Have Tallit and Tefillin, Will Travel

The Days of Awe do seem to bring out the silence in me. This is my favourite time of year. From Rosh Hashana all the way through to Simchat Torah, it's a davenning marathon and I love it. Last year I made it to almost every morning minyan as well as other services. It was a privilege.

Sukkot is my absolute favourite festival. A few years ago, I bought my first lulav and etrog. I remember the moment so clearly: both were wrapped- the former sheathed in plastic and the latter nestled in a silver-coloured box. The sun was breathing on the temple's glass wall. The time arrived to shake our respective lulavim while clasping the etrog to it. As I uncovered these mystifying treasures, I had never encountered such fragrance. I was hit by a wall of it- it stirred my senses- it was almost primal. The scents encompassed everything making all about me seem richer, more alive. Sukkot is the most intensely earthy festival, redolent of bounty, swimming in sensuousness. After the wired inwardness and scouring self-scrutiny of the High Holy Days, Sukkot is that much more welcome, more exquisitely inhabited. Everything bears a sort of delicacy, a poignant fragility, an air of grace. Judaism is genius.

I will be in LA for Sukkot. And for Yom Kippur right through to Simchat Torah. I will be with those I love in the place that I love. I leave in less than 10 hours. I could not bear to spend all the holidays here, when there is so much that nourishes me there. It seems so simple, that thought, now. So why did it take me so long to get a clue?

My friends are thrilled. I am thrilled. Life is good. G-d is good. More later. I spent part of last week madly dashing around, applying for a new passport, and lately, making all sorts of arrangements. I am going home.