Moving: Spiritual and Physical

Rosh Hashanah:
Last year I had Rosh Hashanah in Minneapolis. My parents, my grandparents, and my uncle and his wife came up to Minneapolis; we went to shul at Beth Jacob and had a feast at my apartment. It was awesome. This year, my dad didn’t have enough vacation time left to make the trip back here, so I gave my grandparents a choice: they would drive to Appleton and I’d take a week off and spend it at home, or they would stay in Detroit and I would go stay there for a week. They, knowing the drive, thought it’d be nice to stay in Detroit – so off I went. It was an amazing week – exactly what I wanted. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with my grandma, helping her cook, helped around the house getting ready for the big Rosh Hashanah meal, spent Rosh Hashanah at my grandparents’ shul (horrible cantor and choir, but I got over it), and was able to read an entire book. It was just what I needed.

Yom Kippur:
Yom Kippur is one of those days where you know it’s going to be hard, but it’s something you know you have to do. Fasting, sitting in shul for what seems like an eternity, it’s really not one of the more fun Jewish Holydays. However, we must do it. It’s the most integral date on the Jewish calendar and for those as observant as I, it’s quite the experience.

This year I spent Yom Kippur at my shul here. It was awesome. Thanks to Joe who toughed out my crazy “have to be there for the ENTIRE thing” mentality – we really had a good time. We fasted, boy did we fast; calculating the fast, both Joe and I went food- and water-free for a solid 28.5 hours. It was crazy. We also spent a good 14 hours in shul. It was about as intense as it gets.

While the fast was tough and our feet and tushes were sore, it was a meaningful Yom Kippur. The sounds in the sanctuary, the people, and Rabbi Allen’s sermon on Kol Nidre – the entire span was really moving. A Yom Kippur well-dovened.

Moving:
… is not fun. I have a lot of stuff. So much stuff, in fact, I am still not done. While I still have another carload or two to go, today my furniture made the pilgrimage and I am happy to announce the new place is coming along. In a one week I will be out of the downtown apartment and into the new one. “A new year, a new apartment,” my mom said today.


It’s been a moving two weeks – with Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and an actual move, my dad’s treatments moving along*… it’s a moving season for me.

L’shana tova u’metuka – I hope your holydays were as moving as mine.



* Dad started his chemo last week. So far, so good. He says his stomach feeding tube is still a little sore and hard to get used to, but he knows he’ll appreciate it when his neck is “sunburned on the inside”. Everyone’s spirits are high. He starts radiation on Thursday of this week. Thanks to all of you for keeping he and my family in your prayers.