Saturday, November 3, 2007

Shabbat Shalom! Pick a menorah for me :)

So I've had a nice little, basic, simple Menorah that I've used for the past three years, but I'm itchin' for another (new) one! But I can't decide which to get ... what do you think?



The first is the "signature" menorah and the latter is the "music note" menorah. I'm leaning toward the bronze because I already have a silver/aluminum one (it was a Walgreens buy right before shul three years ago!! It was my first Chanukah :D)

On a semi-unrelated note: Services tonight were the most mundane, uninspiring they've been in eons. The people were dead. No one was participating. People were huffing and puffing. Kids were screaming (why are there not sitters at the shul for services?). It was frustrating. Why do people go if they don't want to be there? If they do nothing but moan and groan and nod off? I try to stay in my own zone, knowing that what I get out of services is what I get out of services. But sometimes I wonder: Are people waiting for enlightenment? Hoping that by forcing themselves through services for that WHOLE hour to an hour-and-a-half that a spark of something will rekindle their lust for life? Am I just cynical? I want people to love services and Judaism as much as I do. I want people to really WANT to be there; not for people to feel obligated or anything to be there. I felt like crap all day today. I didn't sleep last night and my stomach was upset and I just wanted to go home, but I made myself go to services because I know that -- for me -- I would regret it tomorrow if I didn't go. My week does not end unless I go to Shabbat; it just keeps going and going. But I didn't force myself to go out of guilt or just because that's what Jews do. I went for me, for my mind and spirit and soul. ARGH! So frustrated.

On a more pleasant note, I appreciated the sermon, which was actually not a sermon but a "learning Shabbat" service, where the rabbi explained the V'shamru prayer that we sing. He examined the source of the prayer and the difference in the commandment from Exodus and Deuteronomy, which I actually never noticed before. The original reason for Shabbat observance is because G-d rested on the seventh day, but in Deuteronomy it says we should keep the Sabbath because G-d took us out of Egypt! Oh the tricky intricacies of Torah :)