A moment of strength-ness

 

Post Neilah thoughts, Yom Kippur, 5781

I, too often, sit through pre-Neilah speeches that aim to frighten me, to tell me that this is a last chance and I have to rush to catch God before the gates close or else I'm out of luck. Last chances and all that. This year, I was possessed of a different message, one of reassurance and one that carried me through Neilah better than I had in the past.

I was thinking about a weird verse which reads (and I don't have citations handy -- I just finished breaking my fast so cut me some New Year's slack...TIA) that the sound of the Shofar, at the giving of the Torah "halach v'chazek" went and got stronger. It is often pointed out that a note blown in a shofar weakens over time. Just ask anyone who has sustained a note extra long. But the miraculous sounds at Sinai somehow got stronger and louder over time. Strange idea, that time brings about strength. And here we are -- 24 hours into a 25 hour fast, stomachs starting to make themselves known, headaches threatening (or worse) and our attention flagging. Will we ever make it through?

God says "yes."

He says we are a treasured nation (am segulah, though segulah also seems to refer to good fortune) and we have learned how to get stronger as the game goes on. Let's think about it.

Hashem took us out of Egypt when we were at a spiritual depth. He could have floated us right to the promised land, boom. But no, he decided, they aren't ready. They need time. He gave us the opportunity soon after, but we proved we weren't ready. He threw obstacles, wars, plagues, hunger and random grumblings. We weren't ready. But 40 years later, we stood on the edge, toughened by the adversity of the desert experience and solidified in our faith. We were ready.

After the incident of the Golden Calf, Hashem could have decided to forgive us -- we had learned our lesson, and given Moshe the second set of tablets. No, he decided, they aren't ready. Forty days later (on Yom Kippur, by the way) our repentance was complete and we were forgiven because after that time, we were ready, stronger as a people.

And each year, when we reach the depths of our spiritual journey, our batteries depleted and our spirits lowest. We Ask God for forgiveness. "No," he says, "you aren't ready." We take forty days and we pray, and we think, and we, miraculously, get stronger. Then, finally, at the end of day 40, when stand on the edge, ready to enter the promised land of forgiveness. We have the final prayer, Neilah, when we lace up and get ready to cross the river on a spiritually recharged high. We are ready. It took all these days, prayers, rituals and introspection, but instead of getting tired, instead of diminishing, we got stronger. As a people and as individuals, we are all ready.

Then, we move right into Ma'ariv, from strength to strength, mitzvah to mitzvah, riding that high. We set up our sukkah and try to remain on that height and be ready so that next year, we can be in Jerusalem. 

Stay strong, people. We have crossed into a state of cleanliness. Stay strong and let's see if we can make it last.

Pop Goes the Culture

 

Here's the thing about culture -- it is shared. It is a set of values, experiences, signifiers and preferences that are common among a group. Yes, that's an off-the-cuff definition so excuse me if I missed something, but it isn't a bad start. The bottom line is that a culture is a unifying force that defines an in-group (and the out-group) by virtue of common qualities or ideas. Each of us is a member of many, many cultures simultaneously, some defined geographically, some via heritage or parentage, and some based in some other feature. I'm here to point out that one dimension which has historically defined a culture has disappeared so we need to start considering the implications, including the dissolution of the peer-group culture heretofore defined by that dimension.

I recall those halcyon days of college when all of us would assemble in a room and talk about, you know, stuff. Eventually, the topic of television would come up and we would compare notes on favorite memories and shows. Inevitably, people would start talking about "Saturday morning cartoons." Thing is, as an observant Jew, I didn't watch television on Saturday (the sabbath) so I couldn't relate to that subculture. Television, a central player in mass media in the days of my youth, helped separate us into various factions. It allowed us to see shows and movies that others had similar access to, and what each of us chose to watch became a variable which determined our place in and out of various groups.

