Book review: The Gospel according to Judas, by Amos Oz

Amos Oz represents for me a typical case of an author whose writing I like very much, and to whom I am indebted a lot in terms of literary development, but whose ideas are at the very very other end of my own thinking. I've read most of his books and I am always curious about new releases, but it seems that from a book to another, I am more and more disappointed.

The last two days I tried tremendously to finish a book who is greatly appreciated in Germany, Judas, as it was translated, or The Gospel According to Judas, according to some variants. It tells the story of a small microcosmos at the end of the 1950s Israel, made of Shmuel Ash, one of the best portrayed intellectuals in Oz's writings to date, the old Gershon Wald he is hired to take care of and entertain for couple of hours in exchange of boarding, and his daughter-in-law of his deceased son, Atalya Abrabanel. Following the bankrupcy of his parents company, Ash has to leave Haifa and his studies and find some work. Meanwhile, his girlfriend left him and he is left in the middle of a dramatic existential crisis. Atalya, a woman in his mid-40s, whose hands are obsessively described quite often - always as looking older than the rest of her appearance - was the daugher of a deceaed leader of the Zionist movement, who was in favour of a separation of the land with the Arabs. Ash is kind of falling in love with, accompanying her shyly to her pretended different detective work assignments, and the game of feelings is one of the best parts of the book.

Hoping in an eventual return to academic studies, Ash is using his time when not dating Atalya or entertaining Wald, to work to his graduation thesis, about Jesus from the Jewish perspective. The development of his ideas, his references and the discussion about them are actually the main part of the book. The thesis is that, in fact, Judas, is the one who played the most important role in spreading Christianity because he is the fact the one that was the agent of history whose treason made things happened. It seems that Oz himself is trying to come to right terms with his own history - his intelligence involvement with a British sergeant and his constant position since 1967 on behalf of Palestinians. The interpretation of Judas' personality resonates with the various discussions about the Abrabanel's radical separation from Zionism, with his final pledge against the very creation of a Jewish state. 

How far you can go?

The questions are: What are you about to do in order to achieve your ideas? What you do when your dream is fulfilled: you keep dreaming or you build another dream? 

In an interview for Israel Hayom with Eshkol Nevo, Oz explains that: 'sometimes, the title of traitor can be wear as a badge of honour', giving as diverse examples as Ben Gurion who accepted the partition plan, or Rabin or Ariel Sharon. He said that 'This book emerged from the pit of my Jewish stomach for all haters of Israel, for all those who creed Judas and drove the dagger into us and burned down the synagogue with the Jews alive inside it'. However, the problem is that the interpretation of the traitor cannot be separated from this new version of Judas and this is simply hard to digest. With a couple words and using his authority of star writer, Oz just turn everything in his favour. I can understand that he tries to publicly explain his own history and image in Israel but still, this sounds very false and in fact, excuses any treason, because, of course, the reason behind it was more noble than it looks at the first sight. Somehow, there is no middle way here: those who are weak and leftist will clap their hands and find a new rationale while those who understand why they are doing this, will never accept it. End of the story.

Deceived by the dream

'Israel was born out of a dream, or an entire spectrum of dreams. Every dream that is fulfilled leaves behind a taste of partial disappointment. The only way to maintain the purity of a dream is not to fulfill it. This holds true when it comes to building a house, writing a novel, traveling the world or fulfilling a sexual fantasy. Israel is a dream fulfilled, and thus necessarily leaves behind a slight taste of disappointment, despite the fact that it is still a fascinating fulfillment of some of the dreams', he said in the same interview. In other words, his apparent detachment and extreme positions that can be assumed as a traitor's are in fact the cri de coeur of too much love and intellectual instability.

With words, everything can be explained and justified, whatever the reason. Should it be a moral limit to it? Here to, it is a matter of choice and, after all, of intellectual honesty. 

This book was expected sooner or later, but left me very deceived because it just prove once again some personal assumption that great minds are not necessarily honest. 

