Post Yom Kippur Thoughts

There's a lot you can learn from watching the elderly at Shul (Synagogue). I watched an old man walk in today. The distance he covered in 5 minutes, I normally cover in 10 seconds. Nissim, my neighbor during the day said, "He's 95, or closing in on 100." As the man reached his chair, another man got up and helped him get his talit (prayer shawl) on. This man's age? "He's past 70, a great grandfather already." As the Musaf service ended, another man got up and took the 95 year old's talit off, folded it away, and put it in its bag. This youngster just "turned 80 the past year". In this day and age, it's nice to see people display such fantastic manners in 'respecting the elderly' - I just wish I could say I see it often amongst people my age, or younger than me ...

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Just before El Nora Alila, Nissim leaned over and told me, "I still get chills when I think of how we sang this back in '73." By the time Israelis were singing this song in 1973, most men under the age of 45 had already left their synagogues and made their way towards their bases, or the fronts, due to the Yom Kippur war.

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After the fast finished, we went home to have a bite. The same food recipe - roskas, feta, tomatoes, olive oil & za'atar - and of course, pepitada. This year, I thought I prepared the drink perfectly and thoroughly enjoyed. What made me happier, or gave me great nachas as the Ashkenazim say, was how much Nissim enjoyed it!

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