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Posts Tagged ‘Jewish New Year’

Atonement

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »

This year, the Jewish holidays ambushed me.

My brother’s Celebration of Life landed on Rosh Hashanah, a New Year beginning amidst my last era of Minnesota Nice. My Mother the Flapper left us years ago while living on Lake Minnetonka; Jim had tucked her into bed the night before she died. My brother Mike is gone. There were no apples, no honey at our erev-shiva-like evening for Jim. Only testaments to a life well lived from friends and colleagues, some funny, some poignant some echoing his early life, our Year of Living Dangerously.

Through my fault, through my fault…

Today is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. We Jews confess our sins in the Temple, in public all together, not just on Fridays in a tiny confessional to a priest. The way I was taught for years at Sacred Heart School. We are supposed to fast, not even to drink water unless for some medical reason we must, like pregnancy. Or if we are in the business of saving lives, like say ER doctors? They get a pass.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa…

Our country is at war, a US-Israeli illegitimate war with Iran. Israel is continuing its relentless war against Hamas in Gaza after the October 7th attack. The news is sickening: a building collapses killing 21 Palestinians; an American aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, is all but forgotten in the Middle East, and now Houthi rebels are threatening to close another strait, crippling Saudi Arabia. We are peeling an onion with repercussions beyond our understanding. Here at home, in of all places Philadelphia, Ed Sheeran is trying to resurrect his tour after ousting rapper Macklemore, saying, “My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians’ lives, of children’s lives,”

 “I’ve had to take and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes and I’m so, so sorry for them. I don’t want to disappoint fans, and I’ve never wanted to be an activist musician, but this has put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet.” https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/sep/20/ed-sheeran-gaza-catastrophic-and-unjustifiable-first-show-tour-loop-philadelphia-us

Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us….

Can an artist be apolitical? Sheeran brings up a good point about freedom of speech. My very own artist, the Rocker, wrote an impassioned essay about/against censorship when he was the Pumpkin’s age in middle school. We Americans pride ourselves on this FIRST Amendment’s Constitutional Right – Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech. AND YET, this past weekend our President has banned three major news networks from the White House simply because he doesn’t like what they have to say about him! It does my heart good that the whole press pool has decided not to cover the President today.

Today is Yom Kippur, tonight the Book of Life will close. Who will be inscribed in the book to live another year, and who shall die? The funny thing is, not all Jews believe in the strict interpretation of the Torah. Reform American Judaism allows for many ways to practice our faith. This allowance for critical thinking, for dwelling in the grey, is what eventually sold me on conversion. Many of the Jewish people I know think Bibi is a war criminal, along with our own idiotic toddler-in-chief. We have had ten days to repent, to evaluate our lives and promise to do better. To listen to the ram’s horn. To do better, to listen, to behave with civility around others and online, to interact with AI or not? This is it for us, our chance to wipe the slate clean and begin again.

Instead of repenting, I’ve been on the phone with the VA about my brother, seeing to his affairs, trying to grieve with my sister. Looking after a Golden Retriever who was fostered by us for just a day because of his grieving family.

Yes, people go to a concert to be entertained. And people go to a football game to watch football. And yes, billionaires own these venues and they too have a right to free speech. That is our complicated and brilliant way of life here in America. As my Nana would say, “God help us.”

But we are on our own, there is no cavalry coming to save us from ourselves. The Book of Life never closes and every year is becoming more dangerous. If we want to get this tyrant out of office we must show up at the polls in November. In the Torah, the wedding processional comes before the funeral cortege if they happen to meet at a crossroad. Life comes first. Here we are celebrating two Virgo birthdays last week.

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A Sweet and Sour Year

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , on September 6, 2021| 2 Comments »

Hello Fall and candied apples! We celebrated the Bride and Groom’s anniversary yesterday, which was better than last year since we were quarantining. Today a new year begins on the Jewish calendar.

You may think it’s 2021, but for Jews around the world it’s 5782! It’s time to gather and listen to the shofar, to dip apples in honey. But since our Grands are too young to be vaccinated, there will be no religious service to attend, not even outside.

The Delta variant and vaccine deniers, politicians and mask evaders are rejoicing no doubt.

And since Great Grandma Ada left us almost one year ago, the excitement of a new year – one that looks destined to continue a spiritual lockdown – has eluded me. Granted this holiday isn’t the biggest one on the Jewish calendar, but for me it was the easiest to accomplish at home. You could use flour, and nothing had to be fried!

September is not just for holidays, let the month of many birthday parties begin!

