A Jewish Holiday Worth Borrowing

[Fraggle Rocker]

Many Jewish "holidays" are true "holy days" in the original meaning of the word. They haven't been turned into orgies of beer and football like so many of ours have. I've been told that Yom Kippur ("Day of Atonement") is the holiest of all holy days. When it falls on the Sabbath, as it did yesterday, it becomes the holiest of Sabbaths.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of religion and even though I'm no fan of football either, I still prefer our holiday system. You can always find something else to do at a really good orgy. But this totally secular explanation of Yom Kippur, by a professional writer, was very thought-provoking.

A DAY TO EDIT OUR LIVES
What Yom Kippur Means to Me
By Jim Sollisch
Washington Post, Saturday, September 22, 2007

When I was in my 20s, I wrote a novel and sent it to Doubleday. In my hubris, I skipped the editors and sent it directly to the president. She called five days later to tell me she liked it. An editor was assigned and suggested major revisions. I refused and got an agent, who sent it to other publishers.

The novel never made it into print.

I blew it, not because I thought that my novel was perfect but because I clung to the idea that its nature was unchangeable.

As I've gotten older, it's become easier to revise. Not just my writing but my life. And I finally understand the genius of Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday that asks us to acknowledge mistakes and make amends.

On Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, each of us is asked to reread our manuscript of the past year and make revisions. We are tasked with asking such questions as "What could I have done differently?" and "What were the effects of my choices on others?" When I realized these were the questions novelists ask of their characters, it became easier to ask them of myself.

Writing is a process of making choices. Thousands of them. The act of writing an opening sentence is the result of more choices than I can count. Every word a character speaks or swallows is a choice. Every action or inaction, more choices. It's so easy to get them wrong. Or at least to see that another choice would have made more sense.

The best writers are usually the best revisers, and they learn to look forward to the process. Revision gives you a chance to get things right. You learn to ask other people for suggestions. Your narrator may be omniscient, but you realize you're not. Suddenly, the writing isn't yours alone anymore.

You see that it affects people differently from the way you intended.

On Yom Kippur, we are given the chance to understand that our lives are also not ours alone. Our actions and choices affect others, often in ways that we don't intend. If we cling to our vision of ourselves too fiercely, we blow the chance to gain insight.

Yom Kippur is not a holiday for the young. Judaism requires only adults to fast while they reflect. Nor is it a holiday for the weak of heart.

Revising yourself requires you to do something almost psychologically unnatural -- stop narrating the story of your life the way you always have.

The British novelist John Fowles said that people under 40 should not attempt to write novels because they lack the wisdom to do so. I think he may have meant that they lack the ability to revise. Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does.

Jim Sollisch is a writer in Cleveland.

 

[draqon]

converting us to Judaism...heh...no thanks

 

[cosmictraveler]

Better to be in Congress.

Each year the congressional leadership is responsible for setting Congress' legislative calendar, and this year that calendar will be tightly packed with the smorgasbord of issues Congress must tackle in the coming months. The legislative work Congress fails to finish, however, may be what makes headlines in 2006. This year boasts the fewest legislative days for Congress in twenty years, and this compressed election-year schedule is sure to make finishing appropriations bills before the end of the fiscal year on Oct. 1, a task lawmakers find difficult even with more ample time, next to impossible.


In 2006, the leadership has decided to devote 72 days, or a little over two months, to official legislative business. When Mondays and Fridays are included in this total (voting generally only takes place Tuesday through Thursday), this number rises to 125 days. Since 1985, Congress has allocated an average of 152 days per session (including Mondays and Fridays) to legislative work.

Featured high on the list of reasons for this year's limited schedule are the upcoming midterm election and the accompanying pressure on lawmakers to hit the campaign trail early and often. Yet, in previous election years, Congress allocated significantly more time to legislative work than it has for 2006. In 2002, for example, Congress was in session for 149 days, and in 2000 lawmakers clocked 141 days.


http://wzpo.ask.com/r?t=p&d=mys&s=a....org/article/articleview/3272/1/248?TopicID=1

 

[Avatar]

converting us to Judaism...heh...no thanks

You can't do that. The only way to surely become a jew is to be born of a yewish mother.

