Holidays

If you want to know all about Jewish holidays, check out Wikipedia. It has more than you'll ever want to know. There are all sorts of prescribed readings and rules and varying traditions. What I write here is a brief observation of what I see in my own neighborhood.
Rosh Hashana is New Year's Day, and that's when they go off daylight savings time. People eat traditional foods, such as apples dipped in honey, which is the only one I remember because it sounds really good.
The evening before Yom Kippur I was sitting at a playground and there were hardly any children there. Finally one little girl came running at top speed to the swing set, and she was dressed in a white skirt and blouse and white shoes and socks. After that many of the people I saw were wearing white shirts and a few wore white kippas. The next day all stores were closed and no cars were on the street. The traffic lights were all set to blink yellow. I took a walk down the hill and sat down for a rest. While I sat there a group of eight boys, all about eight years old, came racing by on their bikes down the hill (a three-block-long hill) and around the turn.

I remember when I was about 8 years old our family being in New York State while my father went to school. We rented a house owned by a Jewish lady who was wearing white for Yom Kippur. That would have been in the middle of September when I should have been in school. But knowing how the calendar changes from year to year, maybe Yom Kippur was in early September and school started a couple weeks later.

In late September is Succoth, which lasts a week. The evening before Succoth I was at a shopping center when a truck unloaded a pile of about 60 Succa kits. They have a metal or wood frame, sides made of plastic, sheets, blankets or whatever, reeds and palm leaves on the tops, and may be decorated inside. People put them on their balconies or in an empty lot and eat their meals there. (Light provided by extension cord.) A family whose balcony is opposite our bedroom sang every night. It was a nice sound. Maybe I'll eventually learn to sing some of those songs. I looked on you-tube and found nothing like it. Once you start adding musical instruments it isn't the same (really spoils it).


Last night was another special event of some kind. I took a walk around the block and passed 5 synagogues. (They're average looking buildings that you don't notice during the day.) In one of them they were really getting excited and jumping up and down, and the music suffered. Today is still a holiday. This is the day the Torah readings for the year are finished. I don't know to what extent the rest of the Bible is read, or whether the Writings and Prophets hold as high a place as the Torah.
On my calendar I counted 83 holidays (including 52 Sabbaths) when stores are closed, plus 5 fast days and 2 other national holidays. It is quite nice to be outside and see groups of people walking to or from synagogue services on many of these days. Many of the women wear dresses and hats, and the men wear white shirts with the sleeves pushed up. (It's hot, you know.) Through the open windows you can hear the sounds of families gathering together for meals.