Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2016 10:49:14 GMT
You may think I'm bonkers, but tonight is the start of the Hebrew year 5777 and the festival is spread over two days. Jewish festivals are similar to Sabbath in that we don't work, use telephones, watch television, use internet, use money etc.
We 'celebrate' by much prayer in the synagogue, large home cooked meals with friends and family containing certain foods eaten which symbolise all the things that we might wish ourselves over the coming year, with each food accompanied by a little prayer relevant to the wish. Lastly we eat one fruit or vegetable we have not eaten for 12 months and say a prayer to thank God for another year of life. In the synagogue we blow a rams horn to call the people to repent sins of the previous year and importantly to seek the forgiveness of other who we may have offended.
I know many of you don't hold with this religious stuff, but I do find that the structure in my life that my religion gives me, supports me when times are not so great and I have a huge circle of friends and acquaintances to rely on who I would not have without being part of the community.
Anyway, thank you for inviting me onto the GOF Forum. It is a really nice place that fits neatly into the gap between the motoring biased HJ forum and other fora where people ask questions/make comment but replies are frequently quite aggressive. So if I have offended anyone, please accept my apologies. I feel that I am amongst friends, despite not having met any of you face to face. Long may our relationship continue and if anyone fancies meeting up somewhere in the north west (we did this several times a few years ago on the HJ forum) lets do it.
Signing off now until late Tuesday evening.
Espada
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,354
|
Post by WDB on Oct 2, 2016 10:54:21 GMT
Happy new year to you too, Esp. It's been good to remake your acquaintance here, and I look forward to plenty of amicable disagreement in 5777.
|
|
Avant
Full Member
Posts: 691
|
Post by Avant on Oct 2, 2016 14:17:19 GMT
Happy New Year indeed, Espada, and to Espadrille and the family.
I once shared an office with a Jewish man whose father had just died, and having to follow quite a complex laid-down ritual following a death was an enormous help to him and enabled him to keep going. So I can see where you're coming from. It's probably wrong to generalise, but maybe the structure in their lives is what helps so many Jewish people to succeed and achieve their potential. In a career in training I met more than a fair share of under-achievers, but I can't remember any who were Jewish.
|
|
|
Post by Humph on Oct 2, 2016 15:19:10 GMT
Is there any whisky involved? Chust askin' like...
Have a good one Espada !
|
|
Rob
Full Member
Posts: 2,723
|
Post by Rob on Oct 2, 2016 16:37:23 GMT
Happy New Year Espada
|
|
|
Post by Hofmeister on Oct 2, 2016 17:09:19 GMT
You may think I'm bonkers, Signing off now until late Tuesday evening. Espada bonkers? no way, you have to admire any religion that arranges a 4 day weekend. The bacon thing is a deal breaker for me tho.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2016 18:24:01 GMT
Happy New Year, its a pleasure to have you here.
|
|
|
Post by Alanović on Oct 3, 2016 8:44:05 GMT
So it's '77 again, eh? Sigh. I'm 7 years old and going on my first winter trip to Canada.
Your thing about vegetables piqued my interest. How on earth do you know if you haven't eaten a specific vegetable for 12 months? I tend not to keep records of such things.
HNY.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2016 9:48:04 GMT
I'm damn bloody sure I haven't eaten broccoli in the last year.
|
|
|
Post by commerdriver on Oct 3, 2016 9:53:41 GMT
Happy New Year Espada, as my Jewish School friends used to tell me the Jews do know how to party.
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,354
|
Post by WDB on Oct 3, 2016 11:21:45 GMT
I suppose if you know you'll have to find one for new year, you can make a point of choosing something to avoid until then. Thinking about it, I may have missed out on broad beans this summer, so maybe I could have some of those - not that they're abundant in October.
|
|
|
Post by Hofmeister on Oct 3, 2016 11:43:36 GMT
If I had to eat things I avoided all year, like beetroot, I would become a registered agnostic.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2016 12:01:17 GMT
I don't really understand this stuff though; anymore than I understand my wife and Lent. She insists that its really important to give something up for Lent otherwise we'll all rot and burn in Hell and God will hate us. Or something like that, anyway.
She is most unappreciative of my insistence on giving up broccoli for Lent. Apparently it has to be something that you'll miss.
But in any case, I don't really understand the logic of this stuff. How does doing something irrelevant prove your dedication to God? I've got to think he's got bigger worries and seeks a bit more commitment that avoiding chocolate.
I guess the truth is that the church has little to do with the belief system and more to do with power and control.
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,354
|
Post by WDB on Oct 3, 2016 13:24:41 GMT
Thinking some more about it, could the Jewish vegetable idea be similar to Lent, in that the vegetable you choose is either something don't like and avoid for the rest of the year, or something that you do like but have denied yourself all that time? An exercise in disciplining the self to a greater will, or something like that? That's why Catholics like their Lent to involve actually missing something, in lieu of a real sacrifice in the original sense.
Abraham got to do an extreme version of that with Isaac, of course. As Jeremy Hardy observed, Genesis doesn't record the exchanges between father and son on the way down the mountain. A little frosty, we might suppose.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2016 20:01:18 GMT
Thank you all. It is really nice to read such positive comments. A few answers to a few questions...
1. Yes, we certainly don't avoid alcohol! Each Sabbath and Festival meal is commenced by a 'grace' which is a benediction over wine. So is the wedding service. After Sabbath synagogue morning services, there is a light reception consisting of wine, whisky, coffee and cake and a few other things like dips etc. I attend a small, early Saturday morning service where the reception is sponsored by us regulars in rotation. The sponsorship consists mainly of bring two bottles of decent malt whisky.....Frequently the sponsorship coincides with the anniversary of the death of a loved one. So as my mother died on a festival, each year I take a bottle of Penderyn (really nice Welsh whisky as my mother was Welsh) and either Yamazaki or a decent Scotch.
2. Death... Yes. Lots and lots of rules and regulations intended to keep you out of harms way for the first 12 months. In reality they are customs, but they do work even though it can be hard to comply. It gets you out of the house and forces you into the community, even if it is only the synagogue, so you get a feeling of support. People ask how you are, and those without families are invited for meals.
3. Food. The new fruit/vegetable thing is not meant to be a chore. In fact it should be something you relish but simply haven't eaten in 12 months. We had the prickly pear yesterday. Really nice - like a cross between a passion fruit and a ripe melon.
4. WDB - funny you should mention the story of Abraham and Isaac as it is the focus of the reading from the Torah during the service in the synagogue this morning. The commentaries about the whole 'Binding of Isaac' story are too numerous to mention, but received understanding handed down via generations is that Isaac willingly submitted to the will of his father having faith that there was a higher purpose. The Hebrew original text makes it clear that they walked 'together' to the site of the intended sacrifice; i.e. Isaac knew what was likely to happen but still went. Further commentaries suggest that Isaac asked his father to bind him so that he would not be a difficult sacrifice.
5. Finally, just so you understand...the Jewish day runs from sunset to sunset, so Sabbath starts on Friday evening until Saturday evening. Hence New Year started on Sunday evening and 'went out' as we say, this evening at about 19:25. If you have ever worked with orthodox Jews, you will know how in the winter they disappear on Friday afternoons early in order to be home in time for the entry of the Sabbath. In summer the problem does not occur for obvious reasons.
|
|