Rant #1,762: The New Year

Sunday night begins what for Jews around the world is the most holy of times, the most sacred of times, the beginning of our new year, which starts off after sundown tomorrow with Rosh Hashanah.

This begins the most sacred period of reflection for those of the Jewish faith, and culminates with Yom Kippur a few days later.

I will get into that more in a moment, but first, my new year is going to start off with a bang, so to speak.

Yesterday, you might remember that I told you about my tooth woes, and how they were driving me up the wall.

I asked for advice, because I thought my own dentist abandoned me, and I still think that way.

I took the advice of one of our regular readers, and off to a periodontist I went.

The periodontist told me pretty much right away what my problem was.

Evidently, I have a tooth way back in my mouth that has grown in sideways. This one tooth is one of my wisdom teeth, teeth that I have never had a problem with until now.

This is something that is not that hard to believe with me, as 50 years ago, I had eight to 12 baby teeth pulled at one sitting because, well, they weren't coming out naturally, and yes, some were growing in every which way.

This time, the tooth growing in the wrong way is rubbing against the next tooth, which is rubbing against the next tooth, and so on, causing a calamity in my mouth.

I am now scheduled for dental surgery on Monday, October 17.

And while one never looks to have surgery, this procedure--which I am told takes half an hour, and I will be up for it, with all the deadening agents used to prevent me from feeling a lot of the pain in place--is something that I am kind of looking forward to.

As Dr. Smith from "Lost in Space" used to say, "The pain, the pain!"

I won't say it will be fun, but it will be necessary, because at times, I swear, I feel like I just want to rip the affected teeth out of my mouth with my own hands.

So again, I must thank one of our regular readers, who I have had issues with in the past, but who this time came through big time.

I just wish that my own dentist would have stepped up to the plate on this one, but he didn't, although he did provide the periodontist with recent X-rays and did suggest a surgeon for me.

Why this wasn't done in the recent past is beyond my comprehension.

So my new year will begin with an extraction. I hope it is the only thing I lose in the coming year.

Now, back to talking about the coming year, year 5777 on the Jewish calendar.

Rosh Hashanah literally means "the head of the year," and it is the first of the High Holidays, leading into the holiest day for Jews, Yom Kippur, 10 days later.

It is a time for reflection, a time to look back at the past year and to also look ahead on how you can do better during the new year.

Many Jews attend services at their local synagogues during this period, and pray for themselves and for their loved ones. Remembrances of those who have left us are also part of the ceremonies.

To me, the High Holy Days are of major importance, although I admittedly do not attend services like I once did.

My family gets together with other family members during this period of time, and we reflect on the past year, and how we can be even better during the New Year.

I have always felt that every Jew has his own way to honor this period. Some feel the need to go to synagogue and pray, others are at home and do it their own way, and that is the way my family does it, since we do not belong to a synagogue at this time.

We once did, of course, and we could now, but honestly, there are other issues with the synagogues in our area that I won't get into now, and that is why we haven't joined them.

Yes, some would consider that to be a copout, but one thing that you can say for Jews is that we do things to our own drum beat, and that is what has made us strong through the ages, probably the main reason why through years of persecution, we are still here and still strong.

I do fast on Yom Kippur, but this year, I am going to be away. In the past when this has happened--one other time that I can remember--I have chosen another day to fast. It is not what I am supposed to be doing, but I do believe God understands.

And yes, I do believe in God. I believe in his almighty presence, his power, and his strength.

And when I say "his," even if God is a woman or some mix of the two sexes or something else, I believe in God 100 percent.

I look back at the past year, and it has been an incredible run indeed.

And I hope to make the new year even better.

I thank God for whatever I have done this year, and I especially thank God for helping my father to recover from pneumonia to the level that he has reached.

I thank God for having a great family, great kids and the best wife a guy could ever have.

And I thank God for allowing me to be me, which is reflected in this column, to a certain extent, five days a week.

And I thank you, my faithful readers, for taking a few minutes out of your day to visit here and see what I have to say.

So Happy New Year to all my Jewish friends, and I know that with God's help and guidance, I will make it through my oral surgery and do the best I can do to make the new year better than the past year was.

Speak to you again on Monday.