Rosh Hashanah
I slept last night, which was a distict improvement, but since I went to bed at 3AM and was awoken at 9AM by my alarm clock, the quantity of rest still proved insufficient. Services actually started at JTS at 9, but by the time I got over there it was 10:30. Right on time for the torah service as usual. I'm blaming it on the 7 block walk. I went to the main traditional service this time and it was a little better, but I'm still not really feeling the community. The sermon was really good at least. It was given by a Columbia professor of Jewish History. He talked about how conservative Judaism has the problem of maintaining traditions while denying the accuracy of many events that are still believed by orthodox Judaism, even in the face of overwhelming evidence. He didn't really propose a solution though. At least it was a good statement of the problem and the pusuit of truth definitely spoke to me. Too bad I already know where it leads though. I went to lunch at Barnard, sponsored by Kesher. It was pretty much the same as dinner last night. I went from there to tashlich where I expected to find the rest of JTS. They said they were meeting in riverside park on 99th street. I walked almost the whole length of the park without seeing any sign of them. I finally gave up and went down to the hudson by myself. I'd brought some challah along but had no prayer sheet so I just made something up and thrw bread crumbs in the river. It's the thought that counts, stupid ritual anyway, probably derives from the pagans. It was pretty hot by this time (about 4PM and 80 something degrees) so the walk home wasn't too pleasant in a suit. The wind kept blowing my kipah off too, I need to get some clips. When I got home I was pretty tired and there were two hours until services started again so I decided to take a quick nap. Turned into 3 hours. Missed services. Oops. Was kind of upset to have done that, but not the end of the world. I kicked around my apartment for a while and made myself some dinner. Alone. Didn't want to go back to hillel. Kinda wish I had though. Pretty sad to be alone for the new year. I must be the only one with no family out here. *sigh* Did some dishes instead of going to bar review. I didn't feel right about going partying on a holy day. Not a very cheery day all in all. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
