Jewish Musings Sunday, December 10

[hollygail]

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:

Frieda (hopefully)?
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy

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

[hollygail]

Chanukah has been called the first cousin of Sukkot. Prior to the Hasmonean uprising, the Syrian Greek King Antiochus had forbade all Jewish rituals and practices. At the time, the Hebrews/Israelites/Jews were an agricultural people, and Sukkot was a big deal holiday. And we weren't permitted to celebrate it (or mark it at all) in Tishrei. However, in Kislev, when we'd rededicated the Temple, someone thought it would be a good time to make up for lost time, and so a big celebration took place. Think about sales in department stores that advertise "Summer in July Sale!" In a manner of speaking, it was Sukkot in Kislev.

The Book of Maccabees notes that Chanukah is celebrated for eight days to compensate for the eight-day festival of Sukkot that could not be celebrated that year. Beit Shammai argued that we light candles in descending order, from eight on the first night to one on the last night, to correspond to the parei hachag, the 70 bulls brought on Sukkot which were brought in descending order with 13 on the first day and 7 on the seventh day for a total of seventy.

I think Shammai got a bad reputation because Hillel said we increase in holiness, so we should increase in light (during the darkest time of the year, as it were; plus perhaps also in the abstract of bringing light into the world).

Have you ever considered why we light candles for each night of Chanukah? (The "so called miracle" of one day's worth of oil that lasted eight days was invented by the "influencers" of the day when Israel was a few centuries later being ruled by some other country; they thought it dangerous to be public about celebrating a military victory by the Hasmoneans over the monarch who ruled during the time of the the rededication of the Temple. We still tell that story because of how much cooler it is than the military one.)

[hollygail]

Today is Human Rights Day, established by the United Nations exactly 75 years ago (so today is the 75th anniversary. I checked to find out exactly what rights were included. Anyone interested?

ARTICLE 1
All human beings are born free and equal.

ARTICLE 2
Everyone is equal regardless of race, colour, sex, language, religion, politics, or where they were born.

ARTICLE 3
Everyone has the right to life (and to live in freedom and safety).

ARTICLE 4
Everyone has the right to be free from slavery.

ARTICLE 5
Everyone has the right to be free from torture.

ARTICLE 6
Everyone has the right to be recongnised before the law.

ARTICLE 7
We are all are equal before the law.

ARTICLE 8
Everyone has the right to seek justice if their rights are violated.

ARTICLE 9
Everyone has the right to freedom from arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

ARTICLE 10
Everyone has the right to a fair trial.

ARTICLE 11
Everyone has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

ARTICLE 12
Everyone has the right to privacy and freedom from attacks on their reputation.

ARTICLE 13
Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and to be free to leave and return to their own country.

ARTICLE 14
Everyone has the right to seek asylum from persecution.

ARTICLE 15
Everyone has the right to a nationality.

ARTICLE 16
Everyone has the right to marry and to have a family.

ARTICLE 17
Everyone has the right to own property.

ARTICLE 18
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

ARTICLE 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

ARTICLE 20
Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

ARTICLE 21
Everyone has the right to take part in government and to have equal access to public service.

ARTICLE 22
Everyone has the right to social security.

ARTICLE 23
Everyone has the right to work, to equal pay, to protection against unemployment and the right to form and join trade unions.

ARTICLE 24
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure.

ARTICLE 25
Everyone has the right to a decent standard of living, including food, clothing, housing, medical care and social services.

ARTICLE 26
Everyone has the right to education.

ARTICLE 27
Everyone has the right to participate in and enjoy culture, art and science.

ARTICLE 28
Everyone has the right to a social and international order where the rights in this Declaration can be fully realized.

ARTICLE 29
We have a duty to other people and we should protect their rights and freedoms.

ARTICLE 30
Nobody can take away these rights and freedoms from us.

I was just wondering about the state of the world today. I'm thinking Jews world-wide and Israel itself might do a better job of bringing this information to the rest of the world... Think that might give anyone pause?

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well and SAFE! Please pray for Israel.

Re today's topic: hollygail, Thanks for posting the list!! It was very moving.

Have a peaceful day, Lee

[louise]

Hard to believe folks could disgree with these rights but we see the evidence. Not sure abouth the connection yu are suggesting about Jews/Israel? These should be a responsibility for all of us though sadly not universally seen that way.

I cannot find anyone to go on the volunteer trip to Israel with me. A couple were considering it - at least I would have some friends though not a roommate - but they don't want to commit. So my question is whether I would go alone. I plan to call the tour company tomorrow to see if thry can get the hotel to waive the $500 surcharge for a single room - I don't thik the hotels are full so why not? I doubt somehow that I will get anywhere and I can't actually say the money is the issue. Dunno.

[peachymom1]

What a wonderful world it would be if everyone had these rights. I am very grateful for the rights we do have.

Louise, good luck with the volunteer trip stuff. When do you leave?