Virginia day 1

October 8

Yom Kippur

We woke up often during the night. Apparently all the hydrating we did had to go somewhere. We have jars for this purpose in the van, but we had never filled them as full before as we did last night. I wondered what the point was in hydrating so thoroughly when it all seemed to have been processed by daylight.

Services began at 9:30 AM so we had time to just relax in the van and wait for that hour to approach. We were fasting so there wasn't much else from our usual morning routine to do, except to freshen up a little. We went to the social hall ahead of the scheduled time and waited for others to arrive. We sat in the same seats we had occupied the night before. Sitting there in the seat beside ours was the woman chazzan who had led Kol Nidre and the other cantorial prayers so movingly last night. We told her how much we appreciated the quality of her voice and the sensitivity of her interpretation. I told her I could tell she must know Hebrew because her pronunciation was so consistently correct. People arrived steadily and filled up the seats and we had the chance to watch them and notice what they wore and how they greeted each other. I find this a fascinating aspect of being a guest in the congregations we've joined in prayer each Saturday and on this Holy Day.

It was both a Saturday and a Holy Day (Yom Kippur is considered to be the Sabbath of Sabbaths). The services incorporated all the elements of a Saturday service, plus all the added prayers that remind us that this is the Day of Atonement, the last day to pray for forgiveness for our sins of the past year. The Torah was read clearly, followed by the Haftarah, which I found hard to follow because of the reader's accent. So many extra prayers are incorporated into the Yom Kippur service that the praying goes on a lot longer than at any other time of the year, except Rosh Hashanah. This is good, though, because while we are involved in prayer so intently, we don't dwell on the fact that we haven't eaten or drunk since the afternoon of the day before.

When services were over we went straight to the van to lie down a while; resting quietly while fasting helps make the time pass better. However, it was too warm in the van to rest comfortably during the middle of the afternoon, so we eventually gave that up and retreated to the Rabbi's air-conditioned house. Shosh was in the living room with her little ones. Razelle and I began to talk about all the places we have visited and all the synagogues we've worshipped in along the way from Singapore to Australia to Hawaii to mainland USA from California to Florida to here. The more we talked the more entertaining we became. Rabbi Gila was working on a study session that was scheduled for 4:15 PM before the afternoon prayers were to begin. Overhearing us, she decided that our experiences would fascinate the congregants who would be showing up for this study session. It isn't every day one gets to meet round-the-world travelers, especially not Jews like ourselves who placed such an emphasis on visiting Jewish congregations along the way.

At 4:15 PM we moved our discussion to the sanctuary. We would be praying in this lovely space for the rest of Yom Kippur now, instead of in the massive social hall. I really like the architecture of this sanctuary, and I'm glad that Razelle now had the opportunity to sit in it as I had on my previous visit and pray here. It's interior is constructed of the warmest wood and is very inviting. That's how I feel about it, anyway.

An intimate number of congregants arrived at 4:15 PM. We were introduced to them as members of the congregation in Beer Sheva where Rabbi Dror had previously served. They were told that we had paused here to worship among them on Yom Kippur on our way around the world. We expected to be asked questions about the trip, but instead they focused on the fact that we were from a Conservative congregation in Israel and wanted to know more about our synagogue and its members and our ritual practices. We answered their questions until it was time for the afternoon prayers.

Before these prayers began, an officer of the congregation whispered into my ear that the rabbi had told him I knew how to blow the shofar (ram's horn). He asked if I would be interested in blowing the shofar here at the closing of the prayer services. My heart skipped a beat. I was thrilled to be asked and consented without hesitation, except that I didn't have a shofar with me. This officer led me into the Rabbi's study where three shofrot were set on a table. I picked up the one that looked most like my own at home and tried to see if a tiny sound would come out. I blew a staccato breath into it and a tiny toot came out. This one seemed promising so I wrapped it in a prayer shawl and took it back to my seat next to Razelle. I gave her a peak at it and a beaming smile lit up her face.

The Torah service came up quickly and Razelle and I were invited to have the honor of raising and dressing the Torah scroll after it was read. Next, the Book of Jonah was read by a congregant and I couldn't help chanting along under my own breath because I have had this honor many years in a row now, back in Beer Sheva.

During the silent part of the evening prayers that followed next, the members of the congregation were encouraged to go up to the ark one-by-one on their own initiative to say a personal prayer while the ark remained open for the last moments of Yom Kippur. I took a turn. I gazed upward into the open ark and prayed for so many things in one go: for health of loved ones, for safe passage the rest of our journey and for the safety of Israel.

Finally we reached the end of the prayer service. Four gentlemen (myself included) went up before the congregation and lined up in front of the ark. I was left-most among them. Two of these men had long showy horns, the one to my right had a short horn ornamented with silver, and I stood there with the short, unadorned horn I had selected in the Rabbi's study. The note was called out and all four of us started at the same instant. The congregation held its collective breath as the four horns mixed their sounds in a blast that reaches the innermost parts of a listener's very being. Soon the longer horns both became silent, and only I and the man to my right with the ornate horn continued. Finally he ran out of breath too and I continued solo as long as I dared before I stopped with an upturn of the note I'd held so long. I was pleased with myself and very honored to have been asked to do this here.

The congregants appeared visibly moved. The man to my right shook my hand. Apparently he is actually a musician and he knew what kind of breath control this required. Rabbi Dror told me she missed hearing me do this. It was she who had taught me in the first place and it pleased me to be able to do this here for my teacher. I looked out at Razelle and she was crying. I came to sit beside her and she was too moved to speak.

Following the service we all filed into the social hall again. Food and drinks and tables and chairs were set up there for us to break our 25-hour-long fast: bagels and lox and cream cheese – again. Razelle had seen the High Holiday prayer book in the window of the gift shop. The woman in charge was willing to sell us two before she went home to her family. I had to go out to our luggage and come back with some money because I wasn't carrying any on me during this Holy Day. She waited and I even rewarded her patience by presenting her with the exact amount. We now own our own set of these prayer books.

It had been a long day for all of us. We went back to Rabbi Dror's house for a short while so we could say our good byes. We intended to start our journey before sunrise tomorrow. We wanted to reach the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel by sunrise so we could appreciate the effect. Rabbi Dror needed to get some rest after all the officiating that her function requires of her. It was wonderful for us to have been able to see her in action and to interact with her on this personal level, too. We bid her good night and went out to our van. We fell asleep still glowing from the events of the day.