Happy New Year!

The Jewish New Year is coming up. I think Rosh Hashanah starts this Friday at sundown.

I've never gone to temple on the high holy days. Most temples charge money for the seats during the high holidays, and my parents never paid for them. So we never went. I have very unhappy and frustrating memories of having to be all dressed up in a skirt, tights, and my ugly, navy blue buckle shoes that I hated, and not being allowed to do anything during Rosh Hashanah. I would spend the whole day sitting around, being bored. No television. No going outside to play, because "it's not appropriate", according to my mother. If I was lucky I could walk to the corner and then turn around and come back.

I would look down at my feet, shoved into those ugly, navy blue buckle shoes, and want to cry. I was so embarrassed by them. They were just so ... so ... UGLY. And babyish. And did I mention ugly? Everyone else my age got to wear cool slip-on shoes. I begged for those, only to be told no. I would have even settled for the slip-on party shoes that had the strap in the back, but no.

Anyway. So I never went to temple for these special services that cost money. I didn't mind - everyone knows services are pretty boring. I'm a Friday night services kind of girl. You're out of the temple in no more than an hour and a half. In Florida, I kind of wanted to go to Friday night services sometimes but never did.

I had no interest in joining a temple or anything like that. Kind of just wanted to sneak in the back, hear the hebrew songs I've liked since the early 80's, put a coin in the tzedukah box, and sneak out at the end.

Never did it. I'm not good at walking into places by myself. Someone once suggested to me that I be a professional temp, and after thinking about it, I ultimately realized I don't have the right personality for it. It's good for me, because you're never really held responsible for any screw-ups since, "Hey, I'm just the temp." But having to walk into new law firms all the time? I'd have a nervous breakdown.

I even get a little anxious when I walk into one of those movie theatres where you have to walk up the steps to the rows of seats. I round the corner, face the steps, and feel like everyone's staring at me, waiting to see what I do. Even though they're not - they're busy talking to someone, turning off their cellphone, something. The weird thing is, I don't get stage fright. Well, being that I haven't been in any sort of performance since college, maybe I do now, but I never did before. Moving along.

So I really haven't been to any sort of temple services since my grandma died almost 12 years ago. LEL and I have talked about religion a little bit as we're both jewish, though I try not to let it get too deep. The law firm I work at is not exactly Goldstein, Greenberg, Cohen and Schneider, LLP, if you know what I'm saying, and LEL has a loud voice that carries. So talking jewish stuff in the office doesn't seem like the best idea to me. She's reformed, but very active in her temple. We've had some mild jew-offs. Today LEL asked what I'm doing (meaning for temple) regarding the holidays. In a curious turn of events this afternoon, LEL invited me to her temple's services for the high holy days, complete with offering to pick me up at the BART station and everything.

I thanked her profusely and asked if I could figure out my schedule and get back to her. I'm pretty sure I'll say no thank you. But it sure was very nice of her. Is it wrong that I'm wondering if LEL was moved to do this because she was told it was me who got her birthday card, and had it signed by everyone? Perhaps I should add that to my list of issues for Yom Kippur.