8/28/2021 - Service

Simcha's of the week: Beginning a new project at work, helping an employee in need, a successful week of not mixing dairy and meat.

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I virtually attended service last night. What I noticed was that I felt at peace almost immediately when service began with song. Side note, student Cantor Callis has such a rich and beautiful voice. 

I follow an Orthodox couple on TikTok, thatjingyjew, and they explain Judaism in fun yet informative way. In one video, they were explaining the importance of prayer and how it isn't just reciting words out of obligation, but actively feeling the prayer. That was something I had not thought of until that video. But I experienced it in service last night. It was an intensely busy work week, but not in a bad way, and the feeling of exhaustion and stress was relieved from my shoulders as service continued. I felt the gratitude of a successful week, felt the gratitude of being given another week, felt the gratitude of finding a community that has been so welcoming and kind, felt the gratitude of the work I had done, and felt the gratitude of being able to celebrate rest just as God does.

And that was the difference; I began feeling Judaism. Adopting a Jewish life, as Rabbi Shankman suggested, has helped me evolve from feeling like an outsider looking in to someone that is beginning to live the life they have always wanted. I always find myself saying that I was born into a different religion just to find my way back home to Judaism, and right I am at the door of that home.