Yom Kippur

Another year of Jewish High Holidays has come and gone. I do not think that many Jews enjoy or look forward to High Holidays, but most Jews, I imagine, find them meaningful and reflective. Rosh Hashanah signifies the Jewish new year, and begins a period of reflection, known as the "Days of Awe". These days conclude with Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement.
It's a fast day and considered the most important Jewish Holiday of the year. It's themes are reflection and atonement from sin. Jews are encouraged to be charitable, compassionate and forgiving.
For me, I always reflect on where life has taken me between Yom Kippurs. Last year, I was with my parents and sister. It was the day before I was to leave for Madison, and about a month since I had returned from England. My life was changing quite rapidly, and was the ideal time for reflection and thought. Was my last year well spent? Was I prepared for the year ahead? Who knows? But the words and thoughts on that holiday helped.
The year before that I was actually in Madison. I had flown here to visit with work colleagues after my first year in the UK. It was strange being back in a city I had spent three years in as a graduate student. But after my first year in England it looks different. College students dressed in sweatshirts. Cool, clear mornings. Coffee shops, open until midnight. All of these elements were slightly unfamiliar to me after my year in the UK.
Then, the fall of 2002: My first year in England. I had been in Reading a week when Yom Kippur fell. I was welcomed into a family from the synagogue in Reading. She housed me and fed me the night before Yom Kippur, and fed me once again when it ended. We hadn't met before I walked in the door for dinner that night. It was amazing. I still keep in touch with them, and cannot thank them enough for their kindness.
It was also my first (and so far only) Yom Kippur with an Orthodox synagogue. I hardly knew anyone. I didn't know most of the prayers, only able to read along to the parts I was familiar with, or what I could site read in Hebrew. It started early, and ended late. But still: the reflection was there. I found time to think about my life: where I had been, where I was, where I was going.
All of these holidays were filled in different places and with different people. But the connection was always there. The words of the Kol Nidre prayer were always the same. The thoughts and struggles within me were different and difficult, but I'm always better off for having done it.