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| Shofar (Metropolitan Museum of Art) |
After all, there's Israel's wars in Gaza and now Lebanon, plus, just on Tuesday, Iran launching missiles against Israel, and rising anti-Semitism everywhere including Donald Trump preemptively blaming Jews if he loses the upcoming election.
So maybe talk of apples and honey and a sweet new year — while forgiving ourselves for any past mistakes, say, involving occupied territories, which might have unfortunately occurred in the past 12 months— would only be asking for trouble.
But difficult times are exactly the moment when you should stand up, manifest yourself, and be counted.
Last year, I only mentioned the holiday in passing, feeling obligated to point out that Trump was threatening Jews: "He marked Rosh Hashanah by warning 'liberal Jews' who voted 'to destroy America & Israel' when they booted him out of office in 2020 to get in line. Or else."
That aside, the last column devoted to the holiday was fall of 2020, when COVID had jolted society; I took a moment to share the obvious:
"The Chosen People are not newcomers at celebrating holidays during hard times. As grim as the COVID pandemic has been, it doesn't hold a candle to Babylonian captivity or Roman persecution, the Inquisition or the Holocaust."
Before that, 2014.
"Anti-Semitism on the rise in Europe," I noted. "Jewish stores burn, Jews are killed in the street, Jewish centers attacked. Maybe not that much on historical terms, or compared to the massive horrors currently being inflicted in, oh, Syria, or South Sudan."
The reason for this outbreak in 2014 might sound familiar today.
"Why now? That’s easy, no expert needed. The war in Gaza. Its leaders, the terror group Hamas, fired rockets into Israel, and Israel blasted them back, killing lots of civilians, to the shock of the world, which then let the beast of anti-Semitism off its chain."
Before we go any further, let's play Guess the Jewish New Year. It isn't as if we use it to sign our checks.
I squinted and thought ... umm ... 5732? Checking Prof. Google ... whoops 5785, off by 53 years. Quite a lot really. Though I was 11 in 5732; no wonder it stuck in my head. Religion was a bigger deal, then.
But difficult times are exactly the moment when you should stand up, manifest yourself, and be counted.
Last year, I only mentioned the holiday in passing, feeling obligated to point out that Trump was threatening Jews: "He marked Rosh Hashanah by warning 'liberal Jews' who voted 'to destroy America & Israel' when they booted him out of office in 2020 to get in line. Or else."
That aside, the last column devoted to the holiday was fall of 2020, when COVID had jolted society; I took a moment to share the obvious:
"The Chosen People are not newcomers at celebrating holidays during hard times. As grim as the COVID pandemic has been, it doesn't hold a candle to Babylonian captivity or Roman persecution, the Inquisition or the Holocaust."
Before that, 2014.
"Anti-Semitism on the rise in Europe," I noted. "Jewish stores burn, Jews are killed in the street, Jewish centers attacked. Maybe not that much on historical terms, or compared to the massive horrors currently being inflicted in, oh, Syria, or South Sudan."
The reason for this outbreak in 2014 might sound familiar today.
"Why now? That’s easy, no expert needed. The war in Gaza. Its leaders, the terror group Hamas, fired rockets into Israel, and Israel blasted them back, killing lots of civilians, to the shock of the world, which then let the beast of anti-Semitism off its chain."
Before we go any further, let's play Guess the Jewish New Year. It isn't as if we use it to sign our checks.
I squinted and thought ... umm ... 5732? Checking Prof. Google ... whoops 5785, off by 53 years. Quite a lot really. Though I was 11 in 5732; no wonder it stuck in my head. Religion was a bigger deal, then.
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Wow! On point, insightful and reflective. One of your best efforts. Shana Tova
ReplyDeleteShona Tovah
ReplyDeleteLive long and prosper.
ReplyDeletejohn
Good Yuntov to you and your growing family. May your new year be all apples and honey. Thank you for informing, provoking and amusing us ever goddam day.
ReplyDeleteNo such thing as happy Jewish holidays, as all are depressing messes.
