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Aug
26
(Actually, these facts aren’t that much of a secret, but it does make for a title that rhymes.)
I still don’t really know what Selichot is. It’s either a separate holiday or just part of the holidays that begin with the more commonly known Rosh Hashanah. It refers to the ten days (but it looks like it’s not ten days when I read what I’ve linked for readers – what do I know – I’ll learn) before Rosh Hashanah and it’s prayer, well, a special service done only at this time of year (just before Rosh Hashanah).
Having been raised in the Reform movement, I can’t remember ever hearing of Selichot before I went to Israel when it fell on the Sabbath I observed at an Orthodox home in the Old City, something that Chabad and other groups in Jerusalem help arrange. It’s quite the authentic experience, with loads of kids around, traditional garb and women not doing an awful lot of praying but mostly socializing (if you think JAPs are bad, honestly, you would not believe the gossipy nature of sitting in an enclosed balcony with 22 year old mothers of four children who are pregnant with their fifth and wearing unbearably heavy-looking wigs in 95 degree heat).
Anyway, I think I took a pass on Selichot, mostly because I didn’t have a clue about what it was, but I remember that, ever since then, I’ve heard about how it’s observed for days before the new year and so on. Something about helping you prepare to repent. I think.
Since joining a Conservative synagogue several years ago, once my oldest left Jewish preschool, I’ve always passed over the notices for Selichot services and ignored the mention on our synagogue’s calendar.
Until this year. So, people who are interested in outreach? Here’s a way to get a busy person intrigued and maybe even participating:
Last week, I received a simple brochure from my synagogue that didn’t look anything like an announcement for services (even though it clearly says “Please Join Us for Selichot 2006″).
What exactly was different? The presence of this on the cover of the brochure. As if going to services at a Methodist Church in the middle of Appalachia (don’t miss the part in there about the fire in ’81 that destroyed the schools; the years when the school was in trailers? those were the years I did work there) wasn’t enough to make me more Jewish, now Barbie is going to push me even further into my religion. Peter Coyote (always one of my favorite actors even when playing creeps but, I think, a bit underrated, kind of like David Strathairn (Matewan is one of my all-time favorite movies and John Sayles one of my all-time favorite directors) but not as good an actor ultimately as Strathairn) narrates and tomorrow, I’ll try to find time to scan and post the brochure itself.
But, unless something else intervenes, I have a date with Barbie for my first Selichot. I wonder what I should wear.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:18 am August 26th, 2006 in Politics
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