Jewish musings, Monday, 9/18

[gazelle18]

What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.

Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy

And for those of you who stop by to read this thread without posting — you are welcome to, but you are also welcome to chime in. Don’t be shy!

[gazelle18]

Hi everyone,
I read a piece in The NY Times written (I think) by a gentile psychology professor. It is entitled "Rosh Hashana Can Change Your Life (Even If You're Not Jewish)". The professor notes that while RH certainly celebrates creation, and humanity, it also asks the Jew to "contemplate death" with the recitation of the Unetaneh Tokef. This poem reminds Jews that their lives may not last as long as they had hoped or expected. ("Who will live and who will die? Who will live out their allotted time and who will depart before their time?" ).

As a child, I regarded this prayer as, simply, awful and gory. Who wants to think of dying by fire or by wild beast or famine or plague? I have lately come to appreciate this prayer, but never understood why until I read this article. The writer reasons that forcing people to contemplate death helps a them make decisions about their future which bring them happiness. In other words, when you contemplate the fact that you might die, you will more naturally focus on that which makes you happy. The logic is that if you recognize that your days are numbered, you won't care as much about things that are not truly meaningful; rather, you will spend your remaining time and energy on that which is most likely to bring you happiness and meaning.(Think relationships with loved ones as opposed to furthering a career or coveting a new purse.)

The writer concludes that the "particular brilliance of RH is that it combines thoughts of death with a new year's focus on a fresh start."

Your thoughts on the above, or on the Unetaneh Tokef prayer in general?

[brgmsn]

I think it ties in with how folks who have gone through a life changing experience, whether a serious illness or accident to themselves or others, realize how short and precious life is and make changes to their own. When you confront your own mortality things are more precious to you and more meaningful.
It's unfortunate it usually takes a terrible experience like that to make an impression on most of us. I love the idea of the Une Tane Tokef taking that place.

[peachymom1]

For me, the whole purpose of Unetaneh Tokef is to raise our consciousness to how fleeting life is, and yes, we need to be reminded of that every year. Well, at least I do. I would call it a paradox in a way, because as you stated, we juxtaposing new beginnings with the inevitability of death, and the prayer gives us plenty of ways that could happen.

But I also see this as a way to teach us to balance our lives. Some things we have control over; some things we don't. Some things we can acquire a good amount of knowledge about; some things will remain a mystery. We can do a lot to improve our chances of a longer life, but some bad things will happen anyway. A professional lion tamer can still be killed by an animal he/she knows well, and even a good swimmer can drown. We shouldn't take the precious gift of life for granted, but we are human and will do so because we just can't help it. So we have wonderful things like thoughtful holidays and prayers to remind us of our mortality and nudge us off our tuchuses to help make things better, for ourselves and the rest of the world too.

Jewish wisdom and tradition continue to amaze me.

[hollygail]

Someone once asked me, if I knew I had a year left to live, what I'd do differently from now. Then he changed the question to six months and then to three and then to 3 weeks and then 1 week. And my answers differed each time he shortened the time. I realized as he was doing it that I do have a different outlook when faced with such things. And I have changed somewhat in how I live since that experience. I didn't make all the changes that day, mind you, but over time, I have spent more time doing what I like and less what I think I need to. It's made a real difference in how I live day to day.

What I think I like best about the Unetaneh Tokef is the melody. The "chorus" has a strong commanding tone. It sticks with me long after it's finished. That appeals to me.

[lee058]

Good evening everybody. Hope you are all well and SAFE!

Re today's topic: What it made me think of was the Tarot's Death card, which symbolizes tremendous change. With Rosh Hashanah, we celebrate life but are reminded that things can change. Personally, I focus on the ways things can change for the better, but we still have to deal with times when they change for the worse. Life is like that.

Have a peaceful night, Lee