Rant #2,495: Return To Sender

Yes, it looks like I am back here for this blog. 

I am typing this on my tablet and an alternative computer, so maybe this is the way to go with this. 

I am hoping that it comes out well and everyone can read it. 

 It is very frustrating to me to have used a blog format or so long, and then have it taken right out from under me. 

 I have no idea how to divide the paragraphs up like I normally do to make this thing more readable. 

The formatting will not allow me to get out of the HTML format, but I am trying some things and hopefully I will be able to solve that puzzle. 

 In the meantime, I will just have to go with this as it is, because I don't think I have any alternative at the moment, so please bear with me. 

As it is, this is something new for me, and it coincides with the Jewish New Year, with Rosh Hashanah beginning at sunset tonight.

Redemption and newness are among the cornerstones of this holiday, the holiest of all the Jewish holidays next to Yom Kippur, which takes place next week.

With all the tumult in my life and the lives of my family during the past month or so, Rosh Hashanah gives one the time to reflect. the time to think over things, and the time to vow to make changes so that we improve ourselves and prove our worthiness in God's eyes.

We are tested throughout the year for out worthiness, and I dare say that this year has proved to be the ultimate test, and I mean for everyone.

We have been presented with the pandemic on a silver platter, and as I look around at my fellow human beings, I am not yet sure that we have handled this the right way.

The virus exists, but does it exist with the fortitude that we have been told that it packs? 

And after that question, we have to ask ourselves this: At whatever level this scourge is, have we, as human beings, handled this thing the right way?

As you know, there are a variety of answers to this question, and I don't personally know which one(s) is right, nor which one(s) is wrong.

Personally and for my family, the past months, and the past month in particular, has hit us extremely hard.

To not have the patriarch of our family--my father--with us during the High Holy Days is going to be difficult, but I know that we will get through it.

I mean, we have to.

And with Yom Kippur coming up next week, I will fast, just like I do each and every year, but this year will be slightly different; I will be doing my fast to honor my father, to honor the man who helped make me what I am as a human being.

In his later years, my father could not fast for medical reasons, but I remember in the "old" days, he could even find some "fun" in fasting.

We would sit in our local soul, and during the service, he would ask me to stick out my tongue, to make sure that I hadn't cheated. I never did.

He would also stick out his tongue, see how "white" it was, and we both had a good laugh about it.

So yes, I will miss my dad during this year's High Holy Days, but his memory will never leave me, and the drive that he had to be a good person will certainly be there in me during this period.

So to my fellow Jews, have a good Rosh Hashanah, and use it as time to reflect on yourself and your loved ones.

To my non-Jewish friends and my Jewish friends, have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday ...

And I will hopefully be able to rectify any problems I have with this blog by the next time I speak with you.

Wish me luck ... I will need all the help I can get.