ReplyDeleteThat's the one thing the Christians got right, holidays should be joyous occasions, not sitting in a shul & praying for hours on end until you croak from the boredom!
I can't think of a single depressing Christian holiday, even Good Friday has a hopeful message to the believers, but Jewish holiday are like Yom Kippur, don't eat for 26 hours & then eat like a pig because your mind is gone from not eating.
Utter stupidity!
Pretty much agree, Clark. As I commented at length the other day, I haven't really been an observant boychik since childhood, probably in grammar school. But at least you're around other tribesman. I've lived among the goyim for decades now. Not a Jew for miles...or at least for blocks.
DeleteThere's just one synagogue on my side of Cleveland. One. It's a couple of miles away. A lot of NASA employees go there. If you asked anyone in my neighborhood, they would confuse the Jewish new year with that old 70s greaser band (Russia Sha Na Na, right?). And if I said "La Shana Tovah"...they would think I was talking about some female hip-hop singer. Isn't she on YouTube?
Always have to do the same thing Mr. S just did, every year. The first Jewish calendar I ever saw was for 5714. The Google machine spat out 1953-54. Do the math. That was 71 years ago. I was six years old.
So I always have to count down from that long-ago and now distant point in time. Happy 5785, Mr. S, and even though so much really sucks at the moment, have a sweet year anyway. All the best.
Let me see if I can call upon my psychic abilities and guess the temple you're referring to. Let me .... urrrgh ... could it by any chance be ... Beth Israel: The West Temple?
DeleteBingo. On Triskett Road. Was that your shul as a kid? I've been inside exactly one time, to buy Hanukkah candles. Drive by it often. They were originally much closer to downtown, but moved to that neighborhood around 1950.
DeleteFor those who've never been here--there are dozens of synagogues on the East Side of Cleveland, almost all of them in the suburbs...but this is the only one on the West Side. And possibly the only one still in the city itself. Temples migrate to where the Jewish families are. No need to explain where that is.
The West Temple had grandiose dreams of moving out to some vacant land along I-480, west of the airport. Those plans never got off the ground...nyuk nyuk. Couldn't raise the moolah. They envisioned a complex of buildings that would have probably cost many millions...and that was at least two decades ago. So they are still doing business at the same old stand, after some cosmetic work on the building's facade, and major roof repairs.
Been here 32 years now. Didn't have any desire to attend services, or join a "mixed" couples group (and anyhoo, that's for young parents). But I gotta admit something, Mr S. Frankly speaking, it's sort of comforting, in a way, to know they're close at hand. Better to have a synagogue and not need it than the other way around. Once a Jew, always a Jew, whether someone says kaddish over you or not. You are what you are.
My whole youth. I was bar-mitzvahed there. Attended the ordination of Sally Priesand, the first woman rabbi in America.
DeleteMy wife just said: "He was bar mitzvahed there? Cool! They need a plaque by the door." "Like Royko and the Billy Goat." was my reply. Don't they have one there for him? If not, perhaps they should. Hey, maybe the West Temple could display some of your Jewish-themed columns, like the Goat has done for Royko.
DeleteHave heard about Sally. I thought she was a rabbi at the West Temple. Nope. It was in New Jersey. My niece was bar mitzvahed in Minneapolis in 2001 by a female rabbi from Brooklyn. Can't recall her last name. We just called her Rabbi Stacy.
I recall them having plenty of plaques. They hardly need another, certainly not of me. I used to have my photo in a case at Berea High School. But they tore the school down. Sic transit gloria mundi.
DeleteYeah, they merged with another high school, and built a big ugly box on the site. No character at all. Totally charmless. The grounds have too many parking lots.
DeleteKnow all about tearing schools down. My original grammar school vanished in the mid-80s. My high school became the branch of a junior college, and finally bit the dust in the mid-90s, but not before I salvaged a brick. Should have thrown one through a window while I had the chance. I'm never going back to my old school.
I'll bet having Neil S at family holiday dinners makes for interesting and enlightening conversations! May 5785 be a better year.
ReplyDeleteMy family might take issue with that. I tend to sit there quietly shoveling food into my maw.
Delete