“The Day Of Atonement, it is for me…” Jakie Rabinowitz (Al Jolson), The Jazz Singer, Lux Radio Theater, June 2, 1947“Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the most sacred of the Jewish holidays. It is regarded as the "Sabbath of Sabbaths." By Yom Kippur the 40 days of repentance that begins with the first of Elul have passed. On Rosh Hashanah the God Almighty has judged most of mankind and has recorded his judgment in the Book of Life. But he has given a 10 day reprieve. On Yom Kippur these 10 days of reprieve ends and the Book of Life is closed and sealed. Those who have repented for their sins are granted a good and happy New Year…."
From the website www.theholidayspot.com/ yomkippur/
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement for Jewish people all over the world, me included and also the one day of the year that I reflect most often on the past 12 months, has begun. Primarily, it begins when the sun sets wherever the person lives and then, in accordance to Jewish law, we fast as a way of cleansing our souls.
Most people go to shul on Yom Kippur, but I won’t be, at least not this year, no I will be most likely spending the day reflecting and then later spending time at an undisclosed bridge-over-water location within the suburbs getting rid of all my negatives from this past year.
The only traditional ritual that I have been observing for years is what I’ve been doing most every night since Rosh Hashanah and that is of course listening to a CD copy of the Lux Radio Theater radio play version of the first talking picture entitled: The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, broadcast on June 2, 1947.
I haven’t always fasted; that’s pretty hard on the body and really like starving and I know for certain that if I don’t eat by a certain time that I will begin feeling it, first within my eyes and then everywhere else. This year however, I will continue to intake water, so I won’t dehydrate myself.
If there was ever a year to be full of negatives, this would be one of these years; mostly a lot of it came with change and the situations didn’t always work themselves out and if anything, they usually came to a head and the negatives did their best to hurt and destroy me, both physically and mentally, but I beat them back!
As I did on Rosh Hashanah, I’m going to list my negatives, as a way to flush them finally out of my head and into the virtual forever burning kashrut ocean of fire: Peggy Lowe; Sarah Armstrong; extra weight; Aandraya da Silva, Joe & Serena; Americredit; Capital One; Nazis; haters; Uncle Louie; Uncle Jesse; The Russian Hit-Squad; Angelina Ballerina; The Texas Gruesome Twosome Boys (AKA CrabApple & Puddle Paddle); Lester Nesmith; wisdom teeth; 18 dead mice; animal lovers; Raziel; Lonesome Larry, Nudnik Nancy; Charles Joseph; telemarketers; Jake Aronov; Lexie Bloor; Crazy Mary & her white service dog; Phil Zurawski; Wendy Ku and all the other hopeless and wasteful idiots that have crossed my path either in person or online, good riddance!!!
As I wrote last week: “I have taken all such negatives looked at them solidly and squarely in the face one final time, kissed them goodbye and have tossed them into a virtual slow-burning fire and will watch each and every one of those negatives burn into a fine powdery ash and evaporate into the atmosphere forever.”
As I stated earlier, tomorrow I will perform a symbolic gesture of their departure and then move ahead. Ha-shem would want me to. And frankly, so do I!
For those of you who are partaking in Yom Kippur tonight and all day tomorrow through sunset, I wish you all a safe and easy fast and once again, have a sweet, safe and prosperous New Year!
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