A Book of Common Prayer

High holidays are usually the time when everyone clears out of school for the weekend, heading home to celebrate the coming of a new year with their families. Being in Denmark, I was not going to fly back to New York for the weekend, so I was set to celebrate Rosh HaShannah the Danish way.

Through a friend of a friend of a friend (not even joking), I managed to get invited to a random Danish family for dinner on Friday night. My friend Naomi is friends with a guy who is in the Israeli army, and one of his friends from his unit is Danish. She was invited to dinner, and extended the invitation to myself and to our friend Deborah. I felt a little bit intrusive, since this was obviously a family gathering and there was no direct connection between the family and the American crew, but they made us feel welcome and at home - it was very hyggeligt. We had an intimate home-cooked meal, and afterwards sat on the couches drinking tea and coffee, and nibbling on dessert fruit and cookies.

It is very unusual for Danish people to invite strangers over to their houses, so I felt especially lucky to have such a wonderful opportunity to celebrate Rosh HaShannah with a family. The culture of having guests is very different here. When Danes welcome others into their homes, these guests are close friends. It is very unusual for a Dane to invite strangers over, and it would be even more unusual if they were to invite last minute guests. Meals are carefully planned, with menu and the amount of food predetermined. The whole point is to have a hyggeligt time, and unexpected guests (and the consequences of not preparing for them) could hinder that.

The rest of the weekend was really a blend of going to shul and hanging out at the Chabad house. For the first day I went to the Great Synagogue. The building is old and gorgeous, and the chazzanut recalled times long ago, when the shul was probably full to capacity for all the holidays. There was definitely a large crowd, but the women's section was very noisy, and it was difficult to follow since the huge columns made it difficult to see down to the men's section. For the second day, I went to another congregation called Machzikei Hadas, a very small Orthodox shul that was a lot more quiet.

Being away from home for the holidays, I expected to have a very different experience. I did not think that I would feel at home. I thought that attending a random family dinner would be awkward, but it was nice and I felt at home. I thought that going to shul overseas would be strange, but it was pretty much the same as in the United States. It seems like no matter where you go, you can find something familiar, something common - a taste of home.