Explaining Simchat Beit HaShoeva

At the end of the period of teshuva and the Day of judgement, the festival of Sukkot is the time of full. Compared to other festivals in the Jewish calendar - none on Pesach and one time on Shavuot -, the association between Sukkkot and joy is mentioned three times. According to Deut. 16: "And you shall rejoice on your festival and you shall be only joyous" and "And you shall be exceedingly joyous". "And you shall rejoice before Hashem, your Gd" (Leviticus 23:40). 

Source: Temple Institute

When the Temple still stood, the most important celebrations associated with the festival were Simchat Beit HaShoeva (Rejoicing - simcha - of the place - beit - of water drowing - hashoeva), the height of the holiday joy of the Sukkot. Not explicitly mentioned in the Torah, during the seven days of the festival, water was poured on the altar as a libation that accompanied the daily morning sacrifices, a ceremony called in Hebrew nisuch ha-mayim. Usually at the time, every day of the year, after the sacrifices were burned, an offering of wine was poured on the altar, but during Sukkot, the water was added.Symbolically, there were used water from Shiloh, from a source not affected by any human intervention. 

Each morning, the Kohanim were going to the pool of Shiloh (in Silwan), in the City of David, near Jerusalem, to fill a golden flask. Shofar blasts were greeting their arrival. The water brough was poured on the alter, at the same time with the wine. At the end of the celebration, the immense candelabrum in the Temple courtyard was lightened and it was hardly any courtyard in Jerusalem which didn't reflect its light. The Levi'im prepared the orchestra of flutes, trumpets, cymbals and harps to accompany the torchlight processions and the celebrations.  

The Tractate Sukkot (51:a) says that 'Whoever has not seen the Festival of Water Libation has never seen joy'. It used to take place every night during the Sukkot festival, except the first day and on Shabbes. The Kohanim, Levi'im, Israelim, elders, pious men and men of good deeds, all joined the celebrations that used to last even for more than 15 hours. Although it was not the Purim, many of the great sages were joining the celebrations, some of them in postures hard to imagine. It was said that Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel juggled eight torches and raised himself on hand stand with only two fingers. Rabbi Levi juggled with many knives, while Shmuel was able to hold eight glasses of wine without spelling the content. It is written in the name of Rabbi ben Hanania: "When we used to rejoice at the place of water drawing, our eyes saw no sleep", meaning that after the celebrations, they were ready to return back to learning and the service in the Temple.

According to other interpretations, the ritual was part of a larger inducement of rain intent. On Sukkot, the world is judged by water (Mishneh Rosh Hashanah) and "Day of the Rains are as great as the day of Giving of Torah" (Talmud Ta'anit 7a). 

Nowadays, the festival is held in the diaspora, but the height of the celebrations are in Israel, especially among the many Hasidic sects in Bnei Brak and Mea Shearim. Shuls, places of study or yeshivot, all are opening their doors to music and dances. One of the most famous are Karlin, Breslev, Toldos Aharon, Belz or Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok.

Simcha at Ponevetz Yeshiva

The force of the stories

Regardless of our level of intellectual sophistication or of our high spiritual needs, we will always need good and simple stories. It is part of our human background to wait and listen to beautiful stories.

If you are looking for a good collection of stories, that will equally make you smile and cry, you should try to find out this beautiful book by Hanoch Teller, Once Upon a Soul. Either he writes about spectacular rescues of the Jewish soul or of strong personalities, he will always bring a new beam of light into the life of the reader. Without being judgemental and with the help of the art of a good writer you will always have great stories. No one is looking to be lectures, but to feel the human touch of the story and the force of the example. Our soul is thirsty for it and Hanoch Teller's stories are waiting for us.

Women mashgiach?

