Heyy..its almost 9 oclock! The kids should have taken their baths by now!
Why? They don’t have school tomorrow.
They don’t?? Why not??
Because it’s the Fall Holiday.
Fall Holiday?? What is that??
H.I.S.D. is now observing a Fall Holiday…they don’t SAY it, but it’s really for the Jewish Holiday, Yom Kippur.
Oh..just like they don’t SAY Christmas Break or Easter Break anymore?
Right! Now they just call those Winter Holiday and Spring Holiday.
That ole separation of church and state huh?
You know it! But it shouldn’t deter people’s faith…REAL people of God are going to continue serving Him no matter what.
Allready!
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One of the things that has greatly helped my development as a person, has been my experience OUTSIDE the comforts of my own home and community on the Southside. There’s a limitation of awareness when all you know about a people or place is what you’ve learned from a book or TV or word of mouth. The opportunity to expand your world and get to know other people from other cultures, races and religion will enlighten anyone toward a more global viewpoint of life and humanity. The best thing about it all to me, is when I realized that despite our differences, people are still people all over the world. The main thing that separates the ‘civilized’ from the barbaric heathens are the moral, ethical and religious beliefs or lack thereof. Within the circle of civilized religious folk, there are divisive factions that pit Christians against Muslims, Muslims against Jews and Jews against Christians. While observing all of this bloodshed and hatred amongst these ‘people of God’, I’m sure no one is happy about it but Satan.
A LOT of people today and throughout history harbor ill feelings, distrust and in some cases downright hatred toward Jewish people. These ‘anti-Semites’ are characterized by their defamation and relentless persecution of the Jews. One of the most infamous anti-Semitic people in history was Adolf Hitler and unfortunately, a lot of people still share his views concerning the “Master Race” today. This is a battle that I was personally completely ignorant of for a long time because I just saw all melanin deficient people as ‘white folks’. I didn’t realize that there were racial and cultural distinctions that they had within the group.
A lot of black folks on the Southside see Jews as greedy and oppressive. This has a lot to do with the fact most of their experiences with Jews are as the slumlords of the duplex or apartments that they live in. I on the other hand have been helped, educated and befriended by several different loving and caring people of the Jewish faith and I am unable to harbor these feelings of resentment and prejudice. Add in the fact that I’m a Christian, and all of my favorite writers (Biblical prophets) are Jews and my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Yeshua) walked on this Earth as a Jew, you can see why I can’t hate on them or anyone else for that matter. Instead, I constantly strive to educate myself and learn more about the religion and culture, which birthed Christianity into being.
Americans (and a lot of other countries in the world) recognize January 1st as the start of the New Year. We normally all just go out and party and get drunk on December 31st, and make all of our ‘resolutions’ for the New Year the next day. The Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) is quite different in time and observance. This event is observed on the first day of the seventh month (Tishri), which was September 27, 2003 (Jewish year 5764). The ten days, starting with Rosh Hashanah and ending with Yom Kippur (Kip-pour) are commonly known as the Days of Awe or Days of Repentance. This is a time for serious introspection and a time to consider all the sins of the previous year and repent before Yom Kippur. One of the ongoing themes of the Days of Awe is the concept that God has ‘books’ that He writes names in, writing down who will live and who will die, who will have a good life and who will have a bad life, for the next year. These books are written in on Rosh Hashanah, but actions during the Days of Awe can alter God’s decree. The actions that change the decree are “teshuvah, tefilah and tzedakah”, (repentance, prayer and good deeds). These ‘books’ are sealed on Yom Kippur. This concept of writing in books is the source of the common greeting during this time, ‘L’shanah tovah tikatev v’taihatem’, which means, ‘May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year’.
The Bible refers to this holiday in the 23rd Chapter of Leviticus (and the 11th Chapter of Romans), but the name Rosh Hashanah is not used, instead the Bible refers to this holiday as Yom Ha-Zikkaron (the day of remembrance) or Yom Teruah (the day of the sounding of the shofar). Yom Kippur is a complete Sabbath; no work can be performed on that day. Observers are supposed to refrain from eating and drinking (even water) on Yom Kippur. It is a complete 25-hour fast beginning before sunset on the evening before Yom Kippur and ending after nightfall on the day of Yom Kippur. Most of the holiday is spent in the synagogue, in prayer. The services end at nightfall, with the blowing of the tekiah gedolah, a long blast on the shofar (rams horn).
I have some very loving and supportive Jewish people in my life and through my relationships with them, I have learned so much more about the Jewish faith and culture. From my fellow sports freak/computer geek friend Mark, who lived in my dormitory my freshman year at Stanford, to my electrical engineering academic advisor Professor Hellman, to my close friend Lisa from Philly who was my cubicle mate when I worked at NASA, I am very grateful for the love and understanding they have added to my life. We obviously disagree on the virgin birth and resurrection, but we do share the concept of peace, love and forgiveness and I think that’s an ideal outlook for EVERYONE to start with. L’shanah tovah! :)
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