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The ESP of the Jewish Way of Life  Roll your mouse over each circle to find the questions. Click on circles for more about Jewish ESP!
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Alone for the Holidays
by Deborah Shelkin Remis |
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Rosh Hashanah
thoughts from a
medical student
far from home.
Each day is like yesterday and tomorrow. The hot climate in Nevis, a small Caribbean island in the West Indies, never seems to vary. The daily routine is the same. I get up, go to classes, come home, and study. It takes a lot of effort to recall the date each morning as I put pen to paper, poised to capture the basic medical knowledge I need to acquire. Imagine the effort it takes to know the corresponding Jewish date, especially when you are the only one in the sea who is even cognizant of a lunar calendar. In all of my years, even during college, rebellious years, traveling years, last year was the first time I had been alone (without other Jewish people) to usher in the Jewish New Year. Even in those times of traveling, I had always found a Jewish person, a Jewish community with whom to share the holiday. What I found here as my companion on Nevis was my Jewish soul and the genuine and beautiful souls of some individuals whom I am proud to call my friends. On Erev Rosh Hashanah and Shabbat, I was planning to go home after classes, work out, and enjoy a quiet evening by myself with a coveted, round, raisin Cheryl Ann challah that I had brought back to Nevis from home and saved for the occasion of Rosh Hashanah. I had some honey and an apple. I defrosted a piece of kosher chicken also pirated from home and was planning to have some rice, veggies, and white wine. I was content in my solitary plans to usher in the New Year.It happened that a friend of mine asked for a lift home from school. I gave him a ride and he, remembering what I had told him a couple of weeks ago, invited me in for a drink to toast my New Year. He, his partner, and two friends encouraged me to stay for dinner and share my New Year with them. I agreed, but first went home, called my family to wish them all a good Shabbat and Shanah Tovah, lit my candles and retrieved my chicken, challah,wine, apple, and honey and returned to share my dinner with my friends. They all blessed the challah with me and repeated the English translation, "May this be a good and sweet year" as they devoured their first taste of a raisin challah. How truly blessed I am to have found these friends here on the island of Nevis.When I returned home, I had an email greeting awaiting me from another friend in my class. Earlier in the day, she commented that I was not my usual, exuberant, outgoing self and I explained to her that I was somewhat unbalanced not being with my family during the New Year season. I explained to her what the Jewish New Year meant, that it was not synonymous with the general New Year, but rather a time for reflection and introspection and a time to ask for forgiveness from our friends and family. I continued and further explained that this is the season to realize the fragility of our lives — how we are but clay in the potter’s hand, how we are but thin transparent glass in the fingers of the blower. I briefly told her about the allegorical story of the gates opening on Rosh Hashanah and how we hope to be inscribed in the Book of Life for another year, and that during the ten days between the Jewish New Year and the Day of Atonement, before the gates close, we ask for forgiveness for all our sins, and turn to our friends and family and ask for their forgiveness so that we may be sealed in the Book of Life for yet another year. The email awaiting me from this woman friend, who until now had been unaware of the significance of Jewish holidays, was a Rosh Hashanah greeting card which read,"May you be inscribed in the Book of Life"written inside a Torah scroll.Even though I was living in a country without any other Jewish people, except for the 16 deceased souls at the Jewish cemetery, I feel truly blessed to know the individuals here who are open minded and sensitive enough to embrace me and my religion. (I also believe these individuals will make great doctors.) Fast-forward ten days later to Yom Kippur morning… The standard Torah reading for Yom Kippur morning is taken from the Book of Leviticus, Chapter 16. The portion recalls the sacrifices the people brought to the Temple on the Day of Atonement. "Herewith shall Aaron come into the holy place, with a young bullock for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. " The story continues on telling of the fate of the two goats. One, the scapegoat, is set free into the wilderness, burdened with the sins of all the people, while the other ram is offered as a burnt offering to God. Think of how many years this story has been retold and heard both on Yom Kippur and on the Shabbat when this portion of the Torah is read (Achari Mot). I must admit that sacrificial biblical stories do not entice me, nor is the subject matter a concept with which I can draw a parallel to anything in my (or anyone else’s) modern life.But as a medical student living in Nevis, West Indies, without a Jewish community, I was left to my own devices to figure out how to worship on this, the holiest of days. Even though there was no shul to attend, I remained home, fasted and sat outside on my patio, in T-shirt and shorts (a far cry from Yom Tov attire) overlooking the mountains and Caribbean Sea with my mahzor (High Holy days’ prayer book). I enjoyed singing the Yom Kippur liturgy "top ten tunes" recalling when my father was the hazzan (cantor) at our conservative synagogue.And when I came to the aforementioned Torah portion, I was reading with my usual apathy about the livestock and their ultimate demise when all of a sudden I actually heard the bleating of goats. I looked up and there were at least twenty goats walking by the fields next to my apartment. I chortled out loud and remarked to myself, "How many other people today while sitting in shul reading this Torah portion can actually feel the reading come to life with a visual and auditory stimulus?"Who would have guessed that Yom Kippur would have such literal meaning to me on the island of Nevis in the West Indies. Spirituality comes in different forms and different places.We just have to open our own souls and minds capture its beauty.Shanah Tovah umitukah to all of you — Happy, healthy Sweet New Year and Gamor Chatimah Tovah.May you all be inscribed in the Book of Life for 5765. Deborah Shelkan Remis previously contributed to Being Jewish. You can find her "On the Road with Kaddish" on our website,www.beingjewish.org. Presently she is pursuing her medical studies abroad in the Caribbean. If she wasn’t in medical school she would be the president of her synagogue and be home with her very supportive husband and three daughters. She notes with thanks the blessing of their support and encouragement.
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Having
a richer SPIRITUAL life.
New Year 5764, Nevis, West Indies 
From the moment Nancy S. Kraus first
brushed dyes on silk, she was captivated
by the medium. The luminescence of the
dyes as they flowed onto the fabric
grabbed her and continues to pull her into
her studio every day.