This is the final day of the HHD series, 2005. I really can't say that I fasted, as per the custom for Yom Kippur (however, my appetite was noticeably small today...I had only a salad for lunch, and shaved ice for dinner), nor did I refrain from work (although I *did* wait until after midnight to begin this post). All in all, you can see that I did not do very well in observing the traditions and practices of Yom Kippur, but as a non-practicing, non-Jew, I don't think very much should have been expected of me.
I had all sorts of fun ideas about this post, including: (a) recounting a hilarious anecdote from Sandra Tsing Loh about the noticeable absence of Jews in New York in You've Got Mail; (b) interviewing a Jewish friend and asking her "What does it mean to you to be a Jew?"; (c) trying some "Jewish experience" with Pam and blogging about it. The latter two struck me as too close to exploitation, and the former as some sort of copyright infringement.
So instead, I will end the High Holy Days on the theme of non-practicing Jews. One of my friends at UCLA, whose name I will not reveal lest his parents find out that he is a pork-eater (but Jeff, you know who you are!), loves bacon and pepperoni. The manner in which Jeff has intimated his partaking in this guilty pleasure betrays his shame. I think our unwillingness to avoid sin (or perceived sin) corroborates man's sinful nature. Why would we do something if we really thought it wrong?
When I tempted near UCLA (not the most pleasant or rewarding occupational experience), I had a Jewess co-worker named Sarah*, with whom I regularly ate lunch. During our second lunch together at the cafeteria, Sarah ate a ham and cheese sandwich. I was mortified on her behalf! She was concomitantly breaking two rules about kosher dining! It was all I could do to prevent myself from snatching the contraband article away from her, giving her the "meat doesn't mix with dairy products" spiel, and suggesting the roast beef with a nice kosher pickle.
Surprising Jew & Jewess of the Day: Geraldo Rivera & Monica Lewinsky (what a strange, but not inappropriate coupling)
Not-so-Surprising Jew & Jewess of the Day: Bernard Sachs (tay-sachs disease neurologist) & Natalie Portman
*One might be tempted to conclude that Sarah has no real connection to her Jewishness based on her meal selection. A fierce debate broke out, however, when another coworker downplayed the Holocaust. Sarah also loves Curb your Enthusiasm because of what she termed it's "Jewish humor". She would recite (nearly verbatim) (to my dismay) the show's dialogue after each new episode aired.
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3 comments:
"Why would we do something if we really thought it wrong?"
Food for thought: Maybe it isn't intrinsically wrong, and sin is a human construct.
1)
Why does it matter what they do in regards to eating pork and mixing meat and dairy if they are non-practicing Jews?
2)
Do you think being Jewish is a religious and/or ethnic delineation?
3)
I am of the school that there are certain things that are intrinsically wrong.
I don't think eating pork is one of them.
But the issue of sin deserves something more than being relegated to a comment posted at the end of JT's HHD series.
4)
P.S. JT, you mentioned "tempted" which is "tempted: to entice to do wrong by promise of pleasure or gain". Is that correct? Cuz now the sentence doesn't make sense. OR do you mean "temped"?
1. I suppose it does not matter that Sarah and David (even with the Jewish names!) chow down on ham hocks and wash it down with a glass of milk. Still, the sight of a ham-and-cheese-eating Jew is somehow unsettling.
2. Many Jews I have spoken to think of being Jewish as three-pronged: religious, ethnic and cultural. I have seen people who I would easily identify as belonging to one or two of these categories but not the other(s), so I think all three aspects can exist independently.
3. I think spending 10 minutes or more with children between the ages of 3-15 should thoroughly convince people of sin. Kids LOVE to do things from which they're told to abstain. While they would otherwise be uninterested in such activities, they seem utterly unable to resist once the prohibition is put in place.
4. At 1 in the morning when I finished the blog, my half-crazed mind could have meant "temp" or "tempt". In retrospect, I probably intended the former, but I'm sure my rockin' bod and irresistible face were doing plenty of the latter as well.
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