Heritage

[beetiger]

The Jewish holidays are coming up. Rosh Hashanah's coming up Friday night, so I've got to pull out my recipes for honey cake and dip tart apples from the tree in honey. It reminds me of my grandparents, and of where I come from. I may even try to make taiglach again, though I don't have a recipe I like yet. (If you do, please share!)

I'm not a practicing Jew. It's pretty clear from a quick overview of my life that I'm an idolater in the classic sense (ooh, pretty statues!). I've never had any interest in keeping kosher. Bard and I have decided not to circumcise our soon-to-arrive son. I never went to Hebrew School, never learned to read Hebrew, never had a bat mitzvah. I don't belong to a temple.

In my group at Seagram, I was kind of the token Jew, the one people would ask questions of if they were confused about something. It's the longish nose and the last name that does it, I guess. Since I am moderately knowledgeable about the basics, I generally just answered. One year, so many people asked me if I was taking Yom Kippur off that I just decided to, after all. I went to hang out with a reform congregation which had a cantor with a phenomenal voice, and which only wanted a donation to join them as opposed to the high ticket prices that most congregations around here charge. Between the early and late parts of the service, I went to Pound Ridge Reservation to meditate and watch wild turkeys.

But I do keep the major fasts, the restrictions on leavened products at Passover, the full fast at Yom Kippur. The rest of my family, though overall much more practicing, doesn't. They think it's very odd that I do, when I don't really believe that G-d cares. *I* care. It keeps me connected to my past, and is the kind of discipline I find pleasing. This year, I won't -- even Jewish tradition says that pregnant women should not fast, as it could endanger the life of the child. I think it's going to feel weird, and I suspect I'll eat sparse, basic foods, rather than just eating normally.

And I'll think about how to teach a young boy that something is important, even if it isn't really true.

Comments

[orb2069.livejournal.com]

and which only wanted a donation to join them as opposed to the high ticket prices that most congregations around here charge.

Coming from a string of pentecostal churches that resorted to everything short of kidnapping to increase the number of warm seats, this is really surreal - What's 'High'?

And I'll think about how to teach a young boy that something is important, even if it isn't really true.

I finally resolved this for myself by creating two categories: Things you believe because they're provable, and things you believe because believing them is good for you.

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

Several hundred dollars, typically. This is for people who aren't regular members of the congregation, who usually get tickets as part of their dues. (Jewish temples generally charge dues rather than having tithing or pledge drives, at least in the US.) There are many people who only come to services for High Holy Days, and temples are doing some combination of keeping attendance in control, and fundraising, this way. I find it distasteful.

[melskunk.livejournal.com]

Tis distasteful. Heaven only knows (and it does, doesn't it?) that quite a few people only go to {insert religious structure} on major holidays. I can only imagine that is leading to the congregation control they so desire by making more cultural Jews as opposed to practicing Jews.

[perlandria.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the reminder.
And I need to drag Paka over to this post, if he isn't rading you already, so he knows he isn't so alone.

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

I'm on his friends list. Whether or not he actually reads I can't say. :)

[paka.livejournal.com]

Boogie!

Oh. And l'shanah tovah.

Thank you for reminding me, I've been quite lax in keeping tabs on the approaching holiday. I've decided that since I'll probably still be unemployed come Yom Kippur, I may try to fast. Last year the low blood sugar clobbered me but hard, but this year I've been thinking about stocking up on fruit juice and having that during the day - not exactly tradition, but if it means I can go that much further without a true meal, maybe worthwhile.

[runnerwolf.livejournal.com]

I remember going to College an Cleveland and people expecting me to know and understand Jewish Holidays even though I hadn't known anyone that was Jewish until I started College.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

In my group at Seagram, I was kind of the token Jew, the one people would ask questions of if they were confused about something. It's the longish nose and the last name that does it, I guess. Since I am moderately knowledgeable about the basics, I generally just answered.

Hee. In most of my social group, I'm the token person-raised-Catholic (although lediva fits the bill too), and I get questions that often show me just how skewed and incomplete my education was. Much of the history of the Church I've picked up in my readings about, of all things, the Hapsburgs. I know a fair amount about saints (only the ones martyred in interesting ways, though, or who were really insane) and Marian visitations. And a bit about nuns. And that's really it. Negative points to the Catholic educators who designed my weekly classes.

[melskunk.livejournal.com]

And I'll think about how to teach a young boy that something is important, even if it isn't really true.

G-d may not be true (to you) but I'm sure we both agree the long history of the Jews is certainly true, and if only for that reason teaching him about it and it's relation to G-d and getting him participating in holy days is a good cause.
This is an issue that, to a lesser extent, I have wondered about with Santa Claus (or St. Nikolas as I call him). On one hand, it's a wonderful tradition of a saint that was a caretaker of children, among his other acolades, and by all acounts a good person when he was really alive. On the other hand, the modern myth is set up in such a way that if your family is unfortunate enough to be poor, you end up with kids that really think they're not good because Santa never brings them anything, especially when they see movies and television and books to the contrary telling them he can do anything.
I'm still not sure how to approach that, though I think telling them stories on St. Nikolas and then telling them that "That's why mommy and daddy give you gifts today" is currently on the highest list of what to actually do.
Man, I talk too darn much.

[bunnygoth.livejournal.com]

Hm, you've just given me another layer to the answer I give when people ask why I, a recovering ex-Catholic pagan, celebrate Christmas. (And, I might add, celebrate it like a raving mad elf!) It connects me to a part of my past that is important to me, to traditions that have always meant a lot to me. It was always a part of the year that was extraordinarily festive, where I felt closer to my family and those around me, even if they weren't Christian.

I've incorporated a lot of pagan beliefs into Christmas over the past few years, and some skeptical people will take that as an answer and accept it, but it's hard to take Jesus and "salvation" out of a lot of my favorite Christmas carols. But I can't stop singing them - they're part of who I am. Like you said, just because it isn't true, doesn't mean it's not important, at least to me.

Anyway, thanx for that new nugget in my brain. I like it :)

Oh, and happy Rosh Hoshanah!

[unmutual.livejournal.com]

Shanah Tovah from me, who found this entry while reading friendsfriends.

I gotta say, I feel pretty much the same way. I was raised in a traditional Conservative shul, my family went to services every single Saturday and all the holidays, I went to nursery school in my synagogue and then Hebrew school and then Hebrew High.

But the religion isn't so important to me anymore. I don't believe in god, at least not the way I was raised to. There are so many religions out there, who are we to say one is right and the others are wrong? Especially because at this point, they've all been interpreted and re-interpreted by men who often put their own spin on things.

It's my *culture* and my *heritage* that's really important. I love that my family gets together and celebrates the holidays. I love the traditional foods, getting dressed up, singing the prayers and taking a day out of mundanity.

I can do without going to synagogue, but it makes my mom happy if I go. So I do. It won't kill me, even if I don't believe a lot of it, and I still do like the sound of a few hundred people praying "mit ruach."

So Shanah Tovah, a sweet, happy and healthy New Year to you!