Just back from a quick trip down to Boston to see my folks for Rosh Hashona, The Jewish new year. My aunt and uncle were visiting from ohio so it was a twofer ! It was a good visit. I hadn’t been to shul with my folks since.. hmmmm.. maybe since I was a kid.. We all got dressed up and headed to the synagogue. The place was huge.. so huge in fact that they actually had two sittings for the service. Ours was the later one.. which meant more sleep for me 🙂

 

The service was really nice.. I’m not much into organized religion these days.. but the service felt familiar.. it was weird dragging out my rusty Hebrew. but I found I could keep up fine. One of the bonuses of having80% of the service in a language you can’t really understand is that what you’re saying doesn’t necessarily have to interfere with what you’re thinking. Even so, i managed to keep my mind in a good contemplative place. The music was soothing and familiar and it was good to be there with my folks and my aunt and uncle.

The Rabbi did a good talk on the importance of mindfulness.. he mentioned that about 30 % of professors of Buddhism in this country are actually Jewish (an amazing number since only 2% of Americans are Jewish) . he mentioned the importance of meditation of being  present .. even of yoga.. he himself had just come back from several weeks at Kirpalu.. including 2 weeks of silent practice   His talk was wonderfully ‘out there’ for a upper middle class ,  reform new england congregation . I liked it !

 

After the service there were apples to greet a sweet new year..

then a quick visit to a nearby-ish Turkish restaurant before I got back on the road home

i said goodbye and got on the road about 4 ..it was great seeign my folks and my anunt and uncle..   a good way to start the year.

I worked the entire way home o the phone.. by the time I’d arrived home.. I had received more than 140 emails for the day.. and that’s after i got rid of spam.. ugh. .it hardly pays to take a day off.. I’ve made a dent in them tonight.. but tomorrow I start the day a little spiritually richer.. and a little further behind..

 

we;ll.. actually.. I’d say more than a little spiritually richer.. the day of contemplation really did me good. Hope the peace can make it through the week. We’ll see 🙂

Happy new year everyone.. I hope its a sweet one for you and your families

Shana Tova all, Shana tova sam

-me

 

ps. The Haftorah on this day is always the story of Issac.. The Leonard Cohen song about Issac kept going through my head.. So here it is to get it out of my head and into yours..