Outside for the Holidays

For some, Rosh Hashanah means davening in synagogue. For me, this time of year has come to signify something else: stepping outside the confines of the synagogue, and reconnecting to the natural world.

I grew up in an observant Reform Jewish household in Southern California in the 1960s. This translated into attending Sunday school, Hebrew school, becoming a bat mitzvah, and going to High Holiday services at our small temple in Downey, California—one that my father and uncle, Eastern European immigrants, helped build. I even liked listening to my father sing the prayers in his quiet, off-key voice.