I recognize that I do not like the tone of the article and the passion of some declarations quoted, but on the other hand, I do not see many any difficulties in allowing women being mashgiach. And I am thinking only at the following aspect: most part of the time, the women are in charge 98% with the preparation of meals and the kashrut standards in the kitchen. Following a course for preparing as professional mashgiach and eventually extending their supervision outside the home will not be an impossible mission and in full line with the daily tasks of any devoted yiddische mother. 

An interesting issue to be followed in the near future.

Amid Aleppo violence, fate unknown for one of Judaism's greatest buildings | The Times of Israel

Amid Aleppo violence, fate unknown for one of Judaism's greatest buildings | The Times of Israel

Being Proud of our Heritage

Before getting ready for the party and the barbecue, a couple of words about what do we celebrate on Lag Ba'Omer and the meaning of Iyar 18.

Book Review: Table Talk, by Moshe Pinchas Weisblum

(I am very very late with many reviews of books I've read lately so it is about time to start the counting and do my writing job).

One of the most well prepared moment of Shabbes, besides setting up the menu, is reading and preparing the weekly Parasha.

I listen or read many variants: at the beginning of the week, I start searching for some related discussions on YU Torah or Chabad.org or while reading different interpretations in the Orthodox media.

On Shabbes, I usually read once the Chumash and shortly after the comments. I discuss one more the short version with the children. At shul, I am reading the Hebrew version by myself. Eventually, thereafter, I continue with another sum up the discussion with the children to be sure that we have a common understanding of the main benchmarks.

In addition, I listen to the shiurim of the rabbi delivered during the day. At the first sight, it might be more than enough,

but I always look for more interpretations and versions. The next level is to focus more on the home discussion and to spend more time around the Shabbes table discussing the weekly Parasha. For the moment, I am looking for suggestions of formats and ideas for brainstorming - mostly by connecting the ideas of the parasha to our daily life.

Thus I was more than happy to stumble upon a Moshe Pinchas Weisblum book dedicated to the Table Talk. For each parasha, there are a couple of simple questions with the suggested answer that could organize at a certain extent the discussion. The level of difficulty is easy to medium and it is not difficult to follow and participate at the discussion. For each Parasha I found new interesting angles of view and I think it is useful for many – like me – looking to establish a minimal level of the discussions held on Shabbes.

Former Skinhead, currently Hasid

This is a story that in general made me think a lot: A former Polish skinhead, "against everything", is turning into observant Jew after discovering his Jewish identity. Years ago, he was showing off his negationism at Auschwitz. Now, he is speaker at Chabad conferences. 

I wanted to wait more than two hours after reading the article, as it made me think about stories I encountered in my life, about people who made the change and some that did not. The road is difficult and the journey is long. But, hopefully you will hardly recognize your old self. 

We have all the chance to return. To read the messages sent to us in various ways. Or simply not to read and think about any hidden sense, just to follow what we feel that is our way. It is not easy, the separation from the past may be painful and the main reason why many prefer to stay hidden than to start anew. If you want to return, nothing and no one will really stop to do it, except yetzer hara

What I know for sure is that we are always offered more than one choice. You do not know always how and why and for how long, but in my case, I am more than happy with my current road. 

Voyeurism

In a world as ours, you get easily sick. Sometimes I can understand - but not fully agree - with the idea of keeping your children far away of the media, unless they are not able to do the selection of the information by themselves. Anyway, it is not always easy to create your nest of normality unde the bombardment of bad news about special people.

For me, this week, the top example of voyeurism was the snowslide of articles about Hasidism and sexuality. The news were there for a long time, but I discovered them in a long row. Praised, explained and rejected, the authors are entering into the merry-go-round of talking over and over again about private life, customs and bedrooms. Most probably, the stars of the yellow media grew up and it was nothing else to talk about in the press? We talk about the "sexual habits" of groups as Satmar and Gur, to a relatively uneducated audience. No, we are not Amish or Mormons (a post about them and us, after Shabbat, promise) and not sexual deviants. For your information, the anti-Semitic rhetorics contain various references to so-called sexual "irregularities". Probably Deborah Feldman (whose book I will read one day, but not now) is not aware about this.

