Rosh Hashana

This was a good Rosh Hashana. Services were good, I was able to do something useful, and we had friends over for lunch. (I'll write about lunch in a separate entry.)

( service styles )

( service to something bigger than oneself )

( logistics )

On my way out on Saturday I ran into someone who asked me, for reasons unknown, if I was on my way to Young People's (an Orthodox congregation). I said no, but that gave me an idea. I've been meaning to visit YPS but the logistics just haven't worked out. They're holding their HHD services at the JCC, halfway between Temple Sinai and my house, and their advertising seems to imply that tickets aren't needed. So maybe, after our morning service is over, when I need to fill a couple hours anyway, I'll wander over there to see what (part of) an Orthodox Yom Kippur service is like. (I can stash my tallit somewhere in Temple Sinai, avoiding the awkwardness of walking into an Orthodox shul carrying a tallit. Women don't wear them there. This is the main reason I've never stopped in at YPS on Shabbat morning on my way home.) If they require tickets, I've wasted 15 minutes and I can just go back to our library and find something to read. If they don't, I might learn something while also spending that time in an environment suited to the seriousness of the day. And I know they won't have an organ, and probably won't have a choir. :-)

Rosh Hashana lunch, and the story of the starfruit

On Saturday Fran, Alan, and lefkowitzga joined us for lunch. I wanted to make a nice meal -- it was Rosh Hashana, after all, and now that I've married into a non-local family I never get to make seders any more.

I wasn't going to post the detailed menu, but I realized that when other people on my friends list post things like this I read them, so what the heck. We had: ( menu )

It has been my custom to include starfruit with Rosh Hashana -- and only Rosh Hashana -- meals, but I couldn't find any this year. Oops.

( what's with the starfruit? )

Anyway, lunch was very pleasant and the conversation was good. Fran has one arm in a sling due to some recent surgery, meaning that cooking is a challenge for her, so I was glad that we were able to give her a good meal. Unfortunately, the injury and the sling are uncomfortable, and the pain medication she took at the end of the meal interacted suboptimally with the bit of wine she'd had earlier, so they ended up leaving soon thereafter. That's unfortunate, but we'll just have to visit some other time when she's feeling better.