Day 101- Monday, 9/28/09, SETTLED

Today is Yom Kippur. Corinne drives back into Minneapolis to attend Shir Tikvah's services. Bob stays "at home" in the RV, working on trip planning.

Services are held at the Unitarian Universalist Church to accommodate the crowd. The UU Church used to be a synagogue, so there are Stars of David on the Ceiling and on the pews.

However, there is no "Eternal Light", supposed to represent the ever-presence of God, so there are many references made to the fund-raising needed so they can have a portable one for future services.

It is a huge Reform congregation with a new young Rabbi. He is very animated and very kind. The Cantor is their music director, a professional singer and actor with a beautiful tenor voice.

We are all fasting, since dinner last night, until sunset. Many people have brought bags of food to give to the Food Pantry, to represent the food they might have eaten today.

There is a choir, led by a middle-aged woman in a white suit who used to be a high school music teacher. It is fun to watch her conducting. The harmonies add much emotion to this solemn day of repentance. There are also pianists, floutists, violinists, violists, and guitarists. I'm not used to having music during Conservative services at home, but I like it.

During the two-hour break in mid-afternoon, a professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Minnesota leads a discussion about similarities and differences between Judaism and Islam. I learn that the Quran, the word of Mohammed, has not been edited much since it was first written down. However, there have been many changes and interpretations of the Old and New Testaments.

Ramadan intersects with the Jewish High Holy Days sometimes, but not always. The Islamic lunar calendar does not have the added "catch up" month every few years that the Hebrew lunar calendar does.

In the early evening, we end the service by coming closer to the podium, linking arms and swaying while repeating a prayer called Havdalah led by the Rabbi. This prayer separates the Sabbath and Holy Days from the everyday work week. A braided candle is lit, spices are passed around for smelling, wine and Challah bread are blessed.

I am very moved by the thought that Jews all around the world are celebrating being sealed in The Book of Life by God at approximately the same moment. This synagogue has been very welcoming and although I miss my friends at home, and my family, I feel a sense of belonging here.

The sunset is amazing, a blazing orange sky with gigantic pink clouds. It is still windy, and we hear that this is part of a cold front which has come in from Manitoba.