I also can understand that an academic is keen to share the results of her research to a wider audience, but I would prefer to address first my scholars and not the wide media. Academic work is hard work, and you need appreciation for your results, but why not thinking twice about the consequences of such discourses in a media avid of sensationalism.

I think that among both secular and religous Jews, there are happy people and sad people, people happy with them lot or people struggling against their yetzer hara. Each of us is different, and this is a blessing. Some of us are poor, the others rich. It is always important to accept everything happening to you with humility and integrity. You can use your words for cursing or explaining the world, adding value or expressing your self-hate for not understanding why we are living.

Shabbat Shalom!

Kyrkyzstan, why not? But Israel...

I work on Sundays and for me this day of the week is one of the busiest - take into consideration also the difficuties of coping with the post-Shabbes readjustment. But still, I reserve always one hour or two for reading some travel, funny articles, as a source of inspiration for my lazy writing. 

Last Sunday, I've found this article about Jerusalem, in the New York Times. The author is enthusiastically expressing his feeling about keeping himself on the road - nice, I said, I love this too. And he outlined: "As a Jew, especially one who travels constantly, I was expected at least to have the Jewish state on my radar, if not to be planning a pilgrimage in the very near future." Even Iran or Montenegro are looking more appealing to him. And he goes on and on, mentioning again how secular he is, and visits Jerusalem and is happy to find human people with whom he can talk. Anyway, in order to keep himself on the line, he is first visiting some non-Jewish places and he's very happy to recommend it. (His message: You know, I am not as bad). I didn't find the piece an amazing article well written, but was not surprise at all by the words - and the medium. I've read previously many bad articles spotting overrated places, but as they don't pay too much for their contributions at the travel section (you may be happy with a $25 for freelancing staff), I'd kept the observations to myself. Plus, at the end, the author looks as changing his mind and this may be a good beginning. And, mission accomplished: he went to Jerusalam, maybe he will return and why not, he will decide to change his life.

Yesterday, David Harris replied to the piece in The Huffington Post, criticizing the content of the article and the choice of the author.

I do not want to defend anyone and actually I am reading daily so much crap and self-denial and misinterpretations that nothing may surprise me. What it is obvious in many of these positions is the lack of education and understanding of Judaism. Many people introducing themselves as "Secular" and "intellectuals" never had the opportunity to meet people with high education, able to share their knowledge and get people closer to the Torah. The fault is not only on one side.

I am reading right now another interesting book of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks about Jewish continuity. Shoah and the galut put at hard trial our belief and knowledge. We stop being Jews by choice or by the force of the events. But, it doesn't mean that resuming our position to criticize those who are different may absolve our responsibility. We should do our best to have them on our side, with their past, differences and points of view. 

Book Rewiev: All for the Boss, by Ruchoma Shain

Most part of the book I've read lately regarding the beginning of Jewish life in America during the 19th and beginning of the 20th century are written in a pessimistic tone: Shortly after landing on the "New World" soil, the Jewish life and religiousity is disappearing. Probably the phenomenon continues today among the young Israelis arriving in the big American cities, although in comparison with the "old times" you have nowadays all the possible choices to continue living your Yiddishkeit. Long time ago, such a situation wasn't possible or easy at all and the struggle to survive and work for obtaining enough money for bringing your family and dear ones left in "the other land" was powerful enough to push the newly Americans-in-process to leave their old ways of Torah living. Working on Shabbos and Yomim Tovim, neglecting the daily prayer and laws of kashrut were in some cases also the consequence of the absence of the community feelings and role models, the effect of the the deep alienation and cultural shock.

