Don't Retell - Tell Anew.

 Happy Sunday, Friends and Neighbors!

Tonight starts Hanukkah, That eight-day festival of potato pancakes, jelly donuts, and chocolate gelt, which not only coincides with Christmas, but this year it envelopes it like bookends, thus providing for a little extra warm-and-fuzzy caring-and-sharing feelings.

For those of you all interested in the ecclesiastical, and apocryphal, origin story of this holiday, it commemorates the expulsion of the Seleucid Empire from Jerusalem by the Maccabees, also known as the Hasmoneans, and the restoration of the Second Temple.  For those of us with an ear for history, it documents yet another set of rulers of Jerusalem that came, went, and were replaced yet again.

Most importantly, it was about the imposition of values on ancient Judea by force.  Was Hellenism a bad thing?  Of course not!  It involved philosophy, athleticism, argumentation, democracy, all things that the Western world as we know it is based upon.

Buuuut, those Seleucids, they went about it the wrong way.  Not only were they ruled by an emperor who expected to get the same level of deference as the plethora of deities on Mount Olympus, but also expected to abrogate, negate, nullify, and repeal anything about Judaism that previously existed.  The Maccabees were not willing to permit that, and they were successful in preventing that.

Nowadays, in our divisive society, while we may have become somewhat calmer with the passage of time, there is still that Seleucid way of thinking.  This notion that our way is so right, so beneficial, and so helpful, that everyone should be doing it.  

Well, I have good news:  We have every right to that way.  And there's nothing wrong with becoming convinced that it truly is the right way.  

And the bad news?  We do not have the right to demand that everyone think our way, no matter how foolish they may seem for not doing so.

How about even worse news?  We have no control over the way other people think, act, or behave.  For good reason, too.

Other people have difference perspectives, different upbringings, and different needs.  They have their own personalities, their own attitudes, and their own way of dealing with the world around them.  Some of them will seem stupid, some of them will seem obnoxious, and some of them will be undesirable.

Let Them Have Their Thing.   Just like you don't need their approval to be you, they don't need your approval to be them.

Let's focus a little more on our own values and actions, like the Maccabees, and not other people's ways, like the Seleucids.  If we're not happy with other people's ways, and there are no reasons to permit them, then maybe let's stop interacting with them.  It might be a harsh measure, but it's a lot smarter than demanding that they behave more to our liking because we know everything and they don't.

DO NOT ABSORB.  REPEL.

A Promotion, and Maintaining Identity.

OK, a couple of unrelated Bible stories for ya this week.

Joseph got to show his dream-intepretation savvy to Pharaoh, and got a huuuuuge position in his Court.  I mean, going straight from being in jail to ruling most of the land, because he was able to predict that a famine would come, and warn the Egyptians to be prepared for it.  Good job!

So this is his chance to take a small amount of vengeance on his brothers, who threw him into the pit.  They had no clue that he was Joseph, and he was able to play the Egyptians vs. Hebrews angle for a while.

The lesson does go both ways -- one key to success is to possess knowledge that nobody else has, and demonstrate how well you utilize it.  Only Joseph was able to interpret dreams so well, and it landed him the ultimate government job.  However, once he got there, and had more power, he was in a position to completely take advantage of those who wronged him . . . that certainly can be done, but wouldn't it be a more constructive use of that power to help, and not hurt them?  That power is not a license to "get even" or "get back" at someone.  That's a page ripped from the alphaganda playbook, but it's not one that you need.

The fact that you can use it to throttle or intimidate those who put you down doesn't always mean you should use it that way.  Sometimes just having that power is enough.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, you may still need to take some action against the miscreants if it's a matter of mere survival, but in 99 out of 100 situations, merely living well and demonstrating your newfound strength is sufficient.

OK, got that one down, and now the holiday edition:

Chanukah is the celebration of the re-dedication of the Temple.  For those not aware of the story, the Maccabees fought a war, against the odds, against the Greeks, who wanted to Hellenize the Jews.  In the process, they descrated the Temple, knocked over the lamps, and put up statues of Zeus to be worshipped.  But after the Maccabees overthrew them, the Temple was re-dedicated.  And miraculously, despite the fact that there was only enough oil to light the lamp for one day, it stayed lit for a week.

