Yes, I'm in a blog rut. And actually, it has nothing to do with lacking appropriate blog fodder. I've got tons of stuff to write about. I suppose I could chalk it up to adjusting to the student life, where one always has work one could be doing, but lots of students seem to have no trouble blogging.
Yesterday was a great day. It was Yom Kippur, so TP was fasting like a mutha!@#$er. Gots to purify myself you know, so I can obtain the license to ill for the remainder of the year.
What? Is that not the idea?
Speaking of Yom Kippur, let me just for a moment say how reprehensible I think it is that synagogues charge upwards of $200 for a ticket for Kol Nidre services (the holiest night of the Jewish year) for non-members.
Yes, I know all the arguments. It is expensive to put on Kol Nidre services -- aside from arranging facilities and parking, choirs and special cantors are often brought in, the flowers must be exquisite, etc. And yes, I understand that I have my own karma for the situation, because membership has its privileges. If I don't want to be part of the synagoguge community by joining the congregation, what right do I have to complain at being denied the rights of members?
All true. However, none of the above changes the single, irreducible notion, that, IMO, when a Jew seeks to worship with a community on the holiest night of the year, it is completely antithetical to the spirit and spiritual heart of Judaism to require a substantial fee for entry. I think that is reprehensible, and I say that with full acceptance of my own karma for the situation. If they asked for a donation, and left the amount up to me, no problem at all. I'd probably give them near what they charge, anyway. It's not the money. It's the heart. With Judaism, it's always about the heart.
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