My Conversion Story Journal

September 20, 2023

Some conversations bring you back to reality. Jews are not able to drive on Shabbat, so they live within walking distance to shul. When a few of them were walking to shul, a car drove passed and the people yelled out the window, "HAY JEWS!" One was upset that children were with them at the time. They work really hard to shelter their children from hatred. A couple said that they were so sheltered that they didn't even know it existed until they were older. There are armed guards at the shul and discussions of safety are a regular conversation. I have never understood hate, and I hope I never do.

I didn't get home Sunday night until after 10. I chatted with my daughter for a few minutes, wrote, and went to bed. I was asleep after midnight and had to be up at 5 am for work. It made for a long Monday with my brain not wanting to function as fully as needed. Monday was also The Fast of Gedaliah. It is to remember Gedaliah ben Achikam the governor of the Jews under the Babylonians who was murdered. This murder made it so Jews could not settle in Israel until 371 BCE. You can read more here https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2316462/jewish/Tzom-Gedaliah-Fast...

After the amount of food over the weekend, it was the easiest fast I have ever done. Even the side effects of fasting all day without food or water was minimal. Though it wasn't my first fast, it was for that specific day on the Jewish calendar. It was another first in a long weekend of firsts.

And the high holidays are not over yet. This weekend is Yom Kippur.