INSIGHTS. IDEAS. INSPIRATION.
Whenever we can see the world through other eyes, we see something new. The more different those eyes are from our own, the more different our viewing experience will be. Maybe surprising, maybe confrontational, maybe something new. Our world is hurting, from sharp political divisions, disease and poverty, religious strife, conflict, a strained environment, looming resource scarcity and much more. If we can start looking at the world through each other's eyes, we may be able to develop the mutual understanding and discover the common ground we need to overcome these global problems. It's one world we share. It's one world we will pass on to the next generation. What kind of a world do you want it to be?
Come, don't be afraid, take a look thru other eyes.
A few photos as an impression of the road I am traveling. So if you want to have a glimpse of some parts and times of my life you are welcome to see what I have seen.
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the culmination of the ten Days of Awe that began with Rosh Hashanah begins Friday night. It is perhaps the holiday that attracts more Jews to the synagogue than any other occasion in the annual calendar. Although I was a frequent synagogue visitor throughout my youth and adolescent years and was even quite religious as a young adult, Yom Kippur represents now for me, as for many of my fellow Jews, my annual synagogue visit (unless I am lucky enough to be visiting my very dear religious friends in Toronto during a holiday or Shabbat weekend – but that’s a different story).
I am fortunate to be living in Amsterdam where I visit the Yom Kippur eve services at the famous Portuguese synagogue that was built in the 1670’s. ‘Portuguese’ Jews came to Amsterdam in large numbers from Portugal about 100 years after the Spanish inquisition and expulsion of the Spanish Jews largely to Portugal. They were actually of Spanish Jewish origin but since the Dutch Republic was at war with Spain at the time, they called themselves ‘Portuguese.’
In Jewish tradition, on Rosh Hashanah our fate for the coming year is provisionally written, penciled in if you will, in the Book of Life. It is on Yom Kippur, ten days later that our fate is sealed, written in indelible ink. With Yom Kippur only a few days away, it is “crunch time” as they say in American sports jargon. We’re getting down to the wire, we’re in the final stretch and we all of course want to come out smelling like roses come Yom Kippur.
In one of the holiday’s most important prayers, the Unetaneh Tokef, we recount how this process works, from provisional to final inscription in the ten Days of Awe. One of the central insights this prayer offers us is that our provisional fate can be altered by three types of sincere actions on our part: tshuva (repentance), tefillah (prayer) and tzedakah (charity).
The services during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur span many different
themes with of course a key focus on our deeds and how those deeds define our relationships with our fellow human beings. The Rosh Hashanah readings from the Torah and the Haftorahs share a common theme - our relationships with one very special class of human beings - children: the great blessing of having children and the greater commitment to their welfare that we must fulfill.
It is clear that if we fail to provide a safe, secure, supportive and nurturing environment and future for our children that we have failed our commitment to their welfare. And it is also clear that a state of constant war and strife is as far as we can get from giving our children what they deserve.
Decades of war have ruined the lives of generations of children in both Israel and Palestine. Far too many children on both sides of the divide are leading lives that we normally associate with third world countries.
What could be better during this season of heightened spirituality - the Jewish High Holy Days and Ramadan - than random acts of kindness. I encourage us all to each day look for an opportunity to practice a random act of kindness however small. It can be a smile for a stranger, stopping at that cross-walk to allow someone to cross the street, carrying the shopping bag of an elderly person, helping a woman with a baby stroller get into the bus or trolley, buying a cup of coffee for a homeless person, handing out single flowers to people you walk by. What random acts of kindness can you think of? The inspirational messages below, e-cards you can send, come from The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation.
As we Jews move from Rosh Hashanah towards Yom Kippur and as our Muslim cousins continue to celebrate the month long Ramadan festival, we are all focused on introspection about our deeds past and future. This is of course the ideal period of time to be especially thinking about our relations with our fellow human beings. Since inspiration can come from any source, I find these two pieces of graffiti art by Mike Mills - award winningfilm and music video director and graphic artist - to be especially meaningful in the context of our holidays.
Rosh Hashanah – the Jewish New Year – is a holiday of many themes. It
is primarily the celebratory gateway to the ten days of awe, that
period of solemn spiritual contemplation culminating in Yom Hakippurim,
the day in which each person is judged and his or her destiny is sealed
for the coming year. In this period we are encouraged to ask
forgiveness for our sins, be they sins we have committed against God or
have committed against other people. Throughout the liturgy what feels
like an endless list of transgressions covering almost every possible
human weakness big and small is repeatedly recited. It is a veritable
cascade of human failing that washes over us like a freezing mountain
waterfall, shocking and awakening every fiber of the body and soul.
In a mood of self-examination and deep contemplation
NOTE: The service that issues my email updates has apparently malfunctioned and issued an email as if this article was newly (re)published. My excuses for the inconvenience as I do not want you to feel that I am 'spamming' your email address with old articles. I have asked the supplier to look into this problem as it has occurred a few times in the past. Thank you for your understanding. Lennybruce
A few days ago in Haaretz's (Israeli newspaper) forum there was a lively discussion about Israel's consideration to make Gazans pay for Quassam rocket attacks on Israel by shutting off Gaza's water and electricity. I was one of a few readers who made some comments about the appropriateness and legality of collective punishment of civilians. I identified myself as an Israeli veteran living in Amsterdam. Several readers posted angry and insulting reactions to my comments claiming that I could be neither Jewish nor Israeli; that I was a fraud and liar if I could have such thoughts. I took the unusual step of posting my weblog's address where anyone could see that I indeed was Jewish and an Israeli veteran. Several people found their way here and one person left behind the following comment on one of my articles about my experiences in Lebanon:
Hi there, Came a cross of your post on Haaretz Talkback where you invited people to check if you were an Israeli. I took it as invitation and read your piece on Lebanon war. So what in your opinion should have been done differently? Do you think there should have been no invasion? All the thoughts that visited you and that you described (very well I should say) are not new. About stupidity and irrationality of war there are hundreds of books written for at least one century. I am sure you have read “Farewell to Arms”. There is another one that I like “THE GOOD SOLDIER SVEJK AND HIS FORTUNES IN THE WORLD WAR.” by Jaroslav Hasek. They both show the concept of stupidity and immorality of the war very well but they do not show the alternative. By the way what in your opinion should have been done last summer?
Ilya
This comment challenged me to write the following:
