Shana Tovah! Happy New Year!

Yes, it's the Jewish New Year aka Rosh Hashana! Well, technically Rosh Hashana was Monday and Tuesday of this week... Now we are within the 10 days of repentance as Yom Kippur steadily approaches! The 10 days of repentance are days of mercy and forgiveness, days dedicated to repentance, to examining one's conscience and, specifically, to amending one's ways. But let's rewind to Rosh Hashana... I never actually observed Rosh Hashana. Until recently I had no real inclination to observe anything Jewish. But something changed me! Perhaps all the Kabbalistic prayers I started to recite had a profound effect on me? There are so many factors to consider that led me to this moment in my spiritual journey. Regardless, I felt it was important for me to observe Rosh Hashana this year (the best I could) and so in preparation for receiving the heightened spiritual energy of the Jewish New Year I had decided to a purchase a kabbalistic Rosh Hashana book. In fact, it's supposedly the first ever kabbalistic Rosh Hashana Prayer Book thus its name, "The first Ever kabbalistic Rosh Hashana Book."

I was surprised to find that the book was out of print. I could only purchase a used copy on amazon... so I did! I had considered buying a Kabbalistic Rosh Hashana prayer book from the Kabbalah center but the price seemed so high that I decided to go with this used book instead. A bit to my dismay... when the book arrived I realized that there was no way I would ever be able to read and digest all of it! It happens to be 566 pages long! Ooops! What was I thinking? So approximately 5 days before Rosh Hashana I started reading this immense book! It's actually a really good book, specifically because it explains the inner workings of the prayers and their spiritual effect on the reader. I was actually able to pick and choose which prayers to read out loud based on the intentions of the prayers. This was very good considering that there was no way I was going to be able to read through all of the prayers in this book! But I gave it a good try! And I believe that's all G-d/ Hashem asks of us... To try our best! Hashem knows our intentions... Hashem knows our heart! And it was my utmost heart felt intention to receive all the positive life-changing energy I could receive through reciting these prayers on Rosh Hashana!

So Rosh Hashana began on Sunday evening. I prepared the two candles, the goblet of grape juice and the apple slices with honey. I omitted the round challah bread because I recently stopped eating bread (grains and starches). My 6 year old step daughter decided that she would be part of the ceremony... mainly because she wanted to drink the sugary grape juice and eat the apple with the honey on it (more sugar)! So be it! So I recited prayers from the kabbalah book and some prayers from the Mount Sinai Temple in West LA's website. I didn't feel a very strong energy from reciting the prayers. I didn't start tearing up as I sometimes do. But regardless, I felt good about observing the Holiday! And I felt good about involving my 6 year old step daughter in the whole process. It is a great mitvah/ blessing to include children in this magical energy. I even recited a prayer to bless my daughter!

The next morning the unthinkable happened! After performing my usual morning meditations and kabbalistic prayers I ended up sitting through approximately 4 hours of synagogue services (3 services in total)! I was able to watch a live streaming of the Mount Sinai Temple's Rosh Hashana Prayer Services on my tablet (which I never use by the way) in my bedroom! And the craziest thing of all was that my 6 year old step daughter was in the room with me for most of that time... listening to the Hebrew prayers as if she enjoyed the services! The fact of the matter is... she is never allowed in my bedroom! So it was a special treat for her to be allowed to watch the synagogue services with me! We were standing together when it was time to stand and we were sitting together when it was time to sit. Some moments we were cuddling and hugging... and at other moments she was jumping on the bed and I had to tell her to stop! At one point she started bringing her toys in the room to play with them. A few times I got emotional and started to cry. I get very affected by powerful prayers and music. I don't know how we were both in that room for 4 hours listening to prayers, but I finally had to leave the room to make breakfast and feed the cats. I was starving... and the cats were starving... and yet the prayer service still went on for another hour! My cats got to listen to the rest of the service!

For the rest of the day, after eating breakfast, I lied down in my meditation pyramid and read my Kabbalistic Rosh Hashana book. I was so super energized from all the morning prayers that I could feel my body vibrating! I had also been holding my powerful Ye Ming Zu stones and synergy stones throughout the entire 4 hours of services... so I'm sure that had a most energizing effect on me as well! Usually when I read in the pyramid I get tired and I have to stop to close my eyes and take a nap. However, on Rosh Hashana this did not happen to me at all! I just kept reading and reading and reciting prayers that resonated with me! It was a very powerful first day of Rosh Hashana. However, while I was in my Rosh Hashana mode, my roommate/ best friend/ spiritual mentor felt that he had to chime in a few times. He's the one that got me interested in Judaism when he took an online Judaism course. Now, after the fact, he is totally against the whole religion and says it's a bunch of bs like all religions. I agree that religion is bs, but the prayers are super powerful.... and there's no getting around that. I am super sensitive to energy and I can feel the positive energy when I recite the prayers.

So as I'm in Rosh Hashana mode, my friend is watching videos about how the Jewish Holocaust was a complete fraud. At one point he made me watch a video with him about an old Jewish couple that made up an entire lie about their time at a Nazi prison camp. Years later the couple admitted that they made the story up. Supposedly the Zionists made up a lot of lies about the Jewish Holocaust. Supposedly it was not as bad as they say it was. My friend then went on to say that our spiritual mentor told him that I would be better off practicing Pif-ism rather than Judaism. "Pif" is a nickname that I go by. Basically I am better off creating my own religion. However, I believe that is what I am doing! I've taken bits and pieces of different spiritual practices that resonate with me and I've created my own spiritual practice. Otherwise, if I was just stuck on Judaism I wouldn't have an ancestor altar whereby I invoke and make offerings to the Jade Emperor... I wouldn't have a solar altar whereby I light incense and pray to specific planets and angels of the day... I probably wouldn't be practicing reiki energy healing... or reciting other powerful prayers in sanskirt, Practicing meditation, Qi gong...etc... It seemed that my friend was trying to get me to renounce Judaism and Rosh Hashana altogether, but it didn't work.... and so I continued reading and praying... It was a wonderful restful day... regardless of the Jewish Holocaust fraud videos that my friend had me watch. In the evening I lit the two candles again and recited more prayers for the 2nd day of Rosh Hashana ... afterwhich I went to sleep.

On the 2nd day of Rosh Hashana I woke up severely drained of energy and had to sleep later then usual! My step daughter went to day care which was a great. I got to have some time alone... Well, my roommate was there but his energy doesn't drain me. I decided to skip the 2nd day of Rosh Hashana Mount Sinai prayer services. It would've been over kill at this point! Instead I just spent the day reading from my kabbalistic Rosh Hashana book and praying! It was another wonderful restful yet energized day! Once again I didn't fall asleep in my pyramid! I was way too energized from all the prayers! The holiday ended with a cup of grape juice and some Havdallah prayers... and then it was back to regular mundane life again... well, not quite... we are now in the 10 days of repentance! Time to prepare for Yom Kippur! Til next time! Have a Wonderful and Happy New Year!

Jennie H is a Reiki Master Energy Healer, Co-Founder of Self Saviorz Society California Non-Profit 501(c)(3), Poet, Author and Entertainer with goals to help raise the vibration and consciousness of humanity!