Today was Rosh Hashanah. I woke up early to carpool to Synagogue, which meant going in I was pretty tired and fatigued. Today would be the longest religious service I've ever experienced. But it would be worth it.
What do Doctor House and Abraham have in common? Both have been caught in hallucinations and had to kill their delusion in order to break out of it. This was part of the theme of the Rabbi's story on the sacrifice of Isaac. How he explained it, it made sense too. Abraham had circumscribed himself and his family three days prior. Due to this circumcision and the extreme pain he could have hallucinated bringing Isaac up and killing him, while listening to the "Voice of God" and seeing an Angel tell him he was worthy.
Something similar happens to House in an episode of House. In which they are trying to heal a patient, but then a man comes in and shoots house. He then is hallucinating the entire time, the hallucination only ends when he kills his patient, which then brings him back to the present where he is being rushed to the emergency room.
Rosh Hashanah service was the longest religious service I have taken part in. In the length there were things I liked and didn't like. For example, I liked how people who volunteered were recognized by the community and by lighting a candle. I liked how there was meditation and the emphasis on Buddhist and Taoist ideals.
What I didn't like was the emphasis on the Torah. Every book is sacred in my opinion, but the special place the Torah is given inside the Arc and how we all paid tribute to it (not touching it, but touching to Torah with our prayerbook or prayer shall) kept up the separateness from the word being interpreted by the people. I did enjoy learning the history of that Torah though. It was over 300 years old and saved by the allies during World War 2. The Bonyhadi's would later give a plaque for it, that was from Central Europe as well, and about the same age as the Torah. The history lesson was beautiful, putting the book in a state of awe, wasn't really my thing. I learned later that honoring the Torah is honoring the Word within ourselves. Which I can relate to as the ability to create through imagination and action that we all possess.
Service ended with the shofar being blown. It truly an ancient beautiful sound. After the service we all had lunch together before we left.
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