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

You can't do that. The only way to surely become a jew is to be born of a yewish mother.

No, they permit converts. They just don't go after them aggressively the way the Christians and Muslims do, because their religion does not have an imperative for evangelism. That's why most Jews have Jewish parents. But it's not too terribly rare for a person to "convert" to Judaism in the process of marrying a Jewish spouse. It's more unusual for it to be done for any other reason, although the medieval Khazarians did it for reasons that were probably political although we may never know for sure. If you marry in, depending on which congregation you join, you may be expected to walk the talk. Learn Hebrew, recite the Torah, understand what the holidays mean, etc. In others all you may have to do is like matzo ball soup. ^_^

 

[The Devil Inside]

You can't do that. The only way to surely become a jew is to be born of a yewish mother.

untrue. im a turkish/french american with zero ties to hebrew heritage. i converted back in 2000.
self taught myself hebrew, learned the scriptures..the whole shebang.
it is difficult, even actively discouraged by jewish temple leadership. this is because judaism isnt "religion lite". if you dont take spiritual development seriously, they will weed you out.
funny enough, its actually the natural born jews who usually neglect their religion.

 

[Avatar]

Oh, ok, but weren't the chosen people of God supposed to belong to specific tribes?
I.e., God chose Israelites or whatever as their favourite sheep.
Is there a special ritual to enter the jew club?

 

[Zephyr]

Oh, ok, but weren't the chosen people of God supposed to belong to specific tribes?
I.e., God chose Israelites or whatever as their favourite sheep.

Strangely enough, the 'chosen people' phrase is usually emphasised more by antisemites than by Jews themselves. They say the biblical story of Ruth is meant to show that origin doesn't matter so much as desire to serve God (according to Jewish law, of course). Ruth herself was a Moabite (i.e. non-Israelite) who joined the Jewish faith, but her descendants include the biblical king David, and the messiah.

Is there a special ritual to enter the jew club?

It depends whether you're interested in orthodox or reform Judaism. Joining the reform jew club (the majority branch in the USA) probably isn't much more difficult than joining the muslim, christian or buddhist clubs. The orthodox Jewish authorities don't recognise reform conversions, though.

 

[MacGyver1968]

self taught myself hebrew,

Wow..isn't Hebrew one of the hardest languages to learn? Pretty impressive.

 

[The Devil Inside]

Wow..isn't Hebrew one of the hardest languages to learn? Pretty impressive.

eh..difficult, but i spent months applying myself to ONLY that. i literally bought enough groceries, cigarettes, and other smokables to last the 3 months i spent in one room, reading and learning.
all said, it cost me around 1200 dollars to learn hebrew.

 

[The Devil Inside]

Oh, ok, but weren't the chosen people of God supposed to belong to specific tribes?I.e., God chose Israelites or whatever as their favourite sheep.

the idea of a "chosen people" in the sense that it is usually thought of (superiority or favoritism from g-d) is actually quite silly.
jews originally thought of themselves as teachers, not rulers. this is what the "chosen people" phrase references. it implies a burden placed on the jews to teach the rest of the world, not rule it. zionists, nazis, and pretty much anyone that cant read the torah in hebrew misinterpret the phrase to be one of kingship, rather than scholastics. *shrug*

Is there a special ritual to enter the jew club?

yeah, i suppose so. nothing too homoerotic though.

 

[spidergoat]

I disagree with the basic sentiments of this holiday. If you aren't aware of what you are doing at the time, what's the point of second-guessing yourself later? That is not the way to enlightenment. There is nothing to atone for and nothing that can grant atonement.

 

[The Devil Inside]

There is nothing to atone for and nothing that can grant atonement.

youve made a fundamental judgement about the holiday from an atheist point of view. this cant be done if you want to understand why jews celebrate it.

youve basically said "there is no g-d" here. that is best for a different thread, when the discussion is about the merits of a particular holiday.

as for the beginning of your post, i can understand why you say it...but jews tend to disagree.

