Rosh Hashana in bullet points

[cellio]

- Normal 15-minute drive home from work Friday took 45 minutes.
+ But I'd done most of the cooking the night before.
+ Used special candles that were a Pesach present from lefkowitzga's father.
- Kabbalat shabbat shrunk to make room for Rosh Hashana.
+ Seasonal motifs work: the majesty of the HHD music was quite evocative.
- Off-by-one error in the assigned torah readings left me preparing one more verse five minutes before the service.
+ I could, in part because I thought that might happen and looked at it briefly the night before.
+ Compliment from several: "you sounded like you knew what you were chanting". That's because I did, and I also got the climax of the passage.
+ Excellent sermon jumping off from Yishmael (not Yitzchak as we often do).
- Morning liturgy felt choppy to me: day-of-judgment stuff was very effective but we seemed to spend more time celebrating the creation of the world instead. Maybe I need to get myself a traditional machzor to better learn and appreciate. (Suggestions welcome.)
+ Unatana tokef brought out the gravity of the day quite thoroughly.
- I wish I'd felt more of that before Rosh Hashana.
+ Second-day service was a nice complement to the first.
+ The rising crescendo of the last shofar blast, t'kiah g'dolah; to conserve breath it starts low and quiet and then intensifies to the final blast. *shiver*
-/+ No guests (minus), but it meant meals could be lower key and that turned out to be good.
+ Afternoon games of Pandemic, because it's ok to not spend all your time focusing on the themes of the season.

Comments

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

Quick response: I recommend the machzorim published by the OU in affiliation with ArtScroll (yeah, I know) with commentaries taken from the teachings of Rav Soloveitchik. More later, bli neder.

Gmar tov!