Rosh Hashanah and Reflections

Well, for the first time in almost seven years I am away from home and not celebrating the start of the New Year with my father. Without our regular twice yearly attendance at temple together (yes we are what my grandmother fondly calls "Revolving Door Jews": in at Rosh Hashanah and out after Yom Kippur) I feel strangely adrift. Although I'm not the most religious of people, somehow the ritual of yearly reflection and contemplation, penitence and forgiveness still holds great appeal for me. The idea that the High Holy Days is a time to reconnect with the people in your life seems even more important this year now that I am living across an ocean.

The last few weeks have been filled with sad occurrences, the death of my friend's brother, the news of a brain tumor identified and removed from my friend's wife, the sixth anniversary of September 11th. It feels even more important that I take a moment and pause this year to reach out to the people I love who are scattered throughout the world, the ones that I talk to every week and the ones that I only connect with a few times a year. Strange how distance suddenly brings that need and desire into such sharp focus, isn't it?

So to all those out there, Jews and non-Jews alike, those I've known and loved for years and those that I may meet and get to know in the coming year I say 'L'Shanah Tovah!' May you be inscribed in the Book of Life for a good and sweet New Year.