Jewish Musings, Wednesday, Juneteenth

[louise]

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!

[louise]

So let’s talk about Juneteenth for a moment. My office is closed, as are the banks and the post office. I had never heard of this holiday until a few years ago. It attained federal holiday status in 2021. Apparently black people have been celebrating it as Emancipation Day for decades.

“Juneteenth is a holiday that commemorates the day when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas in 1865 with 2,000 Union troops to proclaim that more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state were free – two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863. Juneteenth, known as American's Second Independence Day, has been commemorated as a federally-recognized holiday since 2021, providing millions of Americans with a paid day off and the opportunity to commemorate the end of slavery.”

It boggles the mind that it took 2-1/2 years (even without social media). It’s my understanding that while Texas was the last Confederate state where enslaved people officially gained their freedom, there were holdouts elsewhere in the country as well. So the slaveowners knew but didn’t tell? Dunno. People knew but couldn’t wrap their heads around it? Thought they could get away with it? Or was it like people in any far flung war learning at different times that a war is over?

Curious to hear your thoughts.

[lee058]

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

Re today's topic: DH and DS both have off from work today. We haven't talked yet about the meaning of Juneteenth, but I'm going to bring it up later. I agree with you, louise, it boggles the mind that it took so long.

Have a peaceful day, Lee

[louise]

Bulletin: I just read that Russ and Daughters (long famous in NYC for whitefish and babka) is partnering with a Jewish ice cream company to make 3 special flavors for the summer: The sesame bagel treat is cream cheese ice cream between two sesame cookies. The chocolate babka pop is babka flavored ice cream dipped in dark chocolate and coated with toasted babka crumbs. The halvah bar is 3 layers: chocolate ice cream, fudge, and halvah ice cream all coated in dark chocolate. I'm nowhere nearby but they sound really good to me, even at $8 each!

[hollygail]

First, thanks to everyone who encouraged me to go with DH to his annual check up appointment.

I haven't checked current information, but my recollection (from school) is that the Emancipation Proclamation feed ONLY the slaves in the Confederate states... (and while Texas may have been part of the Confederacy, it took the 2 1/2 years Louise mentions for word to reach Texas, the Proclamation didn't apply across the then-US, only to the states that had threatened to secede from the Union).

Juneteenth has been around for a while; I haven't been inundated with any local information recently.. I did receive an email from an African-American Rabbi about Juneteenth in her congregation. It was an interesting write-up (and I'll email it to any of you who email me to ask for it).

[peachymom1]

Since Juneteenth was made a federal holiday, my company has had very interesting webinars and speakers, company-wide, on company time, which I have attended and enjoyed very much. As of this year, we get the day off as a paid holiday, so I'm not working today, but I did attend an online webinar for Juneteenth yesterday.

Since today is a gym day for me, I did still get up early and go to work out, then came home and showered and had breakfast, then went to my favorite nail salon when they opened at 9 a.m. I also treated myself to a ten-minute foot massage and a ten-minute shoulder massage. So I'm in a really good mood, and I have pretty purple nails as well.

[gazelle18]

The Juneteenth story reminds me of the Battle of New Orleans. The battle of New Orleans was part of The War of 1812 between the British and Americans. The Battle was fought in Jan. of 1814, 2 weeks after the Treaty of Ghent was signed, ending the war. Obviously , communication was different then, too. A lot of soldiers died needlessly.