pondělí, října 02, 2006

Yom Kippur

So right now it is 16:13 on Yom Kippur. I'm hungry. Anyway, here was my Yom Kippur (Jom Kipur). It was quite interesting.

On Rosh Hashanah (roš hašana), I asked about Yom Kippur. I got a time and a date. I thought, okay this is going to be semi-major. Yesterday (sunday--> my birthday! I'm now 16!), I texted (everyone here texts; it's cheaper than calling) the guy from Germany (Johannes) working in the Jewish community about Yom Kippur, and how I should get there. He didn't know about it. That was strange, but then later he wrote back and told me which train/tram to take.

Today was the first time I've riden the train alone. It's about a 25-30 minute train ride from Opava to Ostrava. Then I had to take the tram. That was interesting because the trams don't go from the train station, but rather from the bridge, but of course I don't think anyone knows what I'm talking about, so I'll just talk about the Jewish stuff.

The Jewish community in Ostrava is housed on 2 floors in a building in Ostrava (about 6 rooms). I got there at about 9:30. The service was supposed to be at 10. They have a worship room type thing with an ark and a torah, and then a meeting room, and an office. There were 7 people there for the service (me, Johannes [he isn't Jewish], a german/czech/english couple[I'm not sure, but I don't think they live in Ostrava], the director of the community, and then a cantor [I'm not sure from where either]). The service lasted 20 minutes and consisted of a kaddish for parents and a short prayer. That was it. It was very different for me. I'm used to a big community, and a long service.

I think I may be the only person in Opava fasting today. That's weird to think about. I got a little homesick thinking about break the fast and what that usually is at home, and how here I'm alone in this.

After the service, Johannes took me into Ostrava just to walk around and kind of see the city. We went to this tower, where I think the only people who speak english in the city work. It is like a viewing tower. It was interesting, and I took a few photos (I haven't figured out how to uplodad them yet, but I'm working on that). We talked with the guy who worked there about the Jewish history of Ostrava.

Then I went back to Opava. I didn't go to school today, as I normally don't on Yom Kippur, but instead experience a very different version of the holiday. This community only gets together a couple of times a year, and the next time is December 16th, for Hanukkah, and I think I will also go to that.

Sometime in the next month or so, I may also visit Krnov synagogue, which is about 15 km away. It is a pre WWII synagogue, but today stands only as a building, and it sometimes rented out for functions, or used as a museum.

Žádné komentáře: