Dear Readers, These columns began on my area of America Online, called:  Judaism Today:  Where Do I Fit?   People anonymously sent me E-Mail, and I began to choose one for a public response in my Jewish E-Mail of the Week column. The column has become quite popular and is now syndicated internationally in many Jewish papers and websites.  I hope you find they help you as you think about the Ethics, Spirituality and Peoplehood components of the Jewish way of Life.  I welcome your comments... see the end of the column. Gil PS  Teachers and others, feel free to copy my columns and forward them or use them as you see fit.  Please see the friendly copyright notice at the end.

PREPARE TO BE AWED!

While most Jews do not attend synagogue service very often, on the High Holidays there are so many attendees you literally need tickets to get in! Notwithstanding, many attend out of a sense of obligation or guilt. Do you get anything from services?

Below I am reprinting a posting from a message board that was in my area that offers some thoughts on the subject plus my reaction...

As we approach the High Holy days, I can tell you that I feel the awe in my very being about my Judaism.

Most of the people in this country do not even realize that a most wonderful experience shall happen for the Jewish people and be marked by the beginning of a New Year.

As I begin to prepare my "feast" to celebrate this holiday and I begin to examine my conscience for the days of awe, I remember family members who have passed, I remember this past year good and bad, I become very close in spirit to my immediate and scattered family members. I am reminded of joys and sorrows. When I enter my synagogue I shall pray with each person assembled there and we shall worship together as a family.

And, we as Jews do this without all of the hoopla that must be assembled before a non-Jew can even begin to celebrate Christmas or Easter.

Think of it.

It is awesome.

It is an agony and an ecstasy.

Your posting above in the electronic bulletin board that is called: Judaism: Agony or Ecstasy? caught my attention.

First I was struck by the intensity of your feelings. I have heard from many who do not derive the kind of meaning you find in our High Holidays. Why is this?

I believe that a large part of what makes services meaningful is what a person is prepared to put into them. You obviously prepare to invest a lot of yourself into services. When I was writing my book, one person I told me that he gets nothing out of services as a rule except sometimes on the High Holidays because he psychologically is in a different frame of mind for the High Holidays. He said he was prepared to be introspective.

I try to do this as well and parts of the service can touch me very deeply. And I too, like being with others who are worshiping or are simply part of my community. However, the liturgy of the service is often difficult for me to relate to (in English or Hebrew) and I am often frustrated.

The other point in your posting that caught my eye was the comment about pre-Christmas and Easter hoopla. Stating that non-Jews "must" have this before they can begin celebrating is just not true. They have no choice. They (and we) are bombarded in the media and there are many non-Jews who resent the pre-holiday "hoopla" surrounding those holidays...especially the commercial aspects.

That aside, you bring up a point I had never thought of before. We have little public "build up" before our 2 most holy holiday of the year--the secular new year gets much more PR for example (to say nothing of the Y2K hype!). Yet Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services are heavily attended and for many people--including me--are often incredibly powerful in spite of the lack of "hoopla."

This gets back to my first comment that much of what makes the High Holidays powerful has to do with us. I believe this is why we call our High Holidays "the days of awe." The word "awe" implies that we are involved in the process of being impressed with greatness or seriousness.

I can think of no greater or serious process than carving out a few days each year to actively internalize the experience of reviewing our last year's behavior, accounting for our behavior and vowing to eliminate bad behavior.

Going through this process with millions of my fellow Jews around the planet only furthers my sense of awe. There is some agony in the process--especially after 24 hours of fasting--and I don't think the word ecstasy fits for me. Still I can say I do enjoy much of our High Holidays and honor the process and the blessing of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

In closing, I wish you and all of my readers High Holidays that fill you with awe and a year of sweetness and goodness!

Gil

A FRIENDLY COPYRIGHT NOTICE © Copyright Gil Mann These columns can be found at www.beingjewish.org.  Not only do I give you permissions to copy these Jewish Email columns...I HOPE YOU WILL and that you share them with others!  All I ask is that you never charge anyone for them and that you also include this little copyright notice.  Thank You!

Thanks,
Gil