Entries Tagged 'Holidays' ↓

It’s been a year since last halloween in WeHo.

Much changed this past year, but that is not what I’d like to talk about.  Not even the extreme costumes (or lack of costumes or any clothes) that is usually discussed in regard to the WeHo carnaval.

It was a long weekend, starting with a decision no to dress up, and remain in my “israeli attire” - jeans, boots, t-shirt and a scarf.

The streets were crowded, costumes were used, occasionally, and I was pushing my way through with an Israeli friend who is living in WeHo for the next week or so.

He took many pictures, enjoyed the view, but ended up with a pretty well-thought summary of the event.

See, Halloween is not celebrated in Israel, since it is not a Jewish or National holiday.  Our excuse to dress up and wander around the streets is a holiday named Purim.  With that in mind, back to my Israeli friend and his thought.

People here in LA spend, in general, more thought, effort and time on their costumes.  However, people in Israel seem a lot happier on the dress-up holiday.

I could not argue with the man.

Purim in Israel, for adults as well as youngsters, is a fun holiday.  Instead of “Trick or Treat” there is a tradition of giving friends and family a “Mishloach Manot”, an assortment of goods, having a chance to visit one another and strengthen the sense of friendship and community.

There is more to the holiday than dressing up and getting wasted in various parties (although that aspect is also celebrated by most).

As my favorite owl commented on my previous post, Jewish holidays tend to carry the spirit of “they tried to kill us, failed - let’s eat!”.  All I can think of when it comes to Halloween, from speaking to friends, is that it’s party night.  If it weren’t for my college professor, I wouldn’t even know that Halloween is a historical day in Christianity, when Martin Luther posted his 95 thesis, an act that led to the start of protestant Christianity.

Reading this blur of thoughts over, I guess this experience made me wonder - where’s the substance in all is going on?

As high-holidays went by, and the new Jewish year seems to be going just fine, I wanted to take a moment and reflect, being a logical thing to do, as an old year has wrapped up and a new one has just begun.

Holidays and tradition, when far away from home, family and friends, feel a little different.

As opposed to having a large mass of family time and guilt, trembling before god and newspapers on Yom Kippur fast, when (according to Jewish tradition) god signs the books of life and death and our sentence is sealed - Celebrating that holiday in LA, where each is to his own, has a different feeling.

Whereas I haven’t always enjoyed high holidays (or any holiday) in Israel, having family obligations and feeling trapped in a godforsaken city, where there’s nothing to do - they actually meant something. Los Angeles, and the US in general, do not commemorate the day.

Yom Kippur in Israel means lack of television, since all channels cease to broadcast. There are no cars out on the streets. All stores and services are closed. Newspapers are filled with memories, researches and articles of the Yom Kippur war of 1973, where Israel was taken by surprise and drawn into a bloody war, that had no real winners. There’s a sense of holiness in that day. Where all walk around the city for hours, half the night, trying to exhaust themselves in order to sleep in the next day, having the fast go by a little quicker.  Many secular people fast, take restrictions upon themselves, and the whole day is a halt.  A chance to get away from the everyday life and reflect.  Think about our actions so far, who we’ve wronged, and how to become a better person.

Yom Kippur in LA, on the other hand, is just like any other day.  Only those who observe it notice there is something different about the day.

This was supposed to be a fun, amusing, witty post, but I guess I’m in a strange mood, once again.  Feeling the differences and gaps between my past and present.

LA is not bad at all.  West Hollywood is pretty darn amazing, but there’s this magic in Israel this time of year, that I wish I had experienced.