Wow, that was quite ride – deciding in August to help make High Holidays happen in early September, WITH a previous promise to spend a week in Minnesota helping my beloveds get married.

Somehow it all came off, and was marvelous. I learned so much from the whole process, and have gotten more and more clear that I need to be working as a liturgist. Not sure how to make a living from that yet, but I am making a life from it, which is a start.

I gave my first-ever Big Talk During the High Holidays, on Yom Kippur during Kol Nidre. I spoke about what the promise of kol nidre – to be released from vows – has meant to me as an incest survivor. I’ve known and loved this community for a long time, and standing in that ritual space, speaking deep truths, felt so incredibly right. Maybe it’s time for rabbinical school after all?

Anyway, here’s the text of my talk. And I’ll be back to blogging soon!

Elliott batTzedek Kol Nidre talk: To be forced to vow against oneself