The first was Saturday. Bob and I drove the Grands to a first grade friend’s party at an outdoor mini-golf course. I’m constantly amazed at how young parents can deliver a safe birthday celebration for their children during our year and a half of living with Covid.

The L’il Pumpkin said yesterday, “Isn’t Delta an airplane?” And we all joined in with applause because of course it’s an airline and it’s also a kitchen faucet, and a toilet. Now the image of a Delta toilet is stuck in my mind. Being able to laugh, to make Dad Jokes, was helpful as we reminisced with the Bride and Groom about the wedding. Because my daughter and husband were married on a mountain.

They said their vows on a sunlit, crisp day in an apple orchard, under Ada’s handmade Huppah.

And since Rosh Hashanah moves around on a lunar calendar, it wasn’t until today that I made the connection – apples and honey is to the New Year as an apple orchard is to the Wedding!

There is the tiniest of chills in the early morning air here in Nashville. The oppressive 90+ degree heat has left us. As the High Holy Days approach, I’m thinking of renewal. Of strengthening ties that bind and letting go of nonsense. Of living in the present so I can recognize joy when it appears. Of creating healthier habits, of accepting the things I cannot change.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change; 
courage to change the things I can; 
and wisdom to know the difference. Reinhold Niebuhr

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New Year, Old Soul

Posted in an expository essay, Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, Public Policy, science, tagged , , , , on October 1, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Happy October from Nashville, the home of a seemingly endless summer. Yesterday it was 101 in my car! And Happy Jewish New Year to everyone, now is the time to do a deep dive into our souls. Right up until Yom Kippur, Jews everywhere will be condensing years of therapy into this holy week, asking ourselves what we might want to change or do differently in the future. In other words, let’s make some New Year’s resolutions.

Resolved:  To worry less – Lately I’ve been worried about early onset dementia. What will Bob do if I suddenly start dialing the microwave in hopes of making a phone call? Also why am I getting dizzy every time I lay down? Maybe I shouldn’t list all my worries right now if I want to worry less.

Resolved:  To laugh more – Finding humor in the strangest places is my God-given right –  and self-deprecating humor is an Irish tradition! For instance, I was telling everyone on erev Rosh Hashana what a thrill it was to steal an olive in an Italian abbey last year, which led to stories of petty vandalism by everyone. Belly laughing ensued.

Resolved:  Never to steal again.

Resolved:  To bake more – I secretly want to be a contestant on the Great British Bake Off! The Flapper was an excellent pastry chef, and her specialties were coconut birthday cakes and banana cream pies. Therefore, in the past I’ve limited my cake skills to carrots; but I’ve always been a pastry snob, never touching a dessert at a party unless it was home made. So for my birthday I made a savory olive and ham cake. I found the recipe on a French paper towel.

Resolved:  To disconnect more from social media – and the news for that matter. I’ve been thinking lately about what we would do before everybody had their necks craned at an odd 30 degree angle. Hint – We’d talk to one another! Whenever I leave the house without my iPhone (refer back to my first “worry” resolution) I first become alarmed, and then I settle into this nice homeostasis of contentment. Nobody can find me! I am FREE to flutter about without checking Instagram or responding to another Trump joke.

Resolved:  To bloom where I’m planted – I married a gypsy. Let’s face it, Bob’s not happy unless he’s moving or planning a trip. I hear, “Where should we go next?” and I think, “Why not walk over to the Farmer’s Market.” He’s global, I’m local. I’m starting Pilates to go with my T’ai Chi but I need to work on staying present, and all that new/old/age stuff. If Ms Bean can suddenly start heading up the stairs at bedtime with us for the first time in 2 1/2 years, I can get over any fear! Right? I mean she’s older than me in dog years.

Resolved:  To try not to experience too much Schadenfreude during this whole impeachment inquiry thing –  Well, let’s face it, you had to see it coming. We are going to need a new name for this debacle, maybe not one with the suffix of “gate.” After all, Watergate was a condo complex, and “Ukrainegate” doesn’t do it justice. But my pleasure in seeing Trump’s fall, like Gulliver all tied up by his larger-than-life ego, may be supplanted by pain if Pence takes the oath of office. Still, a little Schadenfreude is good for us:

“…if you’re more science orientated… In the last 15 years, evolutionary psychologists and neuroscientists have got very interested in Schadenfreude as a functional emotion – as opposed to deviant, diseased passion which is how it has been seen in the past. It makes sense that would have evolved to enjoy seeing justice done, and transgressors get their comeuppances. Studies show that seeing bad people punished even if they don’t know they’re being punished, like when we see a waiter spit in a rude customer’s soup – activates the reward centres of the brain, the dorsal straitum.”  https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/12/18/why-taking-pleasure-in-others-misfortune-can-actually-be-good-for-your-mental-health/#2b174cb46526

Republicans need to do some serious soul searching this Fall. It’s time to stop the old bait and switch mentality and stop using words like “traitor” and “civil war.” Running our country like its his own personal fiefdom is about to stop. The shofar has sounded. This “witch hunt” is over!

