The one-two punch of the Jewish High Holidays is over: yesterday was Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashannah is the fun holiday — you have to go to services in the morning, but then in the afternoon you get to sit down with your family for a nice meal, and you do this two days in a row. Yom Kippur is the not-fun holiday, because you have to fast and you spend the day in synagogue atoning for the sins of the past year. Sometimes it feels like Judaism revolves around food — the enjoyment of it (Rosh Hashannah), the lack of it (Yom Kippur), or the restriction of it (Passover).

As for me, I still wasn’t feeling well yesterday from my recent illness, so I didn’t go to services at all. Nor did I fast, because according to Jewish law, you don’t have to fast on Yom Kippur if you’re sick, and on top of not feeling well I was still taking antibiotics, so I didn’t fast. I love the fact that Jewish law has loopholes. Gotta love those ancient rabbis. So while the rest of my family went to synagogue, I hung around my parents’ house all day.

I have decided that I have discovered Heaven. Heaven is lying on a couch, covered with a blanket, reading the New Yorker, 10 different HBO channels at your fingertips — and, most crucial of all, a dog nuzzled up against you. (My parents have a German short-haired pointer.)

I think my next big purchase will be either a PDA, an iPod, or a dog.

OK, probably a PDA or an iPod, but the dog is coming at some point down the line.

Now if I could somehow combine the three of them…