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High Holidays on Zoom

 My temple’s high holiday services will be on Zoom this month. This is my reality. It’s not “virtual” for me, it’s actual. This is what is happening. And when I consider the likelihood that less people will be participating than in the past, I also notice the mind scrambling for explanations, justifications, comparisons, judgements, solutions. As though – as always – there is a problem in need of solving. But what if there is no problem at all? Or what if the problem is so big that it is beyond comprehension or solution? In either case, I am free to simply have the experience I am going to have. That’s all. Whatever happens – including the possibility of total Zoom or internet failure – I am free to choose how it will be for me. And perhaps this is one of the messages of the high holidays this year: This is what is happening. How will you receive it... with a tightly clenched fist, or with an open hand?