Which holiday were we celebrating?

Yom Kippur, sukkot, Tu B’Shevat and Purim: All in One

I didn’t have, what you would call, your typical Yom Kippur.

(Yom Kippur means “Day of Atonement.” It is considered the holiest day of the Jewish year, and one traditionally spends all day in synagogue or watching the Jazz Singer. This was my first Yom Kippur away from home.)

It started with an Ian-led Kol Nidre services. Although we put together just ten percent of a minyan, the shul surpassed its all-time attendance record. The entire local Jewish community was thrilled.

There are several downsides to not being able to spend the holiday with a community. But let me tell you one bonus, services don’t take very long.

You see, without the necessary ten people to have a full prayer service, it is my understanding that about an hour and a half of each servies can’t be performed. (I’m no expert in halakhah, but without a minyan you don’t do a repitition of the Amidah, thereby chopping more than four hours of Yom Kippur services.)

So I breezed through services, although it was obvious that the chazzan had no really practiced most of the prayers since last Yom Kippur. My Kol Nidre might have been a bit off rhythm, I didn’t have an inspirational sermon to share with myself, and the dress code might have been a bit lax (hey, you try doing services without A/C), but I did what I could.

In the morning, I couldn’t get right to services because I had promised my time to the high school across the street from my house. We split the class into groups. With some of the students we planted fruit trees in a mini nursery we started at the high school.

With the other group we harvested cilantro and lettuce from the garden. The students then decided to sell it to their fellow students to generate funds to support the garden. Cilantro went for ten cents per bunch, and the lettuce for fifteen cents per bunch. Overall, the girls made $3.90. Everyone was happy.

Some of the girls also planted pineapple, which is really easy. All you do is stick the leafy end of the pineapple plant in the ground. Then, after eighteen months, you have fruit. In the meantime, you get a really cool-looking plant that need minimal watering. We planted the pineapples around the path to the garden in the school.

After teaching at the high school and watering the garden at the nursery, I got back home just in time for the start of shaharit (the morning service). Although we were pushing on 11:00, the chazzan was patient and waited for himself to arrive before beginning.

Well, I stormed through shaharit and mussaf and was out of shul by 1:00. I went to go water the community garden with the kids from the neighborhood, attended a youth group meeting, and then went home for the study session.

Unfortunately, I didn’t put anything together for myself to study, and I didn’t have a copy of the Jazz Singer. So, in this season of pennant races, I thought it was only right that I would watch Major League.

After the movie, it was time for minchah (the afternoon service).

Then I went down the street for the parade.

Parade?

Yes, parade.

You see, my town is in a state of fiesta right now. And all week long, they are celebrating. The party kicked off with a parade, organized by the municipality, on Monday afternoon. All of my coworkers were walking at the front of the parade.

They encouraged me to join them, but I was beginning to feel the effects of the fast. So I just watched.

There were drum corps, youth on stilts, indigenous dance troupes, motor-taxi parades, and candidates for the Queen of the Fiestas Patronales. Everyone was happy.


Then I went home, did neilah, and broke my fast with some bread, babaco, sweet potato, cold rice, and boiled bananas.

Definitely a Yom Kippur to remember.