New Beginnings. Part 1:

A lot of things can happen in a month. September was a crazy one, too!

I tried to make Lambsquarters Spanakopita (I'll post pics of the process, but the result was not great), I spent a week preparing and setting up my best friends' wedding, I got my wood stacked for winter, and created two new sets of dread falls. Each of these should really be their own post, and they will be. With pictures.

 But that will come in time. For now, I'm going to write about the holidays of mid Autumn:

 Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year has always felt like it should be bigger in my life.

 Both of my religious calendars are based on the moon. The fist day after the New Moon is a new month. In the Jewish Calendar, this month is Tishrei, "To begin", in the Anglo-Saxon, it is Winterfylleth, "Winter's Full Moon". As we enter into October in the Gregorian calendar, I am thinking about new beginnings, an idea which both of these months reflect.

 The first day of Tishrei is also the first day of Rosh Hashanah. A day when Jews enjoy Apples and Honey to spread wishes of a sweet new year. We contimplate our wrongs over the past year, and apologize to those we have wronged, asking for forgiveness. The holiday last for a week, yet I know very few Jews who celebrate it for more than a day. Sometimes only for a few hours. Most years, I am in the later category. I want to connect to this holiday, but I don't know how. I enjoy my sweetened apples and try to make my mandatory apologies, but I don't really feel a connection. The holiday ends with Yom Kippur. A fast day.

Yom Kippur is the strictest fast day in he Jewish calendar. A day when you not only abstain from food, but also from drink.

 Even water.

Yom Kippur is a day about repentance to God. The fast is to create a pure self with which to start the new year. I have never fully participated in the fast before. This year, I will.