A completely different image is reflected in this interesting book on the life of Yaakov Yosef Herman, written by his younger daughter, Ruchoma. We are acquainted with the image of a family and its practices that we can hardly imagine sometimes in our busy 21st century: the strict Torah education and way of life, whatever the immediate social risks - for example the wedding invitation of his children mentioning the need to be dressed tzniut or to refrain dancing together prompted some of the guests to leave the event - or financial price - encountered every time when while on a business trip he needed to adjust his schedule to pray in time or to observe Shabbos; the dedication of the wife, carefully chosen through shidduchim, assuming the hard task of taking care alone of the children and the house allowing his husband to dedicate his life to the Torah (in the book we'll find many such examples of dedicated wifes sharing the shadows of the learning life of their husbands).

Recently, I saw again - with a different company and in a different interpretation and language - the Fiddler on the Roof. Some of the main tensions in the story are created by the conflict between tradition and the emerging modernity: the increased presence of secular Jews, the danger of intermariages - very often a direct consequence of the anti-semitic environments, the mind laziness encouraging a lenient approach on Torah and mitzvot - which you can find in the Conservative and Reform movements.

Is it easy or hard to continue and practice an observant life? Does it make any sense to be shomer mitzvot when nobody around you - meaning fellow Jews - is doing it? Yaakov Yosef Herman's inspiring story is proving the opposite: as long as you believe it is difficult to understand why some could follow the difficult path of separating of tradition. It's so easy to be inside...

Maharal's solution for profane conversations

"While in Moravia, Judah Loew attempted to lessen conversation during religious services by instituting a prayer in honor of those who refrained from profane conversation during the prayer service".

From Mystical Theology and Social Dissent. The Life and Works of Judah Loew of Prague, p.27

Understanding the chazzan

Image via Wikipedia//Praying at the Kotel, cca. 1900

In Judaism, a cantor - also known as a "chazzan" or "hazzan" - is the person who leads the congregation in prayer along with the rabbi.

In the Jewish prayer services, music is playing an important role hence the need for a cantorial school education for those holding this position. But in special situations – such as small communities - the cantors could be simply people from the community with in depth knowledge of the prayer services and melodies, good moral character. At other times, the rabbi might fill the roles of both rabbi and cantor. Volunteer cantors and rabbi/cantor prayer leaders are especially common in small synagogues.

In general, the rabbi and the chazzan are working together to inspire and educate.

In Orthodox Judaism a cantor must be only a male, but in Conservative and Reform Judaism a cantor can be either male or female.

In addition to leading prayer services cantors have a variety of responsibilities which vary from synagogue to synagogue. Often their duties will include teaching bar/bat mitzvah students to read from the Torah, teaching members of the congregation how to participate in prayer services and working with the choir, conducting weddings or funeral services or visiting the sick.

Sources:

http://judaism.about.com/od/glossary/g/What-Is-A-Cantor.htm

The Great Orthodox Comeback

The Great Orthodox Comeback - Explaining the great revival of Judaism.

Cost of living

I saw recently on the Internet various blog posts and further discussions regarding the (high) costs of becoming a Jew or of turning to an observant life. I don't want at all to address the persons who started such conversations and their more or less obvious reasons. The beauty of life is that all we are different, thinking differently and having different reactions.

But, honestly, from the very beginning I was surprised by the interest dedicated to such topics, as I never had the idea to evaluate the costs of the observant life (I don't know nothing about converstion). The above mentioned posts are mentioning a long list of investments: the costs of taking classes with a rabbi, the books, plates, clothes and many many other aspects. The writers are American so maybe from an US perspective everything should look as a business plan and even though the writing pieces were not articles in the proper sense of the word (who cares about doing journalism when we can say and write anything we want - including lashon hara - on our personal blogs), I would have been very happy to read experiences from people who didn't think the whole spiritual adventure as an investment counting every single $$ spent.

It doesn't mean I deny or diminish the importance of money in almost everything we do. But, generally, when you turn to the observant life, you do it not because you have a surplus of money, but because you are convinced that something is missing in your life. And you decide to do it, whatever the costs (that, I repeat, I never took into consideration). It is an investment, indeed, but for ever, in a life worth living.

