Why Josh Can't Be Left Alone

Something about all the holidays threw me off. I learned how to live without blogging.

Just a quick catch up -

-I sponsored a Tisch in my Sukkah on Shabbos Chol Hamoed. It drew about 20 high schoolers and about 20 college/graduates. I haven't had that many high school girls in my house since, uh, ever. I sent an email to the NCSY website to see if I could find a way to make this into a charitable donation. I was surprised when a college friend called me at work wanting to know if I was the Josh Goldman who emailed the webmaster.

-Simchas Torah was significantly less depressing than I'd feared. Having spent the last two Simchas Torahs at Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh, I was worried that Young Israel of Skokie just wouldn't cut it. While it definitely wasn't the same, it wasn't the six kids marching with flags that I feared. There was definitely some life, albeit one that needed any energy or help that it could get. The highlight for me is where all the shuls in the block do one Hakafa outside together. Not sure why this has to be the only unified event of the whole year.

The only thing that bothered me was the Rabbi's overuse of the alcohol. Not that he was laying in a pile of his own vomit, far from it. But I wasn't sure why such prominence needed to be given to alcohol in a shul predominantly attended by the 0-6 year old set. For example, the Rabbi kept a bottle of Whiskey on the Shtender while he davened for the Amud. With a cup. It was shtick, and it was funny. But in a community where our high schoolers are always ending up in the hospital on Simchas Torah (this year was no different, except that jail was added), we might think twice about the example we set.

Now I just have to figure out how to settle back into a regular pattern again...