Yamim Noraim, in more ways than one

I love reading between the lines of articles, I said to the spouse this morning as we strolled down the street together:

Anita Bürgler, a 43-year-old Swiss kite-surfing fanatic, chose this resort town on the Strait of Gibraltar to spend her first-ever Spanish holiday. She heard it has some of the strongest winds in Europe.

In Tarifa, she found the wind-swept coastline that she expected. It might have been just a bit crowded for her taste. The shore is, she said last week, "just very busy, with too many other surfers to really enjoy myself."

So she and her 45-year-old partner, Urs Baur, who also had never vacationed in Spain, spent much of their two-week holiday enjoying other activities that included whale watching, hiking and a day trip to the picturesque town of Ronda.

And so Europe dies. (I won't spell it out.) There are some who say God is taking revenge. For now, I just find it interesting and a bit scary.

Some observations from Rosh Hashana:

-The beit knesset put up their white parochet for the season. After birkat kohanim, I noticed it was dedicated in honor of a bar mitzvah boy...in 1972. Wow- he's 54 years old now.

-Putting two "missable" lines (Zachrenu and Mi Kamocha) before the required one (HaMelekh) may not have been deliberate, but it's a stroke of genius nonetheless- it helps you remember the last. Of course, I know that I'll mess up continually for a week, only to start doing it automatically next Sunday. Thirty days? Ha!

(I must add that putting HaMelech HaMishpat halfway through is also smart- that way you might realize you missed the previous change before you finish the whole thing.)