I will not address the costs for conversions because I don't know too much about this, but will think a bit about the return to faith (recently, I saw also some discussions about how problematic is to be baal teshuva and how many people avoid to call themselves under this term fearing discrimination and suspicion within their communities; as long as you do it with modesty and you avoid by any means gossips and irrelevant thoughts, nobody should be afraid of what it is and what used to be; and if you have a tensed relationship with your current community, go to find another one) in practical terms (I avoid to count the $).

Indeed, we need a lot of objects - candles, mezuzot, cups, spices box, plates. And adequate clothes - unless you was used to go almost nacked, for sure you will find in your wardrobe many adaptable items. And books - if you have a Jewish library at the community center and free Internet access, performing that task would be easier. And kosher food - expensive and hard to find in galut; but also try to think about the money you save after you stop eating out too often (or at all, as in galut, kosher restaurants are very rare) or you decline the invitations to go clubbing on Friday or Saturday night. And for classes too - but, again, the free Internet access can save a lot - and many Orthodox shuls are offering periodically free lessons and Rosh Chodesh gatherings. You don't have to do it overnight - at least, we didn't. The process of return is progressive and you will discover what do you need while you advance in your journey. When we started to observe a strict Shabbat, we went to buy everything we needed for this and in one month time we realized what are the other practical necessities - for instance, a battery-powered alarm clock. Openly speaking, the most challenging part was to adjust our working schedule to the cycle of the hagim or to the Shabbat time and the hard task was for our employers to understand that we are not available at all on Saturdays. But it didn't produce any financial consequence; in exchange, we won respect for becoming committed persons, with a healthy family life.

In many hasidic stories, you read about people working hard and in very hostile conditions, enjoying a piece of challah and a fish and the blessing of prayers during Shabbos. In my humble understanding, everything you do is getting a sense up to the aim, which is not to show off and impress other fellow Jews.

Whatever I try, I still can't find any relevance in all the financial evaluations of the observant life. Any relevance at all. When I am convinced of what I have to do and I have the proper guidance for being sure that what I'm doing is correct, the whole life is adjusting and I will find the ways to practice what I am talking about. Period.

Energizing books

The holidays are also a good occasion to spend time with good books, related to the festivals or simply dealing with Judaism and Jewish questions. Some of them we are studying together, or we use it as good and trustful company for the hours between meals and our long walks to the shul.

The last week was as usual very busy discovering and discussing new interesting thoughts. While waiting for the meals to get ready I had an extensive look at the Jewish Teenagers. Guide to Life, offering the Jewish perspectives on the various issues faced by teenagers nowadays. The ways in which we should address the "free will", the relationships, "real happiness", definition of the role in life are few of the chapters of the book. By offering to our children a strong Jewish education and adequate resources we help them to use the correct compass in a difficult world.

Shortly before the yom tov, I was busy reading about Halacha, a very strict book about what and how to do correctly our daily mitzvot. Not extremely exciting and wonderfully written, but very correct and useful for the general guidance.

The same guidance role is played by the information from this collection of articles dedicated to Rosh Chodesh, that we are ready to celebrate at the end of this week. You will find here several information regarding the history and the practice, the halachic observation and some interpretation given in various mainstreams of Judaism.

For a long time I was looking to read something by Anita Diamant but I found this book about Living a Jewish Life completely by accident. I spent the yom tov thinking and pondering the perspectives offered in this almost a handbook, written from the liberal perspective but very honest in what concerns the basis of our choices and some modern interpretations of the practical faith. When you want to change your status from a non-observant to daily practicant status it is sometimes useful - at least for those around you, to proceed gradually, tempering the radical temptation of declaring immediately your new identity. It might be a feeling of guilt behind this hurry, but in practice, sudden changes aren't healthy and the step-by-step options - for the kosher and Shabbat practice, for example - are advisable. With a good guidance and a supportive community we can make big steps, but if we don't have it, we should follow our rhythm and proceed in the (only) right direction.

