Category Archives: Yom Kippur

Jonah for Yom Kippur

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On Yom Kippur, I took part in a dramatic reading of the Book of Jonah, as part of the tradition on Yom Kippur. God commands Jonah to preach to the people of Nineveh, to tell them to turn from their sins and crimes. But Jonah, instead of following God’s command, gets on a shit to Tarshish. Why does Jonah run away from God’s command? Did Jonah think that he could physically run away from God, the Ruler of the Universe?

The ship sails, and there is a terrible storm. The shop’s crew learns that Jonah is the cause for God to threaten the ship with the storm, and Jonah urges the crew to throw him overboard. This is a noble thing for him to do, even after he refuses to preach to Nineveh.

After three days in the belly of the giant fish, Jonah lands on the shore of Nineveh, as God commanded him to do; in America, we like to think of ourselves as in charge of our destinies, but that’s not always the case. Jonah’s preaching starts with the rank and file public of Nineveh, a grassroots movement, then it goes up to the nobility and then to the king, who orders a period of fasting and prayer. The people of Nineveh were ready for Jonah’s, and God’s, message.

Jonah is upset that the people of Nineveh repented from their sins-why? You would think Jonah would be proud of himself for doing a great job. The incident with the giant gourd that shaded Jonah-before the worm killed it-let Jonah know that God had compassion for Nineveh, and wanted to give it an opportunity to turn from its sins. That kind of opportunity is the lesson of Yom Kippur; let’s not pass up on it.

The Mason Missile, August 27, 2018

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Greetings!

Upcoming is Labor Day, the holiday commemorating the working men and women of America.

What is there to celebrate lately? Here we have a “populist” President, supposedly the champion and voice of (white) working-class Americans-always assumed to be white-who signed a tax bill favoring the wealthiest Americans, and fighting against the Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare.”

trump’s attitude, and the attitude of plutocrats in this country, is one of condescension towards(white) working people, that they are too addicted to opioids and the drug of racism to see who their real enemy is-the same plutocratic class- and they feed working-class people with racially-coded fears of “law and order,” “crime in the streets,” “lazy welfare bums,” “affirmative action programs taking jobs away from deserving white workers,” etc.-trump updated this tactic to rail about “MS-13” and “rapists” coming over the border with Mexico- not mentioning that our tax policies have been long skewed in favor of corporations and the wealthy-people who pay lobbyists to alter the tax code in their favor, and to approve federal contracts with certain defense industries. (The news media, also large corporations, have played along with this; however, I think they’ve been pretty good lately at standing up to the trump tantrums.)

Along with this is the Supreme Court’s decision on the Janus case, which limits the ability of public-sector unions to do their work in representing their clients; I have no doubt the learned justices of the Court welcomed this decision, for they sympathized with the corporations-and the Koch brothers-trying forever to weaken and finally destroy unions in this country. The decision upset me terribly.

However, I have been buoyed by the Labor victories throughout the country, the successful teachers’ strikes in such conservative states as West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Arizona; and the voting down of the referendum in Missouri for “right-to-work” (for less)-in Missouri, another conservative Republican state.

We have to overcome the idea that the plutocratic class would automatically rain their blessings on us proletarians, that they know what is best for all of us with their nearly total control of the economy; as a Democratic Socialist, I believe that we the people should have a say in the economic destiny of the nation, since it deals with OUR jobs, OUR ability to pay our bills and purchase OUR groceries, etc. An editorial in the New York Times of May 9, 2018 tells about Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, is now the wealthiest man in human history, worth $131 BILLION! (I could live easily on one lousy billion.) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/09/opinion/jeff-bezos-spend-131-billion.html

Since Bezos can’t spend all that money, what does he plan to do with it? Not charitable donations, like the old Robber Barons like Carnegie and Rockefeller carried out with their fortunes (made with the sweat and muscle of workers they overworked and underpaid). Bezos’ bright idea is space travel, including regular trips to space-space tourism!

We have problems aplenty on THIS planet-global warming through the use of carbon-based fuels, illiteracy, unemployment, infrastructure (roads, bridges, electric power stations) collapsing, famine, genocide-and Bezos wants frequent-flyer points to Mars! Bezos can do whatever the hell he wants with his money, okay, I’m cool with that; but with the constant deregulation of business practices, the weakening of trade unions, the tax policies favoring people wealthy enough to buy and sell members of Congress, it has led to widening extremes of wealth and poverty-the likes of which eventually leads to violent social upheaval-let’s say it, revolution.  We HAVE to educate ourselves on the issues, organize at our communities and our worksites, and get out and vote this November

Also upcoming are the High Holy Days, Rosh Ha-Shana and Yom Kippur, where we re-assess our lives, give up what no longer is good for us, and realize whatever good is in us and around us. Currently we are in the Hebrew month of Elul, when we sit back and reflect on our lives over the past year. Self-improvement is a long process, taken step by step; if you slip and fall on your way to advancing and improving, that’s okay, it’s all part of the learning process, just get back on your feet and keep walking. An excellent guide to the High Holy Days, and the other Jewish holidays, is Seasons of our Joy: A Modern Guide to the Jewish Holidays by Arthur Waskow, one of the leaders of the Jewish Renewal movement and head of the Shalom Center (https://theshalomcenter.org/).

On that note, I bid everyone L’shana tova, a sweet, happy, and prosperous year to you all.

 

 

Elul 2018 and High Holy Days Resolutions

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We are now in the month of Elul, the month preceding Rosh ha-Shona and Yom Kippur, the High Holy Days of the Jewish calendar. This is the time when we take stock of how our lives went the past year, when we did right and how we can improve ourselves. This is an important time of the year for me. I believe deeply in positive self-assessment, to forgive myself for what I’ve done wrong, and to pay attention to when I’ve done right.

A lot of the self work for the High Holy Days encompasses your/my thought patters and habits, for good or bad; what causes you/me to act and think in a certain way? This is the time to re-access your/my mind and what it thinks, so that your/my behaviors are positive.

In that spirit I continue my tradition of High Holy Days Resolutions, just like with those for New Year’s, and which I also do for Pesach and my birthday. Here they are:

I will continue to conduct myself with self-love, self-esteem, and self-respect, thinking positively about my work and my life, and practicing self-care, and know that I am worthy of it.

I will continue to advance my art and business as a freelance writer.

I will continue to advance my social and political causes.

I will continue such spiritual practices as meditation, prayer, Torah study, affirmations, etc.

I will continue to dedicate time for rest, recreation, and fun.

I will continue to be faithful to Jewish tradition, history, religion, etc.

I will continue to improve my financial situation.