Yom Kippur

Another Yom Kippur come and gone, and now I don't have to worry about not eating for another year! (or few months, considering tisha ba'av and stuff)

So my Yom Kippur in Israel was not so bad, and I went to Shul a lot more than I expected to. Considering my Kibbutz is so entirely chiloni (secular) and that during the week I get no spiritual/religious stimulation watsoever, I was not expecting anything too great today.

But they hired a Rabbi who came to spend the "chag" on the kibbutz, and had services last night, all day today, and tonight until they blew the shofar (signifying that the fast is over).

Israelis are pretty funny. Usually no one really cares about religion, but today and yesterday the shul was PACKED. literally not enough seats, barely any room to move, all the machzors (prayer books) were taken, etc.

But tomorrow, they're probably going to go back to not doing anything religious. Which is fine (I hope I'm not making a value judgement here) but it was nice to have that bit of tradition I'm used to for the day.

HI DAN ISRAEL!