At the end of the festival, I experienced an enormous happiness through the wonderful stories of faith, love and kidness by Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis. A Shoah survivor and founder of Hineni International, she is sharing a precious experience of translating Judaism for the modern world and supporting the Jewish tradition through direct support for specific problematic situations. The main aim is to support the Jewish values reflected in the individual behavior and the family life. Each story is a precious drop of Torah thinking and Halacha. The simplicity of wisdom made me wonder why I wasn't able to realize some things before, but this is how things are and the lessons learned are important insights for a change. In a wonderful way, this books ended my list of lectures during the holidays. More specific study and books are waiting for me in less than 6 hours.

Shmini Azeret and Simchat Torah

Shmini Azeret and Simchat Torah - The meanings of the celebrations.

Difficult Freedom

From Emmanuel Levinas, Difficult Freedom. Essays on Judaism:

"Belonging to Judaism presupposes a ritual and a science. Justice is impossible to the ignorant man. Judaism is an extreme consciousness". (p. 6)

"For Judaism, the goal of education consists in instituting a link between man and the saintliness of G-d and in maintaining man in this relationship". (p. 14)

"(...) education for the Jew merges with instruction and (...) the ignorant man can never really be pious". (p.15)

"The knowledge of G-d comes to us like a commandment, like a Mitzvah. To know G-d is to know what must be done". (p.17)

"Judaims believes in this regeneration of man without the intervention of extrahuman factors other than the consciousness of G-d, and the Law: 'Everything lies in the hands of G-d, except for the very fear of G-d'. Human effort has unlimited possibilities. There is finally the help given by a just society from which the unjust person may benefit". (p.20)

"Jewish wisdom is inseparable from a knowledge of the biblical and rabbinical texts; the Hebrew language directs the reader's attention towards the true level of these texts, which is the most profound level of being. In an increasingly homogenous world, nothing can oppose the pressure on us to be brought outside, out of our knowledge; knowledge as an unique power of reversion. Judaism can survive only if it is recognized and propagated by lay people who, outside all Judaism, are the promoters of the common life of men". (p.250)

Post-Yom Kippur

Image via Wikipedia//Blowing the shofar marks the end of the Yom Kippur

The last 26 hours were extremely inspiring and interesting, a clear delimitation between the time dedicated to spiritual development to the time dedicated to the daily mundane activities. By definition, I designate all my daily activities as spiritual but, inevitably this is always some small connection to the body - the food or the unknown number of coffee I am drinking daily. This time, the Shabbat on Yom Kippur, it was completely different. I spent a lot of time at the shul fighting a confusing headache - I always thought about finding a remedy to my dependence on coffeine - sleeping one-two hours in between and thinking a lot about the next year and our personal and family resolutions.

As usual, there are many books to be read, classes to be attended and trips, lots to learn about Judaism and interesting people to find. For each member of my family, including myself, the last year was extremely challenging and complicated. I wish the new year to be a continuation of some good path that we, as a family, are following for a couple of months already. We are not sure where we'll be in the next months, but we are sure that all of us we'll be together, united and helping and reconforting each other. This positive energy was the main achievements of the Yom Kippur and we are grateful for the last 26 hours of joy and happiness.

Time now for a good sleep a day of break - and a nice family breakfast tomorrow. Sukkot is next - and we should start a lot of preparations!

Jewish life on High Holy Days all over the world

I found today early in the morning a couple of articles about Jewish life in far away places, I would be happy to share. It is an important lesson about fighting to keep the tradition and the identity and doing mitzvot:

Almost incredible: Jewish Celebrations in Afghanistan

Jewish life in Iceland (again incredible, isn't it?)

Recovering Jewish life in Libya will not be an easy task

At the end of the e-tour, I found also a news that worried me, given also the high interest of many Jewish and Israeli tourists in visiting Thailand. As usual, we should be always careful. We never have to forget the heavy burden of persecution and massacres, as it was the case of Babi Yar.