(Biblical anomaly -- Judaism celebrates the events depicted in 1 Maccabees, but neither Maccabees book is is in the Tanakh -- discuss?)

The theme of this holiday is resistance to conformity.  At the time it was introduced, Hellenism was hip, cool, and funky, but the expectation was that the Jews were to completely abandon and discard everything that they once were to accept this new way of being.  The fact that the old traditions were maintained, albeit by a minority of Jews at the time, and through the need for an armed response, continues to be celebrated.  But is this always a good thing?

America was always celebrated as a Great Melting Pot.  A nation of immigrants that cultivated its own identity by a mixture of other cultures to form something greater.  This usually means a fair compromise between preserving a recognizable remnant of your family's culture of origin, and the acceptance and interaction with the modern culture in which we live.

For many of us, our culture of origin is obvious in our name, or from our physical characteristics.  It can be a source of pride, or something to be rejected, depending on your personal opinion.  However, it's an inescapable part of who you are, and if you try to deny or ignore it, it still remains.

As Americans, we have a culture that thrives on the combined sharing of several cultures.  Not only does this result in the formation of a unique American culture, but also exposure to the diversity of other people's cultures.

The idea is to have them both.

There are certain ethnic groups who feel it necessary to only maintain their separate culture of origin, reject what we know as mainstream American culture, and demand that America make allowances for that culture in spite of that rejection.  This is ridiculous.  And there are also groups who have deeply felt romantic ties to their own cultures of origin, but mock and condemn other groups for celebrating theirs.  This is ignorant.

Rather, a compromise is needed.  There's nothing wrong with acknowledging your forebears and the traditions they imparted -- but it cannot be at the expense and exclusion of everything else around you, because you then do your country a disservice.  There is also nothing wrong with celebrating everything that makes America great -- but if you completely reject, neglect, and ignore the fact that your forebears came to America for a good reason, you are doing yourself a disservice, because you're obviously trying to be something that you're not.

Only each individual can decide the percentages and proportions of each tradition to respect -- but you need both, plain and simple.  This is how you stay complete, this is how you interact with society, and this is how you remain true to yourself.

Those are my two cents -- and for a real Thanksgiving treat, I refer you to my November 2011 post regarding the sham known as Black Friday.  One of these years, people will wake up and reject this most disgusting perversion of the concept of gift giving.

Happy Monday!

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

Good Evening, Peeps!

Yes, as we all know as good environmentalists, it's good to recycle.  However, as annoyed as I get with the notion of gift-giving etiquette, I admit that recycling is always better than re-gifting.

That being said, I'd like to borrow something from last year's post about Chanukah and Christmas (with a few small edits) and build on it:


The celebration of these two holidays have given rise to a certain degree of awkwardness that many have attempted to remedy by simply merging both holidays into a generic December/winter-solstice celebration to make sure nobody gets "offended" or left out, or made to feel disloyal in some way.  I can still remember songs being replaced from an elementary school's holiday concert for just that reason.  The terms used to describe an office party likewise become homogenized and genericized to avoid ruffling feathers.

Rather than continue in this politically correct mishmash, I propose a different approach -- celebrate the underlying MESSAGES of both holidays, and how they coincide, and not contradict!  They BOTH stand for NEW BEGINNINGS, and declarations of SELF-IDENTITY!

NEW BEGINNINGS!

Just look at them:  Chanukah celebrates a new beginning for Judaism by removing a corrupting influence, despite the fact that most of the Jews actually wanted the corrupting influence to continue.  Christmas celebrates a new beginning because a savior and redeemer was born, half human and half diety, just ready to start one of the most influential lives ever lived.  Until he met the end of his human life in his early 30's, he would face an onslaught of corrupting influences, and inspire those around him to resist them without even getting aggressive.

Now that I've found and isolated the common thread between both festivals, what exactly am I planning to do with it?  Glad you asked . . . .

I am not suggesting that any of you dispense with family traditions, of course.  But my proposal would be to merge Chanukah, Christmas, and New Year's into a two-week nonsectarian festival of New Beginnings.  Is it any accident that Chanukah and Christmas are both perched so perilously close to January 1st?  Let's make the timing work for us!

