovah!

I sang for Yom Kippur services for nine years and this is the second year since I left that position. In the singing business it is better to have too much work than not enough, but as I have yet to find a way to be in two places at once, alas, I had to let that job go to sing in an opera.

I do miss the services, long though they were, and it forced me to think of things I never had to confront in a Christian service. I've got the link to your show open and plan to listen later on today.

Last week I filled out an official form to suggest you as a speaker/performer at Earlham College, where I teach voice. Since I'm just a part-time faculty member my opinion may not count for much, but Stephan and I loved the Golden Dreydl cd and I'm going to lend it to the ethnomusicologist in the dept. to see what he thinks about hosting this.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

So many (non-Jewish) singers I know work hard on the High Holidays - esp. in NYC! In high school I used to sing in our synagogue choir in Cleveland - my mother loved it because it meant I wouldn't try to skive off on services - but my coolest gig ever was the few years in NYC that I sang in the choir of the Concord Resort in the Catskills - a free vacation in the mountains every fall, with amaaaaaazing food. The Concord and its ilk are no more, alas. But at least I got to be there. Our conductor was a fiery Israeli named Dan ("dahn") who was constantly frustrated because the alto soloist, a paid professional with a gorgeous voice, wouldn't be bothered to learn her part - I can still hear him: "CA-TA-STROOOOOPHE!"

Boy, would I love to come to Earlham! Thank you so much. I'm glad you both liked the CD, too! It was really good seeing you both.

[janni.livejournal.com]

Shanah tovah!