OK, the title of this post is a pun on the Hebrew word ne'ila, which in modern Hebrew means "locking." It is also the name of the final prayer service that ends Yom Kippur. So yesterday as everybody shouted the Shema (see the foregoing link, scroll down to "Final Affirmations"), I shouted it in the IS mode. Nobody heard me (due to the noise of over 100 people shouting all at once) but I heard me (and God, of course) :-) When we next shouted "Adonai hu ha-Elohim" seven times, I shouted "Shema u-Eloowenu" seven times. Again, I heard me (and God again; He's a good listener).
I've noticed that at synagogue on the Shabbat & on holydays, I now invariably stand against the wall with my arms folded, almost out of reflex. I guess this is my way of showing that I would so rather be somewhere else & I'm trying to minimize my presence, as it were.
Now I've got to go build my faux sukkah...
Sabi a-Libee
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