High Holy Day Mode

This September has its events, though Covid-19 makes them different.  I've done summer travel, this time to St. Louis for my son's wedding, far from leisure respite summer travel, though I did make it to the Delaware Beaches twice.  OLLI started online, excellent first sessions each class.  However, OLLI has been a lot more than classes for me.  There is college and pro football on TV.  Cutouts of fans in the stands is kinda phony.  About once or twice a year, I like being in the stands.

Our constant may be the Holy Days.  Selichot by Zoom probably is not that different than Selichot live, as the spectator element overwhelms the participatory experience.  It may be more difficult for the college crowd which uses the midnight assembly early in the school year to renew acquaintances for the coming academic year.  Rosh Hashanah, though, is a participatory experience.  Shul may be a spectator sport not a lot different than football for many, but there are meals and greetings.  Cyberspace has been an improvement over the Postal Service for conveying good wishes over distance.  But there is no surrogate for kissing the Torah with tzitzis during its procession, or for those who only come to shul on the Holy Days, those few handshakes that will not reappear for another year if granted another year.  My congregation has established what I think is a poor surrogate for the pageant of shul on Rosh Hashanah, though to be fair they had to sift through what they though the community would find most meaningful and the halacha most essential.  My offshoot assembly will try to make things more of a personal experience, weather permitting and with safety limitations.  It's not as good as the real thing of sitting adjacent to somebody you've never met before, negotiating the crowd to get to the kiddush table at the end, or watching somebody else's kids run around, but there is much to be said for following along live in the machzor as the prescribed ritual unfolds.

Some parts of the Holy Day experience may be strengthened by the relative confinement.  I seem to be more devoted to making a special dinner, especially if the live services proceed and I can take some to my sister-in-law.  I've pondered and explored various menus, willing to be a little more adventuresome.  I find myself less focused on clothing or appearance, though I plan to wear my finest things with attentive grooming, at least on Rosh Hashanah.  No point paying for a manicure if you won't be shaking hands, though.

What I've not done, and probably should, is any study for the upcoming season.  There are all sorts of insights from yutorah.org and many other online sources that I've just not been motivated to pursue.  There will only be one brief dvar Torah at Rosh Hashanah each day.  Our Rabbi's I can watch or listen to at my convenience though I have not been a great devotee of his public presentations.  This year I should have more of an incentive to explore the Holy Day season but haven't.  Maybe check out some options on this.

Each Torah mandated Holy Day will arrive on time and conclude as specified.  The Covid-19 reality seems to make those days more personalized and less programmed.