Feasting on a fast day
Wednesday, November 24th, 2010 08:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lethargic_manMy work Christmas party (which is to say, mostly an all-afternoon lunch) is coming up. Last year, they got me Hermolis food, and I was able to participate fully. This year it's on a Friday afternoon, which means I'm not going to be able to stay past half two at the latest, but moreover it's on the Fast of Teiveis.
Now, until a few years ago, I did not observe any of the Jewish fasts other than Yom Kippur. I now observe the other major fast, Tisha BeAv, but not the minor fasts commemorating stages in the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadrezzar, leading to the destruction of the First Temple. When the Second Temple was built, these fasts became optional, but when the Second Temple was in turn destroyed, they became obligatory again. When I studied at the Conservative Yeshiva three years ago, I learned that Conservative Judaism, holding the State of Israel to be רֵאשִׁית צְמִיחַת גְאוּלָתֵינוּ, the beginning of the flourishing of our redemption, had ruled they could be held optional again, and I gratefully accepted this theological device to get me out from having to fast.*
* Yes, the State of Israel is an extremely flawed vehicle of redemption, but its existence still counts for something, and I see no reason why it could not go from where it is now to where people like me would like it to be, albeit that that's unlikely to happen in the medium-term future. We've waited millennia to get this far, we can, if necessary, wait (with tears rolling down our faces) a few more centuries to turn the State of Israel into something we can be wholeheartedly proud of.
Anyhow, the question still remains whether I should be feasting on a day on which bad things happened in our history, even if I am not fasting on it. On the other hand, bad things probably happened to the Jews every single day of the calendar, and, really, the prominent points in the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem only gained the halachic commemoration they have due to being recorded in the Tenach. It's been my attitude for a long time that Judaism is too focused on the bad things in our past: there's a crop of minor fasts, and the Three Weeks of semi-mourning culminating in Tisha BeAv, and weeks of semi-mourning during the Omer, and now Yom HaShoa and Yom HaZikaron too. Yes, bad things happened in our past, but once the people who are scarred by them, directly or indirectly, have passed on, it's time to get over them. I'm not saying don't commemorate the bad things in our past, but I really don't think we need more than one day to do it (plus maybe Yom HaShoa, as the Holocaust is too recent a scar to be merged into Tisha BeAv yet).
So I have some soul-searching to be done, in order to decide whether to join in the Christmas lunch with a large meal (probably not too large as one shouldn't fill oneself up soon before Shabbos), a small one with no wine, or whether indeed to observe the fast day after all.
Now, until a few years ago, I did not observe any of the Jewish fasts other than Yom Kippur. I now observe the other major fast, Tisha BeAv, but not the minor fasts commemorating stages in the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadrezzar, leading to the destruction of the First Temple. When the Second Temple was built, these fasts became optional, but when the Second Temple was in turn destroyed, they became obligatory again. When I studied at the Conservative Yeshiva three years ago, I learned that Conservative Judaism, holding the State of Israel to be רֵאשִׁית צְמִיחַת גְאוּלָתֵינוּ, the beginning of the flourishing of our redemption, had ruled they could be held optional again, and I gratefully accepted this theological device to get me out from having to fast.*
* Yes, the State of Israel is an extremely flawed vehicle of redemption, but its existence still counts for something, and I see no reason why it could not go from where it is now to where people like me would like it to be, albeit that that's unlikely to happen in the medium-term future. We've waited millennia to get this far, we can, if necessary, wait (with tears rolling down our faces) a few more centuries to turn the State of Israel into something we can be wholeheartedly proud of.
Anyhow, the question still remains whether I should be feasting on a day on which bad things happened in our history, even if I am not fasting on it. On the other hand, bad things probably happened to the Jews every single day of the calendar, and, really, the prominent points in the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem only gained the halachic commemoration they have due to being recorded in the Tenach. It's been my attitude for a long time that Judaism is too focused on the bad things in our past: there's a crop of minor fasts, and the Three Weeks of semi-mourning culminating in Tisha BeAv, and weeks of semi-mourning during the Omer, and now Yom HaShoa and Yom HaZikaron too. Yes, bad things happened in our past, but once the people who are scarred by them, directly or indirectly, have passed on, it's time to get over them. I'm not saying don't commemorate the bad things in our past, but I really don't think we need more than one day to do it (plus maybe Yom HaShoa, as the Holocaust is too recent a scar to be merged into Tisha BeAv yet).
So I have some soul-searching to be done, in order to decide whether to join in the Christmas lunch with a large meal (probably not too large as one shouldn't fill oneself up soon before Shabbos), a small one with no wine, or whether indeed to observe the fast day after all.
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no subject
Date: 2010-11-24 11:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-28 05:23 pm (UTC)I thought you don't pay attention to Christian Holidays. "Wrong religion, Gromit!"
no subject
Date: 2010-11-28 05:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-29 08:48 pm (UTC)I always try to explain that I have nothing to do with Christmas. People just think I don't care but not that I have a different religion. After a 100 of times they get it.
I still don't get any notice via email when you post something or anyone replies to me on LJ. I used to get it all the time. My post box used to full of those.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-29 09:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-30 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-30 05:50 pm (UTC)sleevehead.no subject
Date: 2010-11-30 05:44 pm (UTC)