I am forever intrigued by the unusual customs of other faiths. The customs they observe I watch with a dispassionate and analytical eye. It is easy to understand the meaning of what other religions do when watched from the outside. What I want to present here are some of the unusual practices of our faith that may be less understood or not usually viewed as an outsider.
Did you know that on the lunar calendar, a day called the Ninth of Av, we read the book of Lamentations while sitting on the floor of the synagogue? Lights are dimmed and candles are lit as a dirge-like text and melody is intoned. This day commemorates the fall of both Temples as well as countless of the tragedies. It is a mournful night that travels into the next day when observant Jews fast and weep for destructions that tore us away from the sacred Temples in Jerusalem. The Ninth of Av is a bleak day, observed annually, for the Jewish people.
On the festival of Shavuot we stay up all night poring over ancient texts from our past. Traditionally speaking, this is the evening and the anniversary when the Torah was given at Mount Sinai. To connect with the divine forces at work in the universe, we stay up late as we examine the Holy Writ from many angles in the hope that we will catch glimpse of God. Here is the underlying idea: time is sacred. When we channel into this stream or shaft of holiness we can witness what the Israelites all saw three and one half thousand years ago.
Hoshanah Rabba, the last day of the festival of Sukkot, it is celebrated by making seven processions around the sanctuary. Carrying the etrog and lulav, singing songs of hope for blessings, we invoke the Holy One’s name. In addition, legend has it that while God writes our names in the Great Book on Rosh Hashanah seals our names on Yom Kippur, that book is finally closed on this day. In one last effort to discard old patterns of behavior, he penitents beat willow branches on the ground during services until all the leaves have been flayed away.
On the holiday of Simhat Torah every Jew is granted the opportunity of being called to the Torah, and blessing God. We do not conclude the service until all have been called.
Leading up to the High Holy Days -- on the Saturday night preceding Rosh Hashanah – we gather at shul at midnight for an extraordinary service. Called Selihot, we gather in the dimness of the lights of our sanctuary to offer up what will be the first of our inward cries for personal reform. From this day on we read special penitential prayers every day. It addition, the shofar is sounded every morning of the month leading up to the New Year, Rosh Hashanah. It beckons our soul to wake.
On Purim, we navigate the story of Esther. We dress up, allow ourselves to be filled with mirth and near unharnessed levity. We drink, many to the point of intoxication, dress in all kinds of unsuitable clothing (it is, by the way, the one time when Jews are even allowed to cross dress, something explicitly forbidden in the Torah), make jokes, enjoy the company of friends and generally have a rollicking good time.
On Passover, Jews are commanded to finish the seder before midnight. That, you remember is when the Malekh ha-Mavet, the Angel of Death, swept through Egypt. Still, many Jewish folks consider it a great mitzvah to stay awake throughout the long night in a vigil, reading and discussing as an act of remembrance of that sleepless night long, long ago.
One holiday, Tu B’Shvat comes at the first rousing of spring (in Israel). The most exotic fruits are gathered so that we can taste and appreciate the bounty of God’s gifts. We go to the market and buy what we have not tasted in a very long time, or ever. That enables us to bless ourselves with a sacred, yet familiar prayer , of life, the Shechechiyanu.
As Ecclesiastes writes, “There is a time for all things under the sun.” Perhaps it is time for another look at your heritage.
Comments