Sadly, that boat has sailed. Television is no longer the great unifier that it was. With the advent of cable, the audience became fractured. Now with the internet and streaming services there is simply too much content from which to choose, so it is tougher to find the common ground that helps us label ourselves as members of a culture. Yes, we are "in" with others who have watched a specific show or movie, but the mass group who shared a trend is gone. And new material develops and disappears so quickly that it becomes difficult to figure out with whom we ally before that moment is gone.

The young people are driven by social media platforms and trends (personages, practices and presentations) that cycle quickly. It is hard for a non-young person to keep up with the various changes, but I have seen that even the youth, itself, is highly fragmented because each small group follows whom it follows and cannot then also follow the myriad other names and faces which supposedly have large audiences. There is simply no time. But because one can "follow" people without paying any attention and follow ones that might be (conceptually or in some other way, mutually exclusive), the celebrities of this new "popular culture" are fictions of the click. They don't really have large audiences, just the echoes of a passing interest immortalized by a digital fan base that is probably mostly absent at any given moment.

So what are we left with? The plethora of channels of content has made for a series of cultures of one. We are more isolated even though nominally, we belong to the same "group." Our "friends" and our "influencers" are no more than pixels as we slowly lose the ability, opportunity or interest in sharing with others, in our quest to experience for ourselves something new and different.

Driving Dogs

 Sparky gave me a hard time today.

I got him into the car -- dogs love to go into the car, and he tried to move into the driver's seat. I mean, does he want me to sit on his lap? Or more ludicrous, does he actually want to drive? Dogs can't drive and I told him so. It's like a thing people know. It is laughable except, apparently, not to dogs because most dogs can't laugh.

He insisted otherwise which is just like Sparky. He insists that he can drive, and better than I can. Then he insults my family and I am no longer laughing. I could say unflattering things about his lack of known parentage (and, according to the vet I paid, his inability to be anyone else's parentage, ifyouknowwhati mean) but I don't. Instead, I play the trump card:

"Sure, you can drive -- if I can see your license."

He hates that. I mean, where would he keep his license? He knows I know and I know that he knows that I know. But, bottom line, that dog won't drive.

Flip side? I sleep with one eye open because he is in a decidedly bad mood now. He threatened to expose me as a word I won't say, on his blog, but I refuse to be cowed by a dog.

Expert Teas

 I really like Earl Grey. I find the citrus aroma to be enticing and the flavor to be really delicious. But I stumbled on a web site on which some self proclaimed expert spoke of how horrible Earl Grey was to an actual tea purist.

So here's the thing -- tastes vary. One man's meat is another man's dairy, or something like that. What I like you might think is horrible. You'd be wrong, but we allow that. I'm not saying that my opinions are necessarily correct, but I could be saying that, and you'd be wrong if you disagree.

Superman, if I recall correctly, had X-Ray vision. That's a good kind of vision if you need to find your lost baseball which has been lodged in a small animal's rib cage, but not so useful if you want to imagine what a particular house will look like if you paint the walls a shade of blue right beyond robin's egg. Having the skill doesn't confer authority. In fact, right now, my foot hurts.

You weren't expecting that. Admit it. ADMIT IT! I knew it.

So I was wondering -- "wouldn't it be awesome if I had Superman around right now so he could take a look at my foot and tell me if I have the dreaded foot disease or just something more run of the mill, like a foot condition." Would I need a prescription? Is there a co-pay? Should I make my shoes tighter or (dare I say it) Luthor?

But here's the thing -- just because he can see into my foot (lucky him...I have extremely attractive foot bones) doesn't mean he knows what he is looking at. Consider that for a moment. He's Superman. He is a "super" man, but that doesn't mean he is an educated man. Is the ability to see through things a sign of being super? What we can do doesn't mean that we understand what we have done. Superman is no more than Victor Frankenstein with good hair even though I have no proof that Victor didn't have good hair. Celebrities, athletes and even politicians can read books and have opinions but that doesn't make them experts. 

So let's be careful what we ask for. If we hope Superman will show up he might only be able to fly fast and yet not know what is needed at any moment.