G’mar Chatima Tova!

What with homeschooling and running a household, I barely have time to take a shower these days, let alone sit and blog!

It’s Erev Yom Kippur, and I know I’ve offended people during the past year, both on the blog and off the blog. Those of you whom I am aware of having insulted I have either called or emailed to ask in person for forgiveness. (If you got an email over a phone call, it is only because I have very little time to call people, most people who I spoke to over the phone initiated the phone call to me, rather than vice versa, just to clarify for anyone ready to get offended all over again!)

If I offended you, and I didn’t know that I did, please accept my deepest apologies, and forgive me. My intentions have never been to upset people, just to get people to think more and discuss more, and to hopefully bring about a just and affordable solution to one of the many crises the Jewish community faces.

I happen to be one of those individuals who likes Yom Kippur (well I really liked it before I was a mother, it’s harder to like it now when I’m spending so much time feeding the kids who seem to be so much more hungry on fast days than on any other day of the year!).

While I don’t love fasting, I find the day to be spiritually uplifting, full of hope and promise for the new year. I enjoy the davening for Yom Kippur, whether I am in shul or at home with the kids. The words in Vidui have so much meaning for everyone that they could have been written today, rather than centuries ago. I take my time over every word, making sure to understand what it is I’m praying for/about. At the end of mussaf on Yom Kippur I usually feel cleansed and lighthearted, ready for the rest of the day. I don’t usually go back to shul for mincha and ne’ilah now, because I stay home with the kids, but I daven at home and do the best I can to feel the power of the words while the kids eat dinner and play games around me.

The morning after Yom Kippur is special too. There’s that best cup of coffee of the year, but also that clean slate, the possibilities for the new year, the hope that you have been granted a “Ketiva veChatima Tova” – a good inscription and seal – and that you will merit to live another full year, of health, happiness and prosperity.

My wish to all my readers is that you should be inscribed in the Book of Life, that you should be blessed with a happy, healthy and prosperous new year, and that we should all merit to see the coming of Mashiach, bimhera beyhamenu (quickly, and in our lifetime) – le Shana HaBa’ah BeYerushalyim – Next year in Jerusalem, the undisputed, undivided capital of Israel.