Welcome to Gaia! ::

Just thought I'd start a thread to have a chat about the High Holidays, where we'll be when they take place, etc. Also, if anyone will be celebrating for the first time, maybe we can give them some info.

wink

Will anyone be indulging themselves in the Fast of Gedalia? Have you managed to get you hands on tickets?

Also: Exciting news! There is an old Proffessor living less than an hour away that is the last remenant of an old Jewish family! He has been researching, and has discovered there is more than 15 remaining Jewish people, enough for a minyan, in a radius of an hour's transport around his home town. We're hopefully meeting up tomorrow night and organising a Reform shul, just in time for the Days of Awe!

L'shanah tovah!

I wish much mazal and hatzlachah (luck and success) to the new congregations forming and observing the holidays together for the first time this year.

Thank G*D, I found that the synagogue I've been wanting to settle down in (moved to a new neighborhood in March, and have been shopping synagogues since then) doesn't require tickets. It's one of the most intensely observant congregations I've run into, which means that there really aren't any once-a-year Jews there. They've got a solid core of people who attend and support the synagogue year-round with smaller but more frequent donations, so they don't need to charge a high price for walk-ins, because there really aren't any walk-ins there.

For those looking for a place to pray, try looking here. Some areas don't have a Chabad house, but many do. Try your best; at the very least, call the nearest one within the next couple hours and see if they know of another congregation near you. Or wait until Thursday and call again, and at least they should be able to direct you to a place for Yom Kippur next week.

Okay, now let's talk about ME. wink Specifically, my dinner plans. First night will be old-school Southern cooking: fried chicken, black-eyed peas (sorry, no ham hock), collard greens, corn, copper-penny carrots, and mashed potatoes. For dessert we'll have apple crumble with So Delicious (soy ice cream, not dairy) in their Dulce de Leche (caramel) flavor on top. The drink will be cranberry sparkle, which is simply a glass of seltzer with a shot of cranberry juice, and of course grape juice and pita for making the blessing over wine and bread to begin the meal.

Second night's dinner will be old-school Persian/Indian. I'm making lamb kibbeh, lamb meatball tajin with biryani spices, toasted Persian rice with cherries and currants and raisins, a pumpkin curry soup, Israeli salad, steamed spinach, and mushroom salad. The rest -- dessert, drinks, wine/bread -- will be the same as the night before.

Old School Moroccan, french moroccan and so forth food.

And well of course the fisrt night is all sweet food which is awesome. Corn beef with pine apple. Dude it's so good.

There is also carrots, star fruit, rice, couscous, almonds and pine nuts, apricot chicken, orange chicken (not the chinese version, the french kind.), chummus, tahina(tahini), wine, vodka, soy italian ice, elephant ears, and more.

Right now my family is just chilling after lunch.

Tonight will be a super feast.

And I'm doing the fast. I want to start this year out right, plus it'll help to cleanse my liver of toxins and such.

Sounds like you all had a great time. Dead glad t'hear it


The shul went well! Turns out the shul was going to be bigger than expected! We were expecting about 15 people. Turns out more than 50 turned up! We had people come from all over Europe! Seriously. Italian, German, Irish... And I was asked to davn. 'Felt honoured. I don't often get to do that.

biggrin

I couldn't go to shul either, though for financial reasons ($400 tickets eek )

Eek! Members at my temple don't have to pay for tickets as long as they reserve them in advance. eek

Riddle Me This,
Riddle Me That,

From the "This is weird" section of things that happen within a temple.

This occurred during the morning Yom Kippor service, right after the ark was opened, right before the Torah Portions.

A man sitting in front of me was in a bit of distress. His hands were shaking and he was fumbling with a blood sugar meter. Being diabetic and being the son of a diabetic I can easily identify a blood sugar meter. So he was doing his thing, not knowing his medical history, I decided not to think much of it.

So the guy takes a reading on his meter, meanwhile his tremors are getting worse and he's not sitting well in his chair.

He looks at his meter, and says "Oh No."

At this point he face plants on the chair in front of him.

I lean forward, and take his shoulder and pull him back, asking if he's ok.

His eyes were open, and he was snoring loudly.

Now, being somewhat subtle in the ways of doing triage while the ark is open, I simply assess the situation and look to the woman next to the man and ask if she has any glucose with her.

This woman, the man's sister knows what I know, her brothers in insulin shock. So being a Jewish woman in temple during Yom Kippor with a medical emergency unfolding next to her, she decides to make a big of a scene as she possibly can.

She's calling for a doctor, trying to get her brother on the floor pulling away folding chairs asking for an ambulance. I identify myself as a first responder and ask her if she has any glucose.

She fumbles through her purse while I make sure the guy is still breathing, has a heart beat and monitoring him while he makes his way into a diabetic coma.

She hands me the container of glucose, I pop it open, take the tablet and shove it into the guys mouth, I hold his head to make sure he doesn't choke until I hear the sound of teeth breaking up the tablet.

He started to chew and came out of his coma.

I helped him out of the chapel area and into the foyer to the comfy chairs to wait for the ambulance.

Mind you at this point I had taken a back seat to the commotion. There's apparently an entire mynian of diabetics at that temple, each one knowing the wonders of insulin overdose and the shock that follows.

We have honey, we have apple juice.... we more health care professionals then we need. I basically am just waiting for the paramedics, so I can tell them what his symptoms were and what we did to help.

As the ambulance rolled away I meet my parents in the foyer, who informed me that in my medical response, I had missed the Torah portion.

I didn't care, I had fulfilled my Mitzvah for the day.

PS : Still diabetic, Still Fasting, Blood sugar is nominal at the moment.