Day of Atonement
Yes- tonight from Sunset to tomorrow's sunset is Yom Kippur aka the Day of Atonement. Basically as a Jew, which I be, I'm to ask God for his/her/it's forgiveness for all my misdeeds from the previous year.
It also should be noted that it could be considered 'begging/bartering with God'. You see it's the end of the celebration of the New Year and you ask for forgiveness for LAST YEAR'S TRANSGRESSIONS in hopes of getting good stuff for this UPCOMING YEAR.
Now I'm a observant Jew, not a practicing one. I don't go to temple save with my mom on a big holiday or something. I have problems with organized religion. I usually mention that I live in Boston and so I see on a semi regular basis how the Catholic Church is messed up, which might peeve other Jews- comparing the Jewish System to the Catholic Church... And indeed they've pointed out that the Catholic Church AIN'T us. However what it comes down to, to me, is that religion is a lot more personal then politics.
See if John Kerry doesn't support Gay marriages but supports Gay Rights... well I can live with that compromise- and vote for him instead W. who believes that gays will go with me to H!E!L!L! However for a religious leader, I want more of an agreement that gays are allowed to get married, and agree with me on what *I* would consider the important issues.
I joined a temple many years ago as an adult and went to Torah studies classes as I felt a DESIRE to make my grandfather proud and get a bar mitzvah. See I never had it at 13, because my parents said it was MY choice and at 13 to declare myself a man and my beliefs was I thought a BIG decision- plus I would be cheating as I couldn't learn Hebrew if my life depended on it.
Going to this class, I felt it was MORE important to BE GOOD then to be Kosher or follow JEWISH LAW( which allows stoning and slavery but not gays). I felt MY beliefs were more important then Jewish scholars who have spent years studying the torah. The group spent at least a 1/2 hour talking about why the torah starts with the second letter of the Jewish alphabet which happens to look like a C. I really wanted to yell at them, IT STARTS THE FIRST WORD- IN. But of course I didn't.
So I will fast, not use my computer or TV and THINK about what *I* think I've done wrong in the past year. Like most people, I consider myself basically good but there's always room for a LITTLE improvement. My fast and my atonement will be between ME and MY god. I'm not asking for forgiveness from a person- be it priest or rabbi as the only people who can forgive me are ME and MY god.
Might need to edit this tomorrow but right now want to watch some tv and get it out of my system.
Happy, Healthy New Year!
It also should be noted that it could be considered 'begging/bartering with God'. You see it's the end of the celebration of the New Year and you ask for forgiveness for LAST YEAR'S TRANSGRESSIONS in hopes of getting good stuff for this UPCOMING YEAR.
Now I'm a observant Jew, not a practicing one. I don't go to temple save with my mom on a big holiday or something. I have problems with organized religion. I usually mention that I live in Boston and so I see on a semi regular basis how the Catholic Church is messed up, which might peeve other Jews- comparing the Jewish System to the Catholic Church... And indeed they've pointed out that the Catholic Church AIN'T us. However what it comes down to, to me, is that religion is a lot more personal then politics.
See if John Kerry doesn't support Gay marriages but supports Gay Rights... well I can live with that compromise- and vote for him instead W. who believes that gays will go with me to H!E!L!L! However for a religious leader, I want more of an agreement that gays are allowed to get married, and agree with me on what *I* would consider the important issues.
I joined a temple many years ago as an adult and went to Torah studies classes as I felt a DESIRE to make my grandfather proud and get a bar mitzvah. See I never had it at 13, because my parents said it was MY choice and at 13 to declare myself a man and my beliefs was I thought a BIG decision- plus I would be cheating as I couldn't learn Hebrew if my life depended on it.
Going to this class, I felt it was MORE important to BE GOOD then to be Kosher or follow JEWISH LAW( which allows stoning and slavery but not gays). I felt MY beliefs were more important then Jewish scholars who have spent years studying the torah. The group spent at least a 1/2 hour talking about why the torah starts with the second letter of the Jewish alphabet which happens to look like a C. I really wanted to yell at them, IT STARTS THE FIRST WORD- IN. But of course I didn't.
So I will fast, not use my computer or TV and THINK about what *I* think I've done wrong in the past year. Like most people, I consider myself basically good but there's always room for a LITTLE improvement. My fast and my atonement will be between ME and MY god. I'm not asking for forgiveness from a person- be it priest or rabbi as the only people who can forgive me are ME and MY god.
Might need to edit this tomorrow but right now want to watch some tv and get it out of my system.
Happy, Healthy New Year!
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