I’m continuing my practice of writing New Year’s resolutions for Pesach, or Passover, the holiday where the Jews left slavery in Mitzrayim (Egypt)and became a people. Here they are:
I will continue to conduct myself with self-love, self-esteem, and self respect, forgiving myself of my errors and learning from them, being more positive about myself and my abilities.
I will continue to develop my literary, poetic, and journalistic arts and careers, with readings, journals, conferences, book fairs, workshops, podcasts, blogging, videos, etc.
I will continue my education, with classes, libraries, museums, etc.
I will continue to be faithful to Jewish religion, history, Yiddishkeit, etc.
We are approaching Pesach, aka Passover, the holiday commemorating the ancient Israelites’ liberation from slavery in Egypt-know in Hebrew as Mitzraim, “the narrow place,” the place of stuck-ness and limitation. It is the holiday where we recall how our ancestors left this slavery, after the series of plagues God visited upon Egypt-blood, beasts, hail, locusts, frogs, lice, cattle blight, darkness-finally, the death of the first-born of Egypt, from the highest to the lowest. It’s like that; powerful people refuse to recognize a problem and any crisis, unless it affects them personally.
In this time, we have a “president” who, like Pharaoh, refuses to do anything for his people, acting on self-interest and impulse, ignoring how it would injure his people; and the current plague of Coronavirus is affecting every person in every sector of society. It is in this time that congregations had to innovate, hold their services online so that, despite social distancing, we remain connected. We need that so sustain and support each other, so let’s continue to do that, and we’ll get through this.
In the spirit of Pesach-traditionally, the new year of the Jewish people-I present my resolutions for Pesach 2020:
I will conduct myself with self-love, self-esteem, and self-respect, thinking positively about myself and my life.
I will continue to improve my financial situation.
I will continue my education, by every medium available.
I will continue to be faithful to Jewish religion, history, culture, etc.
I will continue such spiritual practices as meditation, Torah study, prayer, affirmation, etc.
I will continue my participation in social and political causes, and my civic engagement.
Let us enjoy our Pesach, and stay close to each other.
we are approaching Pesach, AKA Passover, theholiday commemorating the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt-called in Hebrew “Mitzrayim,” the narrow place, the place of limitations and few options-through the red Sea, and on to the Promised Land, the place of fulfillment.
A ;pt pf this is metaphor, like all religious teachings;”Mitzrayim” is a terrible situation you can’t tolerate any longer, such as physical bondage, a terrible job with little pay and bad conditions, a school bully, or an abusive spouse or parent. The Red Sea stands for the act of leaving the abusive situation, the borderline between oppression and liberation.
For this, I continue my tradition of Pesach resolutions, like with New Year’s; Pesach is the New Year of the Jews:
I will continue to conduct myself with self-love, self esteem, and self-respect, carrying myself with dignity, paying attention to the positive parts of my life, not judging myself too critically but correcting any errors and moving on.
I will continue to be loyal to Jewish history, religion, Kaballah, Israel,etc., and stand up for my people if attacked.
I will continue my social and political activism,standing up for all put-upon and powerless people, helping them find their power, and help right what is wrong in the community.
I will continue the art and business of writing, attending classes, readings, seminars, etc.
I will continue all forms of educations, be it classroom, libraries, lectures, etc.
I wish everyone a happy Pesach, and may you all escape you own Mitzrayim and get to your Promised land.
Special
Prosecutor Robert Mueller has submitted his report into the meddling of Russian
intelligence systems into the 2016 presidential election favoring trump-I’ll
never show him respect!-to his superior, Attorney General William Barr, a
longtime Republican asset. Barr released a four-page digest with his own idea
of summarizing the report (of at least 300-plus pages)-I, and so many others,
would prefer to see the actual report, just as, during the Watergate scandal of
the ‘70s, we read the White House tapes. But, even Barr’s summary said that
Mueler’s report “does not exonerate him (trump).”
I don’t want
to dismiss Mueller, or hype him up; he has been a dedicated and honorable
public servant, and I respect his work. It is fortunate that he had to work
with a thoroughly corrupt regime. But fear not-there are the investigations of
the Justice Department’s Southern New York, and the congressional committees at
work, showing the trump doesn’t have the entire federal government under his
control-yet; he still has his dictatorial dreams, wanting to be like Putin, Kim
Jong Un, Bolsonaro in Brazil, and Viktor Orban in Hungary.
I am galled
by the Republicans claiming, with Barr’s four-page summary of two years of
investigation, that trump is fully exonerated, while he is not; the Republican
base, and its media like Fox News, is talking to itself and listening to
itself. I believe even they have a good understanding of how corrupt trump and
his crew are, including Ivanka, Don Jr, Eric, and Kushner; but do they care
about the future of this country and of the planet? The lessening of health
care, education, and job opportunities in this country? Are they also bullies who worship someone who
pretends to be powerful, and so live vicariously through him?
Recently, I joined other Jews, like in my synagogue, Congregation Leyv Ha-Ir (http://www.leyvhair.org/) in celebrating Purim, the rocking, rolling, riotous holiday where we celebrate the downfall of the wicked Haman (Boo!), through the work of the beautiful Esther (Woo hoo!), honoring the downfall of puffed-up despots who want to be worshiped as the gods they’re not. (Like someone we heard of). In a few weeks we will celebrate Pesach, AKA Passover, where we celebrate the liberation of the Jews from slavery-an ongoing theme in history that constantly has to be celebrated in every nation, in every faith, in every era. Let us maintain the spirit of those two wonderful holidays as we fight to win back our country for the people.
