A truly liberating Yom Kippur

I got back in touch with my Jewish roots today after 3 years in the wildnerness of Japan. I was kindly given a ticket to sit with my fellow Jews in a reform church cum synagogue uptown. There was a choir, a small orchestra and a very verbal Rabbi. He bruskly announced that we are living in the time of a 'holocaust' with so many people dying everyday from poverty. He even managed to include 'weapons of mass destruction' as a part of his sermon. Still, he was a more compassionate Rabbi than I'm used to. At one point, late in the day, he paused to ask the congregation, with a wry smile on his face, "So, how are you? tired?" These occassional comments along with the strong rythm generated by the musical contingent helped the day go by quickly and relatively painlessly. There was even a first-hand recounting of WWII by an elderly lady from Lithuania who had worked in a labor camp. I managed to hear another first-hand account from Auntie Miriam, who I visited in between the morning and afternoon service.

After the sounding of the shofar I went to break my fast at the apartment of the couple who had donated their ticket to me. They have a wonderful home on fifth avenue, their display cabinets contained exhibits you would only find in a museum. The host Michael has the uncanny knack of, when knowing he's meeting a young available person, simultaneously shaking their hand, finding out their age and thinking of the best available person to match them with. I think he found a tricky customer. I have become his work-in-progress.

After meeting more people than names I can remember I accompanied some of the 'younger' guests to a second party across town. There I drank far too much tonic until one of the kind hostesses added vodka into the mix. Just a few hours after cleansing my soul I was back again filling my head with unclean thoughts. Naughty me...