Jewish holidays-and back to normality

The Jewish holidays are over. The Jewish new year and then the day of atonement and finally a week of Sukkot.
Well here in Israel these holidays mean everyone is off work and relaxing and enjoying themselves...except those who create the pleasures eg cooking restaurant meals. Today ends the shabat after the holidays. Tomorrow children return to school and start to learn (the year started on Sept1 but about half of the time so far has been holidays for Jewish holidays!!!) and at long last I get a day off work!!!!
I am not religious but like being Jewish. Let me try to give you an example of what I mean and then I will try to explain something about the Jewish calender of the last few weeks. In the afternoon of the day of kippur the congregation gets blessed by the cohenim: those who by tradition were the priests at the temple mount. The cohenim stand barefooted opposite the Torah scrolls with their heads covered by their prayer shawls. Behind them stand the congregation. People stand in family groups the father, grandfather or even sometimes great grandfather covers the heads of all the generations of his family with his prayer shawl as the cohenim bless and the congregation reply. Yom Kippur (day of atonement)starts like all Jewish festival at sunset the day before the festival (including shabat). yom kippur is the shabat of shabats and after praying and fasting these prayers feel very special regardless or perhaps because of their simplicity. I emphasise that these are personal feelings that come towards the end of a day where we account to ourselves for the behaviour of the last year. I hope u understood something of what I was trying to convey and would be glad if u tell me if I succeeded!!!!
OK my version of the jewish holidays!!!! We start with the new year commemorating the day god mad man. From that evening until ten days latter we can prepare to rejoice the fact he created mankind but at the same time think where we have transgressed and start to request god's forgiveness. As I have said I am not religious but I think it is a very correct way for us to look at our lives. We must account to the world from within ourselves and the fact we are made to stop and think can only be good. OK we have arrived at a point where we are give a chance to start again and we are even give a task on the same evening that we finish fasting. We are told to start to build our temporary shelter our for Sukkot which is just 5 days after kippur. Here we are told to leave Egypt and wander for 40 years before we arrive in Israel and at the end of this holiday we celebrate being given the Torah: the set of morals that we arrive in Israel with !!!!!
So Israel has rejoiced some in prayer some with less prayer but we have been reminded we are Jewish. I am proud to be Jewish and it gives me something to offer to those around me. By the same means I expect Muslims , Christians and other religious groups to feel the same. Perhaps that is exactly the answer if we all feel we have something to offer others because of our religion the world would be a better place.
I have more to write but that will be tomorrow!!