 

[iceaura]

If you aren't aware of what you are doing at the time, what's the point of second-guessing yourself later?

So as to be aware of what you are doing next time? Just a thought - - - .

 

[greenberg]

Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of religion and even though I'm no fan of football either, I still prefer our holiday system. You can always find something else to do at a really good orgy. But this totally secular explanation of Yom Kippur, by a professional writer, was very thought-provoking.
...

A similar content, but formulated in a much more constructive way, can frequently be found in various approaches to human productivity and how to improve it.


For example, from David Allen's Getting Things Done - here from the notes on Minezone.org:

Six Level Model for Reviewing Your Own Work

1. current actions
2. current projects
3. areas of responsibility
4. 1-2 year goals
5. 3-5 year vision
6. big picture view

Or a discussion on why we resist the weekly review and plan and what we can do about it at a blog and its summary at Lifehack.org:

1. It’s not on our calendar.
2. We don’t know how or we fear we may not do it right.
3. We don’t have a step-by-step plan for it.
4. We aren’t ready—and getting ready is too overwhelming.
5. We feel that the weekly review is a “have to” instead of a “want to”.
6. We haven’t defined our outcome vision.
7. We have’t defined our purpose and principles.
8. We think it has to be perfect and complete.
9. We don’t see the benefit of it.
10. We don’t have time.
11. We feel we don’t have enough to review.
12. We feel we have too much to review.
13. We are too far behind or haven’t done a review in several weeks.
14. We have no accountability.
15. We don’t like the isolation.
16. We find the weekly review boring.
17. We fear we might get interrupted.
18. We fear what we will discover.
19. We’re scared of what others will think about us.
20. It’s hard.

 

[Letticia]

Wow..isn't Hebrew one of the hardest languages to learn? Pretty impressive.

Having studied it, I don't think so. Certainly much easier than Chinese and other Eastern languages. Hebrew uses 32 letters, not thousands of ideograms, and grammar is based on modifying the words, not the tone. Actually, I found Hebrew easier to learn than French. Fewer rules.

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

Having studied it, I don't think so. Certainly much easier than Chinese and other Eastern languages.

Have you tried to learn Chinese? I found it refreshingly easy. It has no "noise words" like articles and prepositions, and no inflections. It's not much of an exaggeration to say it has no grammar to study. In addition, since because of the lack of inflections and noise words it has a lower syllable count to express a thought than most languages, it's usually spoken rather slowly, making it easy to pick out the words you know.

Hebrew uses 32 letters, not thousands of ideograms. . . .

Yes, written Chinese is a monster, but you can be sure they will change that, perhaps in your lifetime, now that Mandarin has become universal and they don't need the logograms to unite the speakers of the various Chinese languages.

. . . .and grammar is based on modifying the words, not the tone.

Tone is not a grammatical element in Chinese. It's just an extra phoneme in the words, which allows them to be shorter. There is typically no relationship at all between two words that are identical except for tone.

Actually, I found Hebrew easier to learn than French. Fewer rules.

Oh, French is impossible! But if you want a language with no rules, learn Chinese.

 

[Letticia]

No, I never studied Chinese. Maybe some day I will have enough free time to study it (yeah, right!).

 

[one_raven]

If you aren't aware of what you are doing at the time, what's the point of second-guessing yourself later?

It's not second-guessing yourself - it is learning from your mistakes through reflection and introspection when you have a perspective from hindsight.
In this way, you can be more mindful and aware in the future - the two work hand in hand on a path towqrd enlightenment.

 

[chuuush]

the idea of a "chosen people" in the sense that it is usually thought of (superiority or favoritism from g-d) is actually quite silly.
jews originally thought of themselves as teachers, not rulers. this is what the "chosen people" phrase references. it implies a burden placed on the jews to teach the rest of the world, not rule it.

So what do you say about these: "The Jews are called human beings, but the non-Jews are not humans. They are beasts."
Talmud: Baba mezia, 114b

http://www.missionislam.com/nwo/talmud.htm