High Holy Day Reflection

Phew! We’re finally done with the 2017 High Holy days. It’s been an exhausting couple of weeks filled with fasting, Sukkah building, and no school.

Our first holiday, oh so long ago, was Rosh Hashanah. It was especially fun to walk down to Klode park and participate in Tashlich. It was a great chance to sing with the whole school and throw away our sins for the birds to eat. Ten days later, Yom Kippur came around. For this author, it was her first time fasting so it was especially meaningful. It really put the whole holiday in perspective about what all the adults went through every year. Erev Yom Kippur we also had the first Mishpacha, different groups of students across all grades celebrating Shabbat together every month, beautifully led by the eighth graders.

Last but not least, we celebrated Sukkot. The seventh graders once again succeeded in building a Sukkah. In the middle of Sukkot the eighth graders completed the 90 mile bike trip to Rainbow Day Camp in memory of fallen soldier Nadav Reymond. It was an exhausting opportunity full of starting, stopping, and trying to ride at the beginning of the pack.

At the end of Sukkot, MJDS celebrated Simchat Torah by welcoming junior kindergarten and all new students into the school. The ceremony was delayed, however, because the eighth graders that took math at Nicolet had a new bus driver that took a different route back to school. Shemini Atzeret also happened, either on Thursday or Friday based on your custom. Reform and inside Israel will celebrate Shemini Atzeret of the same day as Simchat Torah while Conservative and Orthodox congregations will celebrate an extra day of Shemini Atzeret which brings them to Friday. It’s the holiday where we pray for agricultural related things, and MJDS had off for it.

But now, the next Jewish Holiday isn’t until Chanukah and the next day off of school is November 8th for conferences. And the Rabbis can breathe for the next month…

-HS

2 thoughts on “High Holy Day Reflection

  1. I love this post for the excitement it exudes about Judaism and the energy of the holidays. The explanation of different nuances of holiday observation added a deeper element.

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