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A Thread for Random Musings


Old Man

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Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

Okay, I admit it, sometimes I don't get the Chassidim (ultra-orthodox Jews of ashkenazi descent). I converted with the supervision of a Chassidic Rabbi, and went to a Chassidic Seminary for several years, and while I admire many of their Rebbeim (spritiual leaders) and study Chassidic discourses on the Kabballah, I have chosen to follow (most would say ultra-orthodox) Sepharadic practice (sometimes being a convert has distinct advantages) and I still don't get the vast majority of Chassidim. Not one bit.

 

A for instance: In Safed this year a group of Chassidim have started an anti-"goyishe new year's" campaign. Their message: We're Jews, we have our own cultural traditions, and our own new year - be a proud Jew and eschew that which isn't you. Well, okay, I can see what they're saying. I don't celebrate "goyishe new years" (though I call it "Roman New Years"), either. And I agree Jews shouldn't feel a need to celebrate everyone else's traditions when we have such rich and beautiful traditions of our own. So I can get into their essential message, but the way they've gone about it...

 

For some reason (and I don't get this, either) in Israel, Sylvester the Cat is associated with the Roman New Years. This year, in Safed, the Chassidim, in their attempt to "encourage" (and I use that word loosely, mind you) their fellow, more secular counterparts to eschew the "goyishe new year" have put up posters all over the city with slogans saying things like "Sylvester is Like Hitler" and "Sylvester Killed 6 Million Jews," and... you get the idea. Personally, from where I sit, it seems a bit much to put on the shoulders of a cartoon kitty. I mean, I'm sure there's some deeper message their trying to convey, but its been completely lost in the "What are you smoking?" factor...

 

I mean, couldn't you just put a poster saying "Be a Proud Jew, Celebrate Your Own New Year!" Or emphasize the fact that this year the Roman New Year falls on Motzi Shabbat (Saturday Night) and encourage them to engage in the time honored tradition of a Malava Malka (a festive evening meal with Jewish stories and the like to honor the leaving of the Sabbath dating back to King David) in conjunction with it - to Judaize the event? Maybe you should throw your own party along those lines and invite them to attend. I mean, both seem like they might be more effective in drawing secular Israeli's closer to Jewish tradition than making them shake their heads in fearful shame at deeply grounded slogans such as "Sylvester is Like Hitler!"

 

I am so glad I escaped to Sepharadi-land. Oh, and Happy Roman New Years.

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Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

I love the Coldstone Icecream place that's near where I live. When I'm carrying alot of sutff, the man behind the counter gives me enough ice cream to fill the bowl, but also allow a lid to cover it. When I'll I've got is a soda to carry, he fills it way past the brim, giving me more icecream to savor. :thumbup:

 

I love that place, their coffee icecream mixed with cheesecake icecream is really good. :D

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Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

Okay' date=' I admit it, sometimes I don't get the Chassidim (ultra-orthodox Jews of ashkenazi descent). I converted with the supervision of a Chassidic Rabbi, and went to a Chassidic Seminary for several years, and while I admire many of their Rebbeim (spritiual leaders) and study Chassidic discourses on the Kabballah, I have chosen to follow (most would say ultra-orthodox) Sepharadic practice (sometimes being a convert has distinct advantages) and [i']I still don't get the vast majority of Chassidim[/i]. Not one bit.

 

A for instance: In Safed this year a group of Chassidim have started an anti-"goyishe new year's" campaign. Their message: We're Jews, we have our own cultural traditions, and our own new year - be a proud Jew and eschew that which isn't you. Well, okay, I can see what they're saying. I don't celebrate "goyishe new years" (though I call it "Roman New Years"), either. And I agree Jews shouldn't feel a need to celebrate everyone else's traditions when we have such rich and beautiful traditions of our own. So I can get into their essential message, but the way they've gone about it...

 

For some reason (and I don't get this, either) in Israel, Sylvester the Cat is associated with the Roman New Years. This year, in Safed, the Chassidim, in their attempt to "encourage" (and I use that word loosely, mind you) their fellow, more secular counterparts to eschew the "goyishe new year" have put up posters all over the city with slogans saying things like "Sylvester is Like Hitler" and "Sylvester Killed 6 Million Jews," and... you get the idea. Personally, from where I sit, it seems a bit much to put on the shoulders of a cartoon kitty. I mean, I'm sure there's some deeper message their trying to convey, but its been completely lost in the "What are you smoking?" factor...

 

I mean, couldn't you just put a poster saying "Be a Proud Jew, Celebrate Your Own New Year!" Or emphasize the fact that this year the Roman New Year falls on Motzi Shabbat (Saturday Night) and encourage them to engage in the time honored tradition of a Malava Malka (a festive evening meal with Jewish stories and the like to honor the leaving of the Sabbath dating back to King David) in conjunction with it - to Judaize the event? Maybe you should throw your own party along those lines and invite them to attend. I mean, both seem like they might be more effective in drawing secular Israeli's closer to Jewish tradition than making them shake their heads in fearful shame at deeply grounded slogans such as "Sylvester is Like Hitler!"

 

I am so glad I escaped to Sepharadi-land. Oh, and Happy Roman New Years.

Aha! There is an obscure reason Sylvester the Cat is often seen in Israel on Roman New Years (but man is it obscure)! From Arutz Sheva:

 

"The day of the secular new year is known in Hebrew as Sylvester Day, named after the Roman Pope who convinced the emperor Constantine to prohibit Jews from living in Jerusalem and who arranged for the passage of anti-Semitic laws more than 1,700 years ago."

 

Still, perhaps "Sylvester is like Hitler" and "Sylvester Killed 6 million Jews" is topping it a little high.

 

And again, Happy Yom Sylvester!

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Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

My cats caught a mouse today. Or rather, the smarter, more athletic cat injured the mouse's leg so it couldn't run as fast, and I grabbed it by the tail when it climbed onto my foot. I set it down in the field across the road from my house, where field mice belong. It didn't want to be set down, and clung to me.

 

:nonp:

 

The cats, meanwhile, want to know what I did with their fun new toy.

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