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Inversion Policy

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , , on September 22, 2017| Leave a Comment »

When I was young, and didn’t want to eat something the Flapper served at the dinner table, she would happily chirp, “Good! All the more for us!” She was all about the Freudian theory of opposites, and she thought if she just played up how great a new dish was, my defense would fold and I’d give in to her exceptional strategy. Sometimes it worked!

Which is why I was intrigued with an essay written by Andrew Wilkinson on his tactic of reversing his To-Do-List at work; he applied the theory of opposites by turning his goals upside down and became immeasurably happier. “He wanted to figure out how to improve his day and make it more enjoyable. So, he followed the lead of Charlie Munger, right-hand man of famed investor Warren Buffet, and a proponent of ‘inversion’ – a strategy that looks at problems in reverse, focusing on minimising the negatives instead of maximising the positives.” http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170919-the-power-of-a-not-to-do-list

Last night, as I was explaining simply what the Jewish New Year meant to me while the 5 and “almost” 3 year old partially listened, it dawned on me that I wanted to start off the year 5778 with a new angle. I promised myself I’d try and look for the silver lining when things go south, I’d apply my Pippy Longstocking pigtails to every new challenge. I’d learn something new.

Just imagine making your New Year resolutions, only this time God has his Book open and he’s writing down everything you’re putting on your To-Do-List, making Rosh Hashana a kind of spiritual reckoning that ends at Yom Kippur and you better have confessed all your sins by that time.

“What’s a sin?” the Love Bug asked. I mumbled something about not listening…

So I thought about changing my resolutions, my intention to “do Better” infers that I haven’t been doing enough, right? What if I chose to make this the year I employ some “Anti-Goals?” Like Wilkinson, who stopped meeting with people he didn’t like, stopped holding morning meetings altogether, and never scheduled more than 2 hours of his workday, I might just say “No” now and then. I wonder how he dealt with his emails?

Let’s all try and reverse our thinking for a day, a week or maybe even a year. Let’s just put the wrong shoe on the right foot for once and walk around like a toddler not caring one iota! What will bring you more joy in the New Year? Let’s all make our very own “Not-To-Do-List!”

Happy Birthday to the World and I promise never to stop fighting for climate science education, because otherwise our great-grandchildren will have to populate another planet and start over. And I’m not so sure God would start out with “Let there be Light” again, since we didn’t listen the first time.

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The Book of Life

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , on September 29, 2011| 3 Comments »

When our children were young, we would walk to the river and stand on the rocks in contemplation. Usually our daughter, who liked to be first at most things, would dig a hand into her pocket and pull out a speck of pocket dust. One by one, all four of us would throw our tiny pocket-sized flecks of cotton dust into the water. Because this is the start of the Jewish New Year, and we knew it was time to think about our “faults.” In this quiet time of self-examination, Jews all over the world were symbolically shedding their sins (my term) in order to start over – to begin anew. One by one, all of our shortcomings could be thrown into the river and washed away.

Growing up Catholic, I always knew that whatever I did during the week, I need only confess to a priest on Friday and all would be forgiven. I’m a sucker for pomp and tradition. I loved marching to a beautiful grotto dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the forest around Camp St Joseph for Girls. Singing Ave Maria with the nuns there among the sun-dappled trees, gave me goose bumps. But in this ancient tradition of Bob’s family, we only had one shot at forgiveness. On Rosh Hashana God opened the Book of Life, and for Ten Days of Awe, He (or She) would inscribe the names of those who would be admitted to heaven. On Yom Kippur, the Book is closed. Ten days out of 365 to get it right. Ten days to make amends and start over.

Christian, Agnostic, Jewish, Atheist, Muslim, or Hindu, Buddhist or Hedonist, whatever you profess to believe – even you Secular Humanists and Unitarians out there, on these holiest of days in the Jewish calendar, I wish you a sweet year. And I sincerely pray that the Israelis and Palestinians will break bread together.

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