Post Atonement

Well, I succumbed to peer pressure, at least partly, and went to LolNidre services Wednesday night. But, I brought Jorge with me, a very staunch Catholic friend of mine, who is VERY into his church.

I had a blast. First I tortured him for awhile convincing him there was a secret handshake, and that there would be a circumcision check (he was born in Cuba, where the ritual maiming still isn't done). Next, I made fun of him when he tried to shake hands with the Orthodox Rabbi's wife.

Inside, Rabbi Yossi was in World Seried form. He passed Jorge, who he knows and likes (Jorge is a stronger Zionist than most Jews I know) and said "Great --so much for the Christian jokes this year." He then went on to speak eloquently about fate versus faith. It was good stuff.

The Cantor chanted the great eerie Kol Nidre melodies. Lewis Black once called the service's music the creepiest of all time. Once, when the voiced rose to Alvino Malkeinu, I felt a twinge...of something.

Anyway, Jorge asked why he couldn't have a gold threaded prayer shawl like the guy in front of us. The best was when a lawyer he knew from his days as a Judge did an actual comical double take. The lawyer's wife is Catholic, and goes to Epiphany Church with Jorge. Seeing him in a kippa and prayer shawl, with his dark hair and beard, weirded the lawyer out!

I spent the actual Yom Kippur napping, fasting, and thinking about stuff. It really WAS cleansing.

Today I worked a bit, and then fetched my 88.5 year old mother from her condo. Wifey suggested we bring her to live with us for awhile, and Wifey will bring her to various doctors in an attempt to get her a better result for her arthritic him, which has, in the last weeks, robbed a lot from Mom.

So far, so good with the octogenarian. I stopped at Lots of Lox and bought her some bagels and pickled herring, which she ate with an almost secxual enjoyment. Then we got her a rented wheelchair, and took her on our typical 1.1 mile walk around the hood.

I've placed her "medicinal" vodka on the kitchen counter, and we begin our first night as the adoptive foster parents of this special needs child.

It's a blessing to be able to help an elderly parent. To my LAtin friends, bringing an older parent home to live is the norm, as it was for MY people 2 generations ago.

Maybe that's why I enjoyed this Day of Atonement so much. Sometimes going back to the future is the way to go.