Connection to the Land

I find myself saying that I belong *to* the Land, but I don't know what I mean. The preposition ‘to’ implies that the Land owns me...

In one of her posts on Sense of Place, Sterling also says that she belongs ‘to’ the Land. She suggests that she was brainwashed by Jewish day schools. I didn’t attend Jewish day schools. So what is the source of the connection I feel?

The absolute least likely reason is reincarnation, but I do have a strange story to tell.

Years ago, a friend and I decided to see a hypnotherapist for past life regressions. She was a believer; I was agnostic about reincarnation, but wondered what story I might tell.

The therapist struggled to get me to remember something. She kept taking me further down in her metaphoric elevator. Finally we found something.

Scene One: I was a man, a math teacher, in a small town in 1930s Germany. The boys I was teaching wore lederhosen. I was afraid of them-- one in particular-- because they all knew I was Jewish.

Scene Two: I lived in a single room in a brick building. My landlady cooked one meal a day for me. Sometimes, when sitting by my window, I’d see her hanging clothes out to dry.

Scene Three: I was wearing a grey coat and walking down an empty gray street in a city. (My body, the one in the therapist’s chair, felt huge, as if it had been inflated.)

Scene Four: I was lying on the deck of a large ship, very sick. It was daytime and a man was leaning over me. Someone shouted that he could see Palestine and men rushed to the side of the boat. I tried to sit up, but couldn't. I died a moment later, without even catching a glimpse of the Land.

After the hypnotherapist woke me, I thought, “It didