As some of you know, we celebrated the High Holidays here in San Jose. The little synagogue that we have been going to was very welcoming but also expensive, and the children were also having to explain every single absence and justify it to the school, and Molly has also been very aware of the “Jew” jokes and comments at school, and also the swastikas that can be found in various places in town, including the street on which we live. So we settled on celebrating Rosh Hashonah at home and Yom Kippur at synagogue.
Services have been about 40% Hebrew, 40% Spanish, and 20% English, and Yom Kippur was no different. Many tunes were the same as at our synagogue in Durham, and a few were different but equally lovely, all of which made it very nice but also evoking feelings of missing home and community quite a bit. We were invited to break our fast with a family in Escazu, but the congregation also had a lovely break fast right there as well. Not to make folks jealous, but in Costa Rica three stars appear in the sky by 6 pm (well at least on paper, as it was of course raining). Even though we also started our fasts early the day before, it made it somehow much easier for all of us. Dinner with the Gelman family was unbelievably “hamish”, interesting, delicious, and just plain fun. Finally home to pack and get ready for our 5 am departure for Nicaragua.
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