Wow, two days without blogging. Fortunately, lots of other bloggers I read have also had two days off, so there's not too much to catch up on.
Some highlights, and lowlights, of my Rosh Hashana (you can work out which is which):
- I got locked out of the relatives' house where we were eating dinner one night. I'm glad I don't believe in simanim because if I did, "kol dodi dofek" is not really what I had in mind.
- We found out who staged the Orthodox gay wedding. No, I'm not telling, but it's a friend of a friend. Good one, guys.
- I read some of Slifkin's The Science of Torah. So far, not too bad.
- I also read a chapter of Rav Yehuda Amital's Jewish Values In A Changing World about how to relate to one who has lost faith in Judaism. Very interesting and worthy of its own post.
- I got to shule for both days and heard the shofar on the second day. The davening was great where I went, lots of singing (but didn't finish too late) and very little talking. I found I could still appreciate the davening despite my skeptic thoughts. Probably because I still believe in God. Just not sure if God wrote a book, that's all.
- Also on the topic of simanim, I discovered some notes in my machzor. In the "shofarot" section of musaf, I had some notes about "Torah min Shamayim". That really jumped out at me.
- I thought about talking to my favorite rabbi from my yeshiva about my issues. I figure he might have some answers that the UO don't have. Still thinking about this.
So, overall, I rate it a positive experience. I was dreading it but actually I got a lot out of it. Not answers, but I know I might never get answers. But some measure of peace of mind.
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