Don’t Love Your Synagogue? Try Something New

It is only a month until the "Days of Awe," the Yamim Noraim. Actually, I have no idea where the term "High Holidays" comes from. But each year I am faced with a conundrum. Do I go to a synagogue as a rabbi to perform, or as a private person to pray? I don't find most synagogues particularly good places to pray in -- there are too many distractions. I do enjoy praying, meditating, and contemplating, very much. I go off into my imagination and have conversations with that Great Spirit in the Sky. On the other hand, I also enjoy being part of a group of others who are either singing or silently communing in an atmosphere of togetherness.  I love both the experience of private prayer and community prayer, but there is something about most synagogues that puts me off. It's a mixture of false piety, formality, banal sermonizing, and human limitations.