This seemingly has been prompted by the approach of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Jewish High Holidays. My relationship with religion and celebrating holidays has been quite ambivalent. I never really "clicked" with the idea that religion was my connection to connecting with God. At worst, being Jewish and celebrating holidays meant hours in synagogue listening to and attempting to pray in a language I did not understand. For hours. At best, it meant meals with dishes specific to my Eastern European, Ashkenazi ancestry. It also meant we did not celebrate any of the Christian holidays, have a Christmas tree, or Christmas stockings. As an adult this hasn't been much of a big deal to me, but as a kid it bordered on horrible.
As I think of the High Holidays every year, first thing that comes to mind is I have to either ask or Google when they are since the Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar and the months/days are different. Then I think about the fact that I have come to believe that there is holiness in everyday life, so why limit celebrating at a specific, appointed time? Then I pretty much forget about it until the next time somebody brings up a holiday - and we have plenty of them, most of which I am not really all that familiar! So, this year, I decided to be different.
In classes I have taken at the ILM Center this year, and at a retreat last May, I am learning there are deeper, more mystical meanings to the "religious" writings and stories. So I started thinking maybe the same can be said about the holidays. Not just the surface, Rosh Hashanah is the New Year and Yom Kippur the Day of Atonement, but what might this really mean on a deeper more spiritual level. I researched the meaning of those days to confirm that I actually do know what they mean to the Jewish people. I checked the Chabad website hoping for a more mystical viewpoint, since the Hasidim are the closest I can imagine to modern day Jewish mystics and the Chabad website comes from the Lubavitcher Hasidic community.
I was slightly disappointed to discover mention of God as a separate entity since I do not, so I researched further, checking to see if there was anything written by or about the "father of Hasidism", Rabbi Yisroel ben Eliezer, The Baal Shem Tov who lived in the 18th century. Baal Shem Tov is a title that can be translated at least two different ways: Good Master of the Name, meaning one who "owns the holy name" and is connected with the Divine, or "one who has a good reputation in the community." After reading some of the stories connected with him, I choose to go with the first meaning. After reading stories surrounding Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I am able to infer, for myself, deeper, more mystical meanings to these holidays that up until now really were fairly meaningless to me. So, now I know what I am going to share about holiness and holidays on Sunday.
Namaste.
