This past Sunday was mothers day. We did take out and had my son and wife and my daughter for dinner outside in the back yard. Thank heavens it was sunny because its warm in the sun and cool when it starts to go down. The kids got me a bouquet of decorated cupcakes each looked like a flower almost too pretty to eat. We still have alot of restrictions which they will reassess after the 24th of May.. Covid case numbers are coming down but they are still high in the 500-600 range per day for the province. Still there are a lot admitted to Hospitals and ICU . Vaccinations are really accelerating… they have dropped down to age 30 … they can now book their shots. We still have to vaccinate 12-30 year olds. They want to get school age kids done before the end of June. I sure hope we can start socializing a bit in June , im sick of being so isolated all the time.
May 12, 2021
I don't think it was a conscious idea, but I stopped praying. When I had to go out of the house, I would pray every morning, sometimes also in the afternoon. I went to shul every Shabbat. Now it is rare that I will pray. I don't want to get dressed. Or I don't really feel like talking to God or mumbling the words. I don't know if or why it is important. A few weeks ago when my husband and I heard davening in our backyard, we quickly got dressed and went to the outdoor shul. I was excited to see what it was going to be like. I was hoping for some excitement or feeling of awe for the first time in months being part of a community or hearing the Torah read. And all I felt, in the end, was a desire to run away, and that I was stuck. It struck me last week when i was sitting in my garden, in shorts and a tank top, reading a novel, while I overheard the Torah reading. I had no desire to run to get dressed or even enter that space again. The rituals I still do are go to the mikvah. Which I question more now, of what is this water really doing. Is it worth all the planning and arranging that I need to do so I can go? Shabbat, which I appreciate as the one day that I don't have to focus on my computer. Although at times I want to have interactions with people other than my husband. But overall it is nice to have a day where I don't feel bad about sitting in the sun and reading. I am curious as to how Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur will feel this year. Not sure if I will go to shul or if there will be shul. I am also a rabbi --- so I am not sure how I will be able to [be] present or helpful to others who are also feeling a lack of connection. I am not sure if it is a loss of faith or perhaps just a loss of desire for strict rituals.
August 7, 2020