Rant #3,554: Wishin' and Hopin'

Yes, I have taken a breath from yesterday's Rant, and now, I have to move on from it ... nit totally forget about it, but continue to try to learn from it.

Tonight, at sundown, begins the holiest holiday on the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur.

The best way to talk about it here is to put up what I wrote about it more than a dozen years ago, in Rant #811, dated September 25, 2012.

So here it is, in edited form.

"Yom Kippur begins tonight at sundown.

For Jews around the world, this is the holiest time of the year, the time where we pause to reflect on what we did the past year and how we can begin anew in the new year.

Even many non-observant Jews follow this holiday, and this is the only time that they venture into a synagogue during the entire calendar year.

Prayer and reflection are paramount here, as is refraining from drinking or eating anything for the duration of the holiday.

Some Jews don't even bathe, watch television, drive cars or do anything but pray and fast during this period, which ends tomorrow night at sundown, or when the shofar is blown at Yom Kippur services.

I, personally, don't go to that extreme. I do not go to synagogue but again this year, I will be fasting.

From my personal experience, fasting is not hard to do. Sure, it takes you out of your routine, but it really isn't that difficult to do for a day.

What is difficult is doing it while you are in synagogue. The constant getting up and sitting down--when the Torah is displayed--makes it very difficult.

I remember in the old days, you would hear women crying in the back of the synagogue. Not eating can do that to you.

As far as my family, my wife has tried and can't do it, my son the same, my daughter, I know she has tried but she can't do it, either..

I have to tell you, after I fast I feel very, very good. It is almost as if everything bad in my body has been cleansed out of it by fasting. I might have a little buzz headache, but this is something I have been doing continually since I was 12 or 13, so I am pretty much used to it.

So to all my Jewish friends, and to all of those people I know who aren't, Happy New Year to everyone."

But this year, things are different.

Jews around the world have had a horrible year, with the Israel-Hamas War showing no end, and the resultant spikes in anti-Semitism reaching historic--and reprehensible--numbers.

We--and the world--should hope for a better new year, a year when peace is the goal, but the way the world is today, this will be a goal that is going to be difficult to accomplish.

The new year brings new hope, and let's hope that this hope comes to fruition.

May the war come to an end, may all the hostages be released and come home, and may there be a lasting peace in thst part of the world, and throughout our world in its entirety.

Happy new year to all!

Have a great weekend, an easy fast, and I will speak to you again on Monday.