Let's go easy on the list of what you want to give/receive in terms of material gifts -- instead, make a list of new beginnings!  How will you cleanse the temple that is your life from the impurities that have been deposited there?  Will you restore it to the joy and peace you knew in childhood?  Will you remove negativity, obsessions, and old habits from your sanctuary and replace them with things worth venerating?

Or better yet, will this be a year to start a whole new life?  I mean from the ground up, from the beginning forward?  Can you get past everything that happened before that held you back and make this a Day One instead?

Not to toot my own horn, but I think we may have discovered the "true meaning" of the "holiday season" -- to start a new beginning!

So how about it -- are you ready to cleanse your temple, be re-birthed, or preferably both?  Why not?

Maybe it looks like too much of a chore to cleanse that temple.  Let it stay like that, I don't care, it doesn't bother me.  Really?  

Now imagine how clean, majestic, and snazzy jazzy that temple would look if it were cleansed -- wouldn't you rather have that?  A psyche free from frustration and self-defeating thoughts?  The ability to act more than react?  The understanding that solving problems is better than worrying about them, and that hating people doesn't change them?  Yeah, it's a pain and a half to have the temple set up that way, but how much happier would you be if it were?!!?!?!

And starting over?  Who's into that?  Haven't we already learned what we needed to in childhood? Can't we skip these lectures and just do what we've always done?  Aren't we just OK taking this path?

I'll say it politely:  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We get a chance to "start over," in huge ways and small ways, every day.  We don't really even have to wait for this time of year, as we could have done it in July if we were so inclined.  But since time of year is dedicated to the birth of a child who would change the entire world, it's only fitting to begin a new life within ourselves now.  

And yes, as those of you who personally know me are aware, this year I've been doing both of the above.  I won't discuss what this actually means, for several reasons, but I've been cleansing my temple and beginning a new life for this entire year.   Don't get me wrong, temples don't get cleansed overnight (despite what the ads may say), and re-birth is a little messy, which sometimes sets the cleansing process back a little.  But I think they are both necessary and interdependent processes.  If you're going to have a newly-refurnished temple, you've gotta have a newly-refurbished self to preside over it, of course.  In other words, your change must be complete, inside and out.

So, Friends and Neighbors, given what was written last year, and coupling it with my own experience this year, it's a good idea to make this winter holiday season one of starting a new beginning, regardless of what faith or stripe you represent.   By all means, continue with the customs you've always known and loved, but it's always good to share with those who do it a little differently.  Either way, let this December be a celebration of brand new traditions and originating new customs.

That's my piece.  For all my friends celebrating the second candle lighting, Happy Chanukah!

PS -- a good friend of mine who has studied the Bible extensively recently stumped me.  When I wished Happy Chanukah to everyone in the Tribe, he asked me, "Which one?"  

As a matter of clarification, Jews often affectionately refer to the Jewish community as a whole as "the Tribe" (sort of like Cleveland Indians fans) and to fellow Jews as M.O.T. -- Member Of the Tribe.  With the exception of those whose family names give obvious hints, it's very difficult for Jews to determine whether they originated from one of the twelve tribes of Isreal, although we could possibly narrow it down to Judah and Levi.  Accordingly, use of "the Tribe" does not designate ancestry from any particular biblical tribe. It's really just a cute little saying.  :)

Like it, comment, tweet it, retweet it, share it, etc.!

Happy Holidays -- Please!

Sunday night, friends and neighbors!  Time to share with all some thoughts on the upcoming December holidays!

This month, those of us who were raised with a Judeo-Christian upbringing encounter the second of two occurrences in the year when two quasi-religious festivals that coincide chronologically, but represent different traditions, are celebrated.  That is to say, it's one of the rare occasions where Judeo- and -Christian are de-hyphenated and separated.

Let's review. 

CHANUKAH

Chanukah (also known as Hannukah, Hanukkah, Channukah, Chanukkah (Jodie how do you get the app for Hebrew letters again?), and the Festival of Lights) is celebrated by Jews to commemorate the events in the First Book of Maccabees.  Ironically, this book is not included in the Jewish Bible, which had already been canonized when these events took place, and is instead in the Apocrypha.

