Rosh Hashanah (part 2)

There was a rather stark contrast between the first day of my Rosh Hashanah and the second. First, I had two very different meal experiences. Saturday night, Sarah and I were paired with six girls from Neve, a women's seminary, at the home of an older couple, the Bornsons. The meal was very long--lasting from 21:00 - 23:30--but it didn't seem long at all. It was really my mental image of an Orthodox holiday meal, with the man sitting at the head of the table giving little bits of Torah thoughout the meal, but interactively. The meal was calm, everyone was nice, and the food was wonderful. It was also dairy, which made it even better for me because I didn't have to feel guilty for not being able to eat the food that the family had prepared.

Lunch today was also dairy, but otherwise it was a very different experience. Our hosts were also older, but four of their nine childen were there (ages 15 and up) along with two of their grandchildren (12 and 15). Before the meal one of their daughters (19) was teasing her nephew (15) and mock-arguing about whether girls were smart enough to learn Gemara, which (as Sarah pointed out) was even more amusing once you remembered that she's his aunt. There was also a lot of Hebrew being spoken there, since our hosts' son-in-law doesn't speak English. I was rather proud of my ability to catch a lot of what he was saying, even though I missed a key word that changed the meaning of the whole thing. On the other end of the table, the (grand)mother was telling us family stories--how she made aliyah, why she had kids, etc. There was still Torah, but it wasn't so prevelent and the meal was much shorter. Once again, the food was amazing.

I did decide to go to the Kotel for davening this morning and there was a ruach-filled group of guys there, but at 8:00 they were already davening mussaf. However, I did get to hear U'netaneh Tokef, which I love depite--or even because of--it's powerfully morbid translation. I had my moments of connection at the wall, but I also discovered that it doesnt have the same power over an extended period of time as it does over a short visit. As shocking as it may seem, I think I had a more meaningful Rosh Hashanah at Brandeis than I did in the Old City.

And now, it is bedtime. Dev has a test at 8am and needs to sleep whether she is tired or not.