Preparation Day
“Thou shalt write each and every day. The great, and the mundane, thou shalt write of it”
Friday 9-29-2017
Another damp but mild morning in my adopted home. Moderate breezes shake the mists of rain from the leaves and eaves of our modest homestead.
Tonight is Kol Nidre. An interesting opening night ceremony ushering in Rosh HaShannah, or Yom Truah. Kol Nidre is not found in the Biblical and has been surrounded by a lot of controversy. Essentially one asks God to release them from careless personal vows that they made the previous years which cannot be kept. Some anti-Semites have used it in the past to say that it means that any agreements with a Jew will not be kept. But factually, this rite does not absolve the Jew from legal contracts and public vows.
I don’t observe the rite formally, but the night is a time of personal introspection, a review of the year gone by, and if amends need to be made, to make them. I am not a big fan of symbolic gestures, a so I don’t offer selichote, a general request to pardon my boorishness. At this time of life I am not going to change. But if a particular offense rises to my consciousness, I will contact the offended party and attempt to set the offense right.
As with most observances, this one starts at sundown, so other than reminding myself that this evening is a time of reflection, the day continues on normally.
In retirement, there isn’t usually much of note of interest to others. So the days are separated by the weather, Shabbats and holy days. And these seem to come by with ever increasing tempo. It is a bit unsettling. I have accomplished so little in the time I was allotted.
But I shrug my shoulders, take another sip of coffee, and think that tomorrow is another day.
Good morning!
Rusty's Armory 