A Greek ruler, Antiochus Epiphanes IV, was given control over Jerusalem, desecrated the Holy Temple, attempted to completely suppress the practice of Judaism, and to completely Hellenize the population.  The sons of the High Priest, Mattathias, including Judah Maccabee, staged a military campaign against the Greeks to defend and protect the faith, emerged victorious, and rededicated the Temple (too bad they had to form an alliance with the Romans to get it done).  Legend says that there was not enough oil to light the lamps in the Temple for even one day, but after it had been re-dedicated, it lit the lamp for eight days instead. 

The theme of this holiday is to resist conformity, to refuse to be dominated by oppressors, and to be courageous.  It's celebrated by lighting the menorah eight nights in a row, giving & receiving presents, and eating latkes and applesauce (sometimes sour cream, that's my thing) and jelly donuts (what, no chocolate?).  All in all, not the major huge holiday that Passover is, but it's celebrated nonetheless, and the message is certainly not lost on this blogger!

CHRISTMAS

Christmas celebrates the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ to Mary.  The two accounts of this occasion, in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, indicate that the birth took place in a manger, which may or may not have been in the midst of farm animals.  It is the second-most important holiday in all Christian denominations, as the birth of this Son of G-D to a human mother is the first of several miracles that are said to reveal G-D's love to the world, and the foundation of all permutations of Christianity that would eventually follow.

(yes, some of them celebrate this holiday in January, but that's not important right now).

The celebration of these two holidays have given rise to a certain degree of awkwardness, that many have attempted to remedy by simply merging both holidays into a generic December/winter-solstice celebration to make sure nobody gets "offended" or left out, or made to feel disloyal in some way.  I can still remember songs being replaced from an elementary school's holiday concert for just that reason.  The terms used to describe an office party likewise become homgenized and genericized to avoid ruffling feathers.

Rather than continue in this politically correct mishmash, I propose a different approach -- celebrate the underlying MESSAGES of both holidays, and how they coincide, and not contradict!  They BOTH stand for NEW BEGINNINGS, and declarations of SELF-IDENTITY!

NEW BEGINNINGS!

Just look at them:  Chanukah celebrates a new beginning for Judaism by removing a corrupting influence, despite the fact that most of the Jews actually wanted the corrupting influence to continue.  Christmas celebrates a new beginning because a savior and redeemer was born, half human and half diety, just ready to start one of the most influential lives ever lived.  Until he met the end of his human life in his early 30's, he would face an onslaught of corrupting influences, and inspire those around him to resist them without the need to take up arms.

Now that I've found and isolated the common thread between both festivals, what exactly am I planning to do with it?  Glad you asked . . . .

I am not suggesting that any of you dispense with family traditions, of course.  But my proposal would be to merge Chanukah, Christmas, and New Year's into a two-week nonsectarian festival of New Beginnings.  Is it any accident that both holidays are perched so perilously close to January 1st?  Let's make the timing work for us!

Let's go easy on the list of what you want to give/receive in terms of material gifts -- instead, make a list of new beginnings!  How will you cleanse the temple that is your life?  Will you restore it to the joy and peace you knew in childhood?  Will you remove negativity, obsessions, and old habits from your sanctuary and replace them with things worth venerating?

Or better yet, will this be a year to start a whole new life?  I mean from the ground up, from the beginning forward?  Can you get past everything that happened before that held you back and make this a Day One instead?

Not to toot my own horn, but I think we may have discovered the "true meaning" of the "holiday season" -- to start a new beginning!

Ummmm, yeaaaahhh Daaaave???  Isn't this what you already posted about for the Jewish New Year?

Ummmm, no it isn't.  Those posts were about forgiveness, while this one is simply about beginning again.  No requirement to atone here -- only a desire to start from Square One!
And while you're repeating "Seasons' Greetings," "Happy Holidays," and whatever other greetings gets tossed around for the next few weeks, let's put this one on for size:

I EXIST.  I MATTER.  I BELONG.  I DESERVE.

May you and yours have a Happy New Beginning!