I don't mind growing older (I'm now wise enough to realize that it's a blessing), but I'm not crazy about having Happy Birthday sung to me. We've always done this at my job whenever someone has a birthday, and I've always found it embarrassing - like, aren't we too old for this? This year, I had it sung to me twice, once at work and once during the ( Read more... )

Sometimes when you're bike-riding, you go through patches of random, inexplicable smells. A few days ago, I biked through one that smelled like my hometown temple. It really hit hard. How I miss the smell of that place, the feeling of walking through those doors. I miss it every single Friday evening, but especially around the High Holy Days ( Read more... )

I've decided that a good way to add more oomph to days off from work is to watch a child-actress movie that I've been wanting to see. For the 4th of July weekend, I rented Annie. It's now Labor Day weekend, and I checked out The Trouble With Angels from the library. We used to have it on our store's movie stand back when I worked retail (although I ( Read more... )

The days and nights are cooling off now, and for me, cooler weather means one thing: the Highy Holy Days. Today was Rosh Hashanah, and the temple held morning and evening services, but I didn't go to either. I know that probably makes me a bad Jew, but I'm just not crazy about the High Holy Days services at this temple. It really makes me miss my ( Read more... )

A LOT has been happening around here these last few days. But I wasn't able to post about it before now because on Thursday morning, I woke up to find a long hairline crack in one corner of our laptop screen. The screen wouldn't display anything! We still don't know exactly how it got cracked, but I suspect Tovah had something to do with it; she ( Read more... )

I wasn't able to attend services this year, but I still had a very sweet (literally) Rosh Hashanah, and I'm grateful for that. My awesome friend Meg delivered a goodie bag right to my door of apples, honey, and homemade challah! Meg bakes a mean homemade challah. I've been wondering if I should assign her a nickname, like I did for folks at my old ( Read more... )

Rabbi W was back in town on Friday evening for Sukkot services, which I really enjoyed. They still keep it so cold in the sanctuary, so I brought my scarf and wore it like a prayer shawl. Maggie and I kept flopping it in each others' faces. After the service, it was outside (really warm and muggy) for drinks and challah under the sukkah. One little ( Read more... )

Well, yesterday was the day we'd all been waiting for! It was both the Season 10 premiere of NCIS, and the beginning of Yom Kippur! Evening services began one hour after the premiere did, so I was able to watch about the first forty minutes of it live before I had to run. The episode was very solid, and I can't describe how excited I was finally ( Read more... )

Last Friday evening marked the beginning of Shabbat Shuvah, the name given to the Shabbat that falls between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. (I've always loved this Shabbat. Previous entries on it are here and here.) It also marked the retirement of one of my Jewish Grandmothers, who's done administrative work for the temple for longer than anyone ( Read more... )

The High Holy Days can be stressful (especially when the Season 10 premiere of NCIS falls on Yom Kippur -- ugh!) but they can also make Rebecca very thankful to be Jewish. Rosh Hashanah meant a lot to me this year. In a way, it makes more sense to have a new year now, instead of in January, which I think is leftover from being a kid and always ( Read more... )