Comments on: I can never find my place in Slichos!!!

By: Frum Satire

Frum Satire — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:24:21 +0000

Nope!!!

I am all about the English- but if I get something published in ye olde english- I can’t help but think about church, and I aint ever been to church.

By: struggling

struggling — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:48:48 +0000

What I never can get over (and why I occasionally swear off slichot) is how fast they (supposedly) read them! With most hebrew prayers I usually explain my slowness as a result of the congregation saying the prayers more frequently than me…but slichot?? Even if you’ve been saying them for 20 years, you only say them at most 10 times a year! And this yr I decided to read the english…and couldn’t keep up in that either!! Do they have any idea of the meaning of what they’re saying? Do they ever take a breath?

By: B.BarNavi

B.BarNavi — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:29:52 +0000

Another reason why Sephardi selihot are superior: They’re the same every day, and you NEVER get lost!

Now if you’re only willing to do them for 5 weeks…

By: Shira Salamone

Shira Salamone — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:23:56 +0000

As I was saying, Hesh, um , about all that shaking your lulav and beating your aravot . . .

I’d better stop while I’m ahead, or this comment might get censored.

By: Frum Satire

Frum Satire — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:44:04 +0000

Shira- my latest video talks about shaking your lulavs and penis envy.

By: Shira Salamone

Shira Salamone — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:05:00 +0000

I can’t believe I never posted a certain particular thought about the lulav and etrog. It’s a bit early to be discussing Sukkot, but you get to see this before I even post it on my own blog: You walk around a room carrying a long object with a round object held next to it, making a circle. Well, under the proper circumstances, doesn’t one put a long “object” with a round “object” (or two) next to it into a circular “object”? (Seriously, I can’t think of a more delicately way to say that.) I’m of the opinion that the Hoshanot ritual may be the closest that Judaism ever gets to a fertility rite.

By: Batya

Batya — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:06:48 +0000

Chris, you practice on Tzom Gedalia the day after Rosh Hashannah. It’s a shorter fast and you should be nauseous from overeating and sitting too much on Rosh Hashannah.

On Yom Kippur try tuning into the chazan’s voice and tune out from the noise around you. If you can’t read, being too hungry and tired, just listen.

By: Shira Salamone

Shira Salamone — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:49:33 +0000

Hesh, you’re not the only one who gets lost in the Shlichot and Hoshanot. Oy. Thank goodness for translations–the Hoshanot, particularly, are way beyond my Hebrew comprehension (such as it is).

I seem to remember having posted something about the lulav and etrog that might interest you. Let me go look, and I’ll be back with either a link or a long-winded comment.

By: Shira Salamone

Shira Salamone — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:37:55 +0000

My own experience has always been that it’s much harder to go without water than without food (though I so notice the hunger by sometime in the afternoon). Drink gallons of water the day before the fast., and avoid salty food like the plague.

Some people swear by eating starchy food before a fast, as marathon runners do before a race. It could be argued that a 26-hour fast is a different kind of marathon.

Here’s advice that I heard years ago for avoiding a headache on a fast day: Wean yourself off of all caffeine (coffee, tea, chocolate, and anything else that I forgot) beginning three days before a fast, so that, if you’re going to get a caffeine-withdrawal headache, you’ll get it *before* the fast day. You really do *not* want a headache on top of an empty-tummy ache–one at a time, please.