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.
1 comment so far ↓
it’s a strange thing to ask, i guess, but do u think it felt the same getting around china town (for example) on their new year’s eve? or any national/religious memorial day?
i’m not sure how it’s done exactly in other places, but it feels like over here the tradition of celebrating few of our holidays is heavy, serious, old - instead of being fun and us being happy upon starting a new cycle of life.
any ideas why?
well, u know what they say: “they tried to kill us, failed - let’s eat!”.
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