Adventures in Elul and High Holidays

A season of contemplation comes towards an end 

A Lent in August, The month of Elul, 10 days of High Holidays

A season of thoughtfulness, of internal exploration

It is time for me to turn a page and see what comes next

These adventures actually started back in August when I worked through a Lenten devotional. (Yep I had already done various devotionals for Lent Lent but decided to do an extra Lent season this year)

Next was Elul because I decided I might as well continue to self reflect since I had already started.

Elul was filled with emails Elul Unbound (by Judaism Unbound), Jewels of Elul (which the first day I found in my spam folder, google had gotten all confused lol), and Preparing your heart for the High Holy Days: A guided Journal.

Finally, the High Holy Days were upon us. Apples and Honey to begin. Working through the Q10 questions. And my first services in 15-20 years (1st since my cousins' bar and bat mitzvahs, which I think were my first "first" times) thanks to live-streaming and on-demand. 

You could say I jumped into the deep end and ended up streaming 11*, One for each Holy Day plus one for the new year?  Though since they were all streaming sometimes I had it on as more like background and would do small cleaning tasks at the same time. 

This year's High Holy Days played out differently than last year. 

Last year I donated 100 items, this year only 40 items. Last year I read a different High Holy Day picture book each day, this year I did two kinds of "fasts". I chose not to spend any money on food during the 10 Holy Days which meant I had to be creative with all the food I already had on hand and kept being reminded how there are so many people who actually go hungry and not buying food is a truth not a choice for them. 

Also, I fasted on Yom Kippur (Well almost after a small nose bleed which I figured was because I was dehydrated I did have 1 can of soda sipped over the 24.5 hour period but still I think I did well for my first serious attempt at a Yom Kippur fast) And I broke my fast with some of my last box of Passover matza, as well as some apple and honey.

Last year my resolution was "I will try to live lighter, less stuff, less energy drains, less resources used." and this year's resolution is "I will try to go deeper, deeper into relationships, deeper into myself, deeper in general"

Overall it has been a full season, full seasons, I wish you all a Happy New Year and may you be written into the book of life.

* The 11 Services I streamed via https://www.centralsynagogue.org in case you think I made up that number :) 

1. Erev Rosh HaShanah
2. Rosh HaShanah Morning Day 1
3. Rosh HaShanah Family Service
4. Rosh HaShanah Morning Day 2
5. Shabbat Services Friday Evening
6. Shabbat Services Saturday Morning
7. Kol Nidrei (Service 1)
8. Kol Nidrei (Service 2)
9. Yom Kippur (Morning)
10. Yom Kippur (Family Service)
11. Yom Kippur (Afternoon)