Archive for the 'Religion' Category

A cry for Christmas cheer

Published
by
Aaron
on December 21, 2007
in NYC, Opinion and Religion
. 1 Comment

There has been a long running stereotype that New Yorkers are heartless cynics. While this is, for the most part, untrue, it has recently turned out to be so, to some extent, for a specific matter — Christmas. We all know what Christmas here in the United States is like — holiday-themed songs played indefinitely, a sea of red, white, and green in stores and public areas, and of course the infamous rush of holiday shopping. This is especially true in New York, where “Christmas cheer” has become an overpowering, ever-present force in December. As such, many New Yorkers, and others throughout the country, are joining the “anti-Christmas” front in, if not anger or hatred, but just sheer annoyance, of the presence of Christmas in every nook and cranny of their life. But what is the “anti-Christmas” front. Here’s a breakdown:

The religious Protestants: These are people who want to move back to how Christmas used to be in America before the 20th Century. Little to the knowledge of the average Christmas celebrator, Christmas was not just discouraged by the early settlers in Massachusetts Bay Colony, it was hated by them. The Puritans, who saw Christmas as a religiously inaccurate (Christian and historical authroities both suggest that Jesus was born sometime in the spring) and overly pagan (the holiday was really a winter solstice holiday that incorporated Christian ideas into the Yule of Northern Europe and the Saturnalia of Rome, along with others) kept Christmas from really being celebrated in America until the late 19th and early-2th century. Lately, though, many ministers, churches, and individuals have been starting to reject Chritmas celebrations again (Beliefnet has an interesting article on the subject)

The anti-”consumerization”-of-Christmas crowd: This group is mainly made up of the disciples of Bill O’Reilly (”The War on Christmas”) and Reverend Billy/Billy Talen (What Would Jesus Buy?), who believe that Christmas has become overly-comemrcialized and needs to be be tuned down and revert back to its old ideas of family, community, giving, and the birth of Jesus.

The very religious non-Christians: Mainly very observant members of other religions, such as Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and others, are against the proliferation of Christmas in secular America, and wish for it to be restrained, in all forms, in the public sphere.

The atheists: While many “new atheists,” such as Richard Dawkins, do celebrate the secular parts of Christmas, they despise the religious parts, in contrast to those who are against the “consumerization” of Christmas.

The “annoyed” crowd: The recently emerging group of people who are ordinary, secular Americans who simply hate hearing Christmas songs at every Starbucks and seeing holiday decorations in every public space.

So, where do I fall? As a an observant Jew by American, and even New Yorker, standards, I don’t celebrate Christmas at all. No tree, no stockings, no festive, home-cooked meal on Christmas Eve and Day (though I do like to do a little more than eat Chinese food), and no childhood-belief in Santa Claus. Still, I sort of enjoy the Christmas atmosphere that exists in the United States, and especially New York City. Sure, the music gets a little annoying after a while, but I love seeing all the festive decorations, hearing some classic holiday songs, and walking through the city on a crisp, hopefully snowy, December day. But that isn’t even really about Christmas. Instead, it seems to be more about a general winter solstice celebration, the same kind that has existed throughout human society for thousand of years. Back then, people had solstice holidays so they could have some warmth and light in the cold, short days during this time of year. While we now have these basic needs on a 24/7 basis, holidays like Christmas are able to provide us with something else — a warm, hopeful spirit of giving, family, and celebration that can help us get through the darkest part of the year.

With that in mind, I wish you all a late Hanukkah Sameach (”Happy Hanukkah” in Hebrew), Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Yule, Io Saturnalia (”Happy Saturnalia” in Latin), and Merry Christmas on this winter solstice night.

Mr. Deity

Published
by
Aaron
on April 29, 2007
in Internet, Random Things of Interest and Religion
. 1 Comment

mrdeitypromophot.jpegI discovered an amazing new video podcast today. It’s called Mr. Deity (iTunes link). Basically, Mr. Deity, which comes in 2-5 minute episode installments, follows the story of “Mr. Deity,” a.k.a. God, Larry, Mr. Deity’s assistant, Jesus, the reluctant guy who gets promoted to co-partner if he redeems mankind, and Lucifer, or “Lucy,” the Devil. Together, these characters, combined with some terrific writing, take a humorous and witty look at some of theology’s toughest questions. It’s a great little video podcast and definitely worth checking out.

Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut

Published
by
Aaron
on April 23, 2007
in Judaism
. 1 Comment

Today marks Yom HaZikaron, or Israeli Memorial Day (literally, Day of Remembrance). The holiday, like its American equivalent, honors those who died in combat. But this holiday is different from the American one in almost every way. In America, Memorial Day has very little actual significance. For most people, it means a three-day weekend, a barbecue/picnic, and car sales. In Israel, on the other hand, the exact opposite takes place. Like Yom HaShoah, a siren is played for a minute throughout the country, ceasing all activity, including car traffic on highways. Most shops and stores are closed, and normal television and radio programming is replaced with documentaries and solemn music.

But why is this the case in Israel, and not the U.S.? Even if we assume that the U.S. is too large to handle a one-minute shutdown, why can’t we still treat Memorial Day with just an ounce of respect? Is it because America’s much more diversified than Israel? Perhaps, but I think it’s more a result on an overall less-patriotic American culture. Really, after Vietnam, the Democrats gave up patriotism and left it to the conservatives to claim as their own. This, with a combination of post-WWII consumerism, resulted in a distanced, uncaring American people in terms of remembering war heroes.  And this isn’t just a Western issue. Look at the British, for example. The English are very attached to the soldiers who died in World Wars I and II. This is because Britain, unlike the United States, fought all the way through both world wars, and lost many lives to the harsh conditions of trench warfare and the horrors of the Blitz. In the Imperial War Museum in London, there is a terminal where, similarly to Yad Vashem, you can look up the names of loved ones who died in World Wars I and II. Most British natives can name at least one, and probably many more, persons who died in action, just as Israelis can. The Israelis and British have also had foreign attacks on their soil within the last 65 years. Now compare that to the U.S., in which the last battle on its homeland was 150 years ago, in the Civil War. How can we as Americans feel the pain of lives lost more than a century ago? Well, it may be hard, but at least we can try.

The second part of this post is about tomorrow’s holiday, Yom HaAtzmaut. Yom HaAtzmaut, or Israeli Independence Day, corresponds to American Independence Day, or the 4th of July. Similarly to Memorial Day, the 4th of July doesn’t really have that much actual value at all, though it has more than Memorial Day. The other major difference between Yom HaAtzmaut and the 4th of July is the connection to Memorial Day. Yom HaAtzmaut always comes directly after Yom HaZikaron, while Memorial Day is consciously about a month away from July 4th. In Israel, when the sun falls and Yom HaZikaron ends (Jewish days go from sundown to sundown), the entire country erupts into a huge party for Yom HaAtzmaut. From death to rebirth. And the fact that Yom HaShoah was only last week is no coincidence, either. From the death of the Holocaust and Israeli soldiers comes the birth of a nation. From death to rebirth, to life. Such is the story of the State of Israel.

Yom HaShoah Ve’Hagvura

Published
by
Aaron
on April 16, 2007
in Judaism
. 1 Comment

Yesterday marked Yom HaShoah Ve’Hagvura, or Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes Day. What’s especially important in this holiday is the second part of its name, Hagvura, or Heroism. This is because especially in America, the Holocaust is regarded simply as a tragedy, an example of how 11 million people (6 million of whom were Jews) perished because no one came to their rescue. This is drastically different than in Israel, where the heroes of the Holocaust are remembered, those who stood up against the Nazis, such as the partisan fighters and the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto. According to the Israelis, those who perished in the Holocaust did not die like victims, as the American psyche suggests, but as fighters against ruthless oppression. This is even shown in the Holocaust museums of Israel and the United States. The Holocaust museums in New York and Washington, D.C. tell about how the Jews were victims and were murdered by the Nazis. Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust museum, shows that too, but also honors those who resisted, those who defied the Jewish stereotype and fought the Nazis.

On Yom HaShoah, we must remember not only those who perished, but also those who fought back. This part of the essential act to zachor, to remember. The second meaning of zachor is to remember peoples identities of those who perished. This done by people switching off, day and night, to read all six million names of those who were killed by the Nazis. By saying the names of these people, we allow them to live again through their identity, if only for a few seconds. The Nazis turned people into numbers, and we can bring them back to life again.

The third meaning of zachor is the phrase “Never Again,” which means that we will never again let an atrocity like this happen again. But Never Again has happened again. In Armenia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and now Darfur, millions people have died as a result of genocide.

Today is the day after. It’s the day after mourning, after remembering. The day after the past becomes now, the present. Now is the time to stop the current genocide in Darfur. To do so, you can write a letter to President Bush, donate money to the cause in Darfur, or just become aware. Part of the reason the Holocaust happened was because most of the world just wasn’t aware of it. But tomorrow is the day after the day after. It’s the future. It’s Free Cone Day. It may stop raining in New York. It could be a happy day — but only if you make it like that. So, when you remember the victims of the Shoah, always remember to look not just towards the past, but also the present and future.

Free Cone Day falls on Yom HaShoah

Published
by
Aaron
on April 24, 2006
in Judaism
. 4 Comments

Tomorrow, April 25, 2006, marks to different important events, depending on who you are. One is Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day, when kids get a free cone of ice cream after waiting on an outrageously long line. The other is Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day (literally “Day of the Holocaust”). Obviously, these events are polar opposites. While one represents fun, being carefree, and American consumerism, the other represents death, destruction, and mourning. What I find appalling is that B & J actually scheduled their famous “holiday” on Yom HaShoah. Of course Ben and Jerry are probably not observant Jews, and Yom HaShoah is not an official U.S. holiday, but it still shocks me that they put such a pointless, joyful day on a holiday that marks one of the world’s greatest tragedies. There is no doubt that in a company as large as B & J had a relatively high-ranking person who knew about Yom HaShoah. I’m not trying to accuse B & J of anti-semitism, but I just thought that it was interesting that Free Cone Day and Yom HaShoah coincide. So, when you’re enjoying your free ice cream cone tomorrow, try not to forget the six million Jews, plus three million homosexuals, gypsies, and those physically and mentally handicapped, who were murdered only 61 years ago.

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Gawker’s Jewish?

Published
by
Aaron
on April 22, 2006
in Internet and Judaism
. 0 Comments

Apparently Gawker, the immensely popular Internet gossip blog, has a lot of Jewish flavor to it. According to this article of the Forward 50, Gawker has a lot of Jewish flavor and humor to it, which seems to make sense being that it’s run by Jews Jessica Coen and Jesse Oxfeld. Some of the Jewish flavor found in Gawker can be found in the short Foreword paragraph about its to main editors:

Currently run by co-editors Jessica Coen, 25, and Jesse Oxfeld, 29, the site courses with Jewish flavor, ridiculing old canards about Jews and the media even as it relishes them. “Next week’s New York [magazine] wonders whether, as a recent scientific study purported to prove, Jews really are smarter,” an entry right after Yom Kippur stated. “All we’ll say: We had a day off yesterday, and we ate pounds of excellent lox for dinner. You goyim did not. QED.” Another time, the editors said “yisgadal v’yiskadash” over a Conde Nast employee’s firing.

Of course, despite Gawker’s Jewish flavor, it’s not exactly my favorite type of blog. I think that I’ll stick with reading Engadget and the rest of the tech blogs.

P.S. Right below Coen and Oxfeld’s paragraph is a paragraph about Carolyn Hessel, who is a very, very powerful woman in the Jewish book world who my dad knows personally and who I have met on several occasions. She can be summed up briefly as “very small, but very powerful.”

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The One-Minute Seder

Published
by
Aaron
on April 3, 2006
in Humor and Religion
. 0 Comments

Last year, right before Pesach (the Hebrew name for Passover), my cousin sent me a link to the one-minute seder. Of course, that was before I had this blog, so i couldn’t blog it (duh!). Well, my mom got the same link from her friend last night, which reminded me to blog about it. Well hear I am. The one-minute seder is an animated flash file complete with music, animation, and hebrew names for each parts of the seder that flash by. Even if you can’t read the hebrew (which I assume is most of you), there are still parts very easy to recognize (clicking wine glasses=kiddush (prayer for the wine), hands together=prayer (actually it’s hillel, which are psalms and songs of praise to G-d), and of course, the matzah). Overall, it’s a very humorous video and with a minute of your time.

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