At temple on the high holidays, nobody likes being there. Most people come for the one 5 min prayer that is a memorial for the dead. They come early cause they don’t know when it will start and they leave right when it’s finished. I am one of the people that stays for the whole services. That means I am there for a long period of time and when you’re sitting in one place for 5 hours, your mind tends to wonder. I tend to think of a T.V. show like avatar the last air bender. Think of how cool it would be to bend the elements. Or what I'm going to do over my friends house after services, or maybe even the next time I can eat. But this is the time when I should be reflecting to g-d about myself, not thinking about nick shows. This is when I need to buckle down and pray, cause I need it.
i can totally relate. Services can be brutal and concentrating on all the prayers and what is being said can be really hard. But it's true that this is the time for personal reflection and it is important that we try to remember that.
ReplyDeleteI like how you described your mind wandering. It must be hard sitting there keeping focused for 5 hours!
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