Happy New Year

Happy Jewish Holidays to all !! :)

By the way, anyone care to try to deconstruct and reconstruct the significance of these holidays in ways which are significant to us today ?

I will give an example later, but if you have an idea, go for it !!
 
Wanted to offer a couple more thoughts:

I don't think you could effectively deconstruct and reconstruct the high holidays without addressing what's being communicated by the idea of kingship. If you consult Recon machzorim you'll find that they preserve the language of kingship on the high holidays. In Renewal circles as well it seems the tendency is to keep that language and, if anything, introduce queenship language, as it were. Along with verses to Avinu Malkeinu there are verses to Imenu Malkateinu, for example.

For me the language of kingship isn't an issue. But what if it were? The core idea being communicated seems to be answering to a higher authority. I want to take this to the ultimate extreme. Let's say that I reject such an authority outside of myself entirely and I reject further the idea of such an authority or even its metaphorical value. Let's say I reject all transcendent language entirely. But let's say that I'm not a complete reductionist and accept that there are various levels of consciousness, aspects of the psyche that are not reducible to the neurological mechanisms that accompany them.

Maybe then when speaking of authority what I could really be talking about is the yetzer tov when it's understood as my ability to transcend my base drives and behave in a more Godly manner, to align my actions with the ideal represented by "walking in His ways", as it were. It's the voice that tells me not to act on my impulses when they go against what I feel is right. To me, at that point, our hypothetical humanist has reclaimed the idea of an authority, only at this point the authority is that aspect of himself which transcends his drives and can redirect them as necessary. Reviewing his deeds, he is reviewing the degree to which he was able to listen to this authority, as it were. He recalls the times that he didn't heed that voice and commits to do better in the following year. He forgives himself for his missteps and others for theirs.

Howzat for deconstruction and reconstruction? At that point, if the individual is a part of a like-minded community, he and his fellows might wish to explore the liturgy and see how it too might be made more complementary to this altered perspective, or if perhaps the old language is complementary when understood in a different light.
 
Avi said:
Happy Jewish Holidays to all !! :)

By the way, anyone care to try to deconstruct and reconstruct the significance of these holidays in ways which are significant to us today ?
Click to expand...

I could from a Christian perspective... but alas.. wrong forum :)
Im especially excited about The Feast of Trumpets! Happy Holidays to everyone!
 
dauer said:
Howzat for deconstruction and reconstruction? At that point, if the individual is a part of a like-minded community, he and his fellows might wish to explore the liturgy and see how it too might be made more complementary to this altered perspective, or if perhaps the old language is complementary when understood in a different light.
Click to expand...

I don't think one could do much better for a High Holiday sermon. You might have to expand a little, but the core is there. :)
 
My own thinking about deconstruction reconstruction starts with one of the High Holiday Haftorah, the story of Jonah. I think this is Yom Kippur.

I am pretty sure most of you know the story. I think it is as famous a Christian story as a Jewish one. So I won't bore you with the whole story.

Let's start at the end. I have enjoyed this part for several years now.

From my JPS - Jonah 4.5 - 4.11

Now Jonah had left the city and found a place east of the city. He made a booth there and sat under it in the shade, until he should see what had happened to the city. The Lord G-d provided a ricinius plant, which grew up over Jonah, to provide shade for his head and save him from discomfort. Jonah was very happy about the plant. But the next day at dawn G-d provided a worm, which attacked the plant so that it whithered. And when the sun rose, G-d provided a sultry east wind; the sun beat down on Jonah's head, and he became faint. He begged for death, saying, "I would rather die than live". Then G-d said to Jonah, "Are you so deeply grieved about the plant" ? "Yes", he replied, "so deeply that I want to die". Then the Lord said:"You cared about the plant, which you did not work for and which you did not grow, which appeared overnight and perished overnight. And should not I care about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not yet know their right hand from their left, and many beasts as well."
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Next, some JPS commentary....
 
apparently it also coincides with this year's "international talk like a pirate day", so shanah tovarrrrr and don't forget to blow thy shofarrrr, d'ye see, damme for a lizard else.

b'shalom

bananabrain
 
Happy New Year!
49588
 
I'm not sure it's a word that could be directly translated. Chaver is friend.
 
Quote myself:
My own thinking about deconstruction reconstruction starts with one of the High Holiday Haftorah, the story of Jonah. I think this is Yom Kippur.
Click to expand...

The JPS commentary:

Jonah 4.1 - 4.11

...Jonah was upset that G-d relented from punishment only because those who were to be punished were not Israelites. A variant of this interpretation posits that the issue was not that they were not Israelites, per se, but that they were Ninevites, i.e. the same people who later oppress Israel with Judah........The problem with this approach is that Jonah never says that he wants the Ninevites destroyed because they are not Israelites. Furthermore, there is not even a hint of the tension between Israel and the nations in the book of Jonah.

Jonah 4.10

....G-d cared about the fate of G-d's creation, but Jonah did not really care about for the plant, but rather for himself, for the shade the plant provided him.

Jonah 4.11

Midrash Yonah adds the following: "At this moment he (Jonah) fell upon his face and said: Guide Your world by the attribute of mercy, as it is written: "To the Lord our G-d belong mercy and forgiveness...". The biblical book of Jonah, however, does not end with Jonah's acceptance of G-d's position. It rather leaves the question open, asking the reader to fill the gap. Some modern readers who imagine Jonah as a prophet who know too well what Assyria will do (later) to Israel think that Jonah remained unconvinced, and praise him for that, in the light of holocaust theology. Many other readers point out that the future actions of Assyria are not mentioned in the text at all, and are introduced into the text by the readers themselves.
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