Sunday, September 24, 2006
L'shana tova! Happy New Year!
Saturday officially marked the beginning of the Jewish year 5767. We spent the last two days in services and visiting and eating A LOT. It seems that Rosh Hashana in Israel is a lot like Thanksgiving in the states, only there are many more meals than just the one big one. Jamie was in the choir with the rest of the cantors and singers. He gave a couple of beautiful solos. Now that he's ready to catch his breath, he's rehearsing for Yom Kippur, beginning on Sunday night. Of course, not only does he have to sing all day again and will have more solos, but this time he does it while fasting. No pressure.
The highlight of the weekend was unexpected. We signed up to host some American students studying in Israel for the weekend. Thinking we were simply doing something nice for college students as many had done for us in the past, we had no idea how much they would bring to us. Three girls, in different years of college, came to stay with us for two nights and quickly adopted us, calling us "Ima and Aba" (mother and father). On the second day, their friend came to hang out for a little while and ended up spending the rest of the weekend with us. It was touching to have these sweet, young women with us. We spent a lot of time laughing and eating, and also missing our "kids" (youth group) from home. Anyway, here are our girls:
We ended the weekend with Tashlich, a symbolic ceremony of casting away your sins into the water, usually with bread crumbs. There is only one natural source of water in Jerusalem, so everyone goes to the same place, where we had to hike down a huge hill and worse of all, back up! The flow of water is so small, you can't see it in the picture, but maybe you can get the beauty of the ceremony.
Rosh Hashana celebrates the beginning of the world and it purposefully falls during the new year of agriculture. Here in Jerusalem, the weather has begun to change,a little cooler in the mornings, even chilly at night, the peaches and watermelon are harder to find, the pomegranites and dates in abundance. As the season changes, we are asked to look inside, to evaluate our own lives, to make changes too. We have entered into the days known as the Days of Awe, the 10 days between Rosh Hashana, the celebration of creation, and Yom Kippur, the day of repentance. This year has been a whirlwind for us, changing our lives, our direction, getting rid of our things and spending most of the year in preparation for change. In that time of constant change I think that it's quite likely that we over looked our friends and family at times, that we weren't as careful or gentle as we should have been. If in any way I have offended or committed any wrong, I sincerely ask for your forgiveness.
Wishing you all a Shana Tova, a Shanat Briut and a Shana Mitukah, a good year, a healthy year and a sweet year.
Saturday officially marked the beginning of the Jewish year 5767. We spent the last two days in services and visiting and eating A LOT. It seems that Rosh Hashana in Israel is a lot like Thanksgiving in the states, only there are many more meals than just the one big one. Jamie was in the choir with the rest of the cantors and singers. He gave a couple of beautiful solos. Now that he's ready to catch his breath, he's rehearsing for Yom Kippur, beginning on Sunday night. Of course, not only does he have to sing all day again and will have more solos, but this time he does it while fasting. No pressure.
The highlight of the weekend was unexpected. We signed up to host some American students studying in Israel for the weekend. Thinking we were simply doing something nice for college students as many had done for us in the past, we had no idea how much they would bring to us. Three girls, in different years of college, came to stay with us for two nights and quickly adopted us, calling us "Ima and Aba" (mother and father). On the second day, their friend came to hang out for a little while and ended up spending the rest of the weekend with us. It was touching to have these sweet, young women with us. We spent a lot of time laughing and eating, and also missing our "kids" (youth group) from home. Anyway, here are our girls:
We ended the weekend with Tashlich, a symbolic ceremony of casting away your sins into the water, usually with bread crumbs. There is only one natural source of water in Jerusalem, so everyone goes to the same place, where we had to hike down a huge hill and worse of all, back up! The flow of water is so small, you can't see it in the picture, but maybe you can get the beauty of the ceremony.
Rosh Hashana celebrates the beginning of the world and it purposefully falls during the new year of agriculture. Here in Jerusalem, the weather has begun to change,a little cooler in the mornings, even chilly at night, the peaches and watermelon are harder to find, the pomegranites and dates in abundance. As the season changes, we are asked to look inside, to evaluate our own lives, to make changes too. We have entered into the days known as the Days of Awe, the 10 days between Rosh Hashana, the celebration of creation, and Yom Kippur, the day of repentance. This year has been a whirlwind for us, changing our lives, our direction, getting rid of our things and spending most of the year in preparation for change. In that time of constant change I think that it's quite likely that we over looked our friends and family at times, that we weren't as careful or gentle as we should have been. If in any way I have offended or committed any wrong, I sincerely ask for your forgiveness.
Wishing you all a Shana Tova, a Shanat Briut and a Shana Mitukah, a good year, a healthy year and a sweet year.
