|
The most overtly religious thing I do, aside from prayer, is take out the family menorah every December.
I love to handle its sturdy stem and graceful arms, and I love the ritual of lighting it, when we are home, when I remember. I am a Christian; we have two or three Ganeshas around the house; I still glow from interviews with the Dalai Lama years ago. It all flows together, particularly in this country founded on freedom and multiplicity. The menorah stirs feelings that are ancient – the same connections I sense in Brooklyn when I gaze at the Hasids who, of course, make no eye contact whatsoever. I feel they are kin, somehow, through my father, who was adopted, but I spare them from telling them so. The menorah touches deeply because it speaks of survival and courage. When the candles flicker through our front window, they say, Here Too, More of Us, whatever us means. The past year, lights have been glowing in parts of the world where it takes extreme bravery to congregate, much less protest. Light a candle for people of courage. Happy Hanukkah.
Sam G
12/21/2011 04:19:23 am
If only everyone took notice - even minimally - of everyone else's yearly rituals, as you clearly do. It might lead to more tolerance, something which, as things stand, is in short supply.
Brian S
12/22/2011 02:57:05 am
You are not alone on this one, GV! (I suspect there are at least as many, if not more, Christians for Hanukkah as there are Jews for Jesus!) When our kids were growing up we would be invited by good friends to celebrate the first night with them and it was a tradition we dearly loved! The candles, the prayers, the dradles, the chocolate coins and, oh my, the food! Now that all our kids have left the nests and we live farther apart, we still honor our good friends by making latkes and home made applesauce on the first night of Hanukkah every year. If we can lasso a guest or two, there will even be kugel, and maybe a chicken! We think of the prayers (which they said in both Hebrew and English); they ring in my mind like songs. Comments are closed.
|
QUOTES
From the great Maureen Dowd: As I write this, I’m in a deserted newsroom in The Times’s D.C. office. After working at home for two years during Covid, I was elated to get back, so I could wander around and pick up the latest scoop. But in the last year, there has been only a smattering of people whenever I’m here, with row upon row of empty desks. Sometimes a larger group gets lured in for a meeting with a platter of bagels." --- Dowd writes about the lost world of journalists clustered in newsrooms at all hours, smoking, drinking, gossipping, making phone calls, typing, editing. *** "Putting out the paper," we called it. Much more than nostalgia. ---https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/29/opinion/journalism-newsroom.html Categories
All
|
