High Altitude Challah

My wife, Muri, is Jewish. I am not, although I willingly tagged along through years of services, holidays and raising the kids Jewish. Now we are in Utah, not a place known as a destination for the diaspora. Fact: in 1899 there were 5000 Jews in Utah. In 2019, there were 5,560. See what I mean? 0.2 percent of the population. So, what do you think are the odds that the house across the alley from us in our new neighborhood would be a Jewish woman and a non-Jewish man. Zilch, right? But it’s true and it has given us an instant bond, which is nice when you find yourself in a new home during a pandemic.

Not Just Monday

I need to write today even though I have been neglecting Older Eyes – Bud’s Blog for over a month.  I need to write something to make me cry, to stop holding at bay the sadness I am feeling over the loss of a friend.   My son’s Siamese cat, Mr.P. has been missing for three days now.  He’s always been a little escape artist, waiting for an open door to slip away on an adventure in the great outdoors.   In the past, he’s always returned within a day, usually slipping in through the patio door left open for his return.  The hills around our home in Anaheim Hills are full of interesting creatures for a feline to stalk but they are also home to larger predators, like coyotes.   With each passing hour, our hope that Mr. P will come home fades.  It’s just a cat, Older Eyes, and not even yours, you may be thinking.  Well, for one, he isn’t just a cat and for two, I’ve loved him as if he was mine.

Brisket and Blessings

For as long as I can remember, on the first night of Tishri, the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar, Muri has made brisket for dinner.    It is a traditional meal for the first night of Rosh Hashanah, commonly known as the Jewish New Year.   Many of Muri’s traditions have become mine over the years, but brisket isn’t one of them.   Rosh Hashanah certainly has.  The notion of a spiritual holiday that is dedicated to introspection rather than gifts and miracles has always appealed to me philosophically.  Rosh Hashanah begins the holiest of days in Judaism, the so called Days of Awe, which end ten days later with Yom Kippur.  In Jewish tradition, God writes our names in the Book of Life on Rosh Hashanah, which determines who will live and who will die, who will have a good life and who will have a bad life, for the next year.  Actions we take during the Days of Awe, specifically repentance, prayer and good deeds, can alter God’s written decree, which is why Jews greet each other with the the traditional Rosh Hashanah blessing, L’shanah tovah tikatev v’taihatem meaning, May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.   I don’t picture God writing in books or deciding whether I’ll have a good year based on what I do during a single week in Tishri.   But I do believe that God has a purpose for each of us and that to find that purpose it is necessary to stop periodically to consider our lives.

So today, Muri and I will be in the park reading from the machzor, a special prayerbook used for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  We’ll both think about the year just passed and our part in it.  We’ll walk to the edge of the lake and cast stones symbolizing our sins into the glassy water.  And we’ll start another year together, wishing each other L’Shannah Tovah, hoping the next year is better than it appears it will be right now.

I’d like to wish you all L’Shannah Tovah, too, and thank you for stopping by Older Eyes – Bud’s Blog.

L’shanah Tovah

courtesy washingtonpost.com

Sunset last night marked the start of Rosh Hashanah, commonly known as the Jewish New Year because Rosh Hashanah means, literally, the first of the year.  However, while New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are dedicated to partying and football, Rosh Hashanah begins the holiest of days in Judaism, the so called Days of Awe, which end ten days later with Yom Kippur.  In Jewish tradition, God writes our names in the Book of Life on Rosh Hashanah, which determines who will live and who will die, who will have a good life and who will have a bad life, for the next year.  Actions we take during the Days of Awe, specifically repentance, prayer and good deeds, can alter God’s written decree, which is why Jews greet each other with the words L’shanah tovah tikatev v’taihatem meaning, May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.