Hi everyone,
Both Christmas and Hanukka approach (they overlap this year) so there is a sense of expectency here, even though Hanukka is a much more low-key holiday than Christmas. Both serve similar purposes - we are weary of the cold and dark days and winter depression, and longing for light and cheerfulness. Sol invictus! the sun will return and the days start getting longer in another week. Meanwhile we light candles and prepare sweet and sugary treats for the holiday, whichever we celebrate. (I'll go to anybody's party; I do both.)
This is a time when I remember childhood Christmases with the decorated tree and the presents under it. The Everest Restaurant, near my village, is run by Catholic Arabs and they have a beautifully decorated tree in their main dining hall, anticipating holiday parties of local Christian Arabs. The owner, a friend, smiled when I came by and wandered over to the tree whimpering to myself.....I miss the tree and tinsel. I must stop by on Christmas Day and wish them a sweet holiday.
Speaking of childhood, a letter from my sister was a reminder that you really can't go home again. She had passed through the old neighborhood for the first time in many years, on her way to a sale at the department store where our mother had worked as a clerk for decades. The store itself was going out of business. Our high school had been torn down, although our sturdy 1920's era red brick elementary school was still standing. Our old home was standing too, although there had been a drug bust there and the garden was now gravel and dirt with a pickup parked on it. Sic transit gloria mundi - if you can say that about a slum.
I've lived in Jerusalem now longer than anywhere else I've lived in my life, so I guess now that the old childhood home is dust and drug busts, Al Quds is the only home I've got in this world. Could be worse, I guess - Jerusalem is one heck of a mailing address. Just seems odd to think this is home because I am so used to think of being temporary everywhere I've been. This looks permanent.
What else. The weather is cold but dry and clear, not unpleasant. Forget that story about shepherds keeping watch on the hills at night in December. Those shepherds are huddled up in huts drinking tea and the sheep are in shelters at night. It's highly unlikely that Jesus was born in December, but nobody in those days paid much attention to birth days and the real date is unknown. The autumn seems to fit the story better, but early Christians made a match between the winter solstace rebirth of the sun and the birth of the Son in early Christian centuries, so there it has stayed. From the practical and inspirational viewpoints, that makes good sense even though it's an historical myth.
Myth or not, I enjoy Christmas and all the associated traditions, so this Christmas eve I inivited a few friends, both Christian and Jewish, to my home for roast turkey. Christmas Day I will go to the Old City to hear the morning service in the German Lutheran Church, then go to the spa for the afternoon, and to my own congregation in the evening for the Hanukka party. That's Jerusalem, all right.
This is also the runup to our January international workshop at Ein Gedi, which I am organizing. Which means I'm doing everything from the agenda to the meal menus to organizing transportation to confirming registration to preparing my own lectures....What can I say; thank God I'm sober; this would be impossible otherwise. Among those coming to the workshop are my former director from the 1980's (my worst drinking days) who saw both my decline and recovery, and a Czech colleague with whom I spent a sabbatical in 1989, my worst period of alcoholism. I still remember sneaking into his house in the early morning to steal some beer because I had the shakes. It's memories like that which help keep me from drinking today.....and it will be a pleasure to welcome him to our conference as a sober, respected member of our scientific community. That is the greatest blessing I ever got.
shabbat shalom,
Linda
Both Christmas and Hanukka approach (they overlap this year) so there is a sense of expectency here, even though Hanukka is a much more low-key holiday than Christmas. Both serve similar purposes - we are weary of the cold and dark days and winter depression, and longing for light and cheerfulness. Sol invictus! the sun will return and the days start getting longer in another week. Meanwhile we light candles and prepare sweet and sugary treats for the holiday, whichever we celebrate. (I'll go to anybody's party; I do both.)
This is a time when I remember childhood Christmases with the decorated tree and the presents under it. The Everest Restaurant, near my village, is run by Catholic Arabs and they have a beautifully decorated tree in their main dining hall, anticipating holiday parties of local Christian Arabs. The owner, a friend, smiled when I came by and wandered over to the tree whimpering to myself.....I miss the tree and tinsel. I must stop by on Christmas Day and wish them a sweet holiday.
Speaking of childhood, a letter from my sister was a reminder that you really can't go home again. She had passed through the old neighborhood for the first time in many years, on her way to a sale at the department store where our mother had worked as a clerk for decades. The store itself was going out of business. Our high school had been torn down, although our sturdy 1920's era red brick elementary school was still standing. Our old home was standing too, although there had been a drug bust there and the garden was now gravel and dirt with a pickup parked on it. Sic transit gloria mundi - if you can say that about a slum.
I've lived in Jerusalem now longer than anywhere else I've lived in my life, so I guess now that the old childhood home is dust and drug busts, Al Quds is the only home I've got in this world. Could be worse, I guess - Jerusalem is one heck of a mailing address. Just seems odd to think this is home because I am so used to think of being temporary everywhere I've been. This looks permanent.
What else. The weather is cold but dry and clear, not unpleasant. Forget that story about shepherds keeping watch on the hills at night in December. Those shepherds are huddled up in huts drinking tea and the sheep are in shelters at night. It's highly unlikely that Jesus was born in December, but nobody in those days paid much attention to birth days and the real date is unknown. The autumn seems to fit the story better, but early Christians made a match between the winter solstace rebirth of the sun and the birth of the Son in early Christian centuries, so there it has stayed. From the practical and inspirational viewpoints, that makes good sense even though it's an historical myth.
Myth or not, I enjoy Christmas and all the associated traditions, so this Christmas eve I inivited a few friends, both Christian and Jewish, to my home for roast turkey. Christmas Day I will go to the Old City to hear the morning service in the German Lutheran Church, then go to the spa for the afternoon, and to my own congregation in the evening for the Hanukka party. That's Jerusalem, all right.
This is also the runup to our January international workshop at Ein Gedi, which I am organizing. Which means I'm doing everything from the agenda to the meal menus to organizing transportation to confirming registration to preparing my own lectures....What can I say; thank God I'm sober; this would be impossible otherwise. Among those coming to the workshop are my former director from the 1980's (my worst drinking days) who saw both my decline and recovery, and a Czech colleague with whom I spent a sabbatical in 1989, my worst period of alcoholism. I still remember sneaking into his house in the early morning to steal some beer because I had the shakes. It's memories like that which help keep me from drinking today.....and it will be a pleasure to welcome him to our conference as a sober, respected member of our scientific community. That is the greatest blessing I ever got.
shabbat shalom,
Linda
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http://shabbat-shalom-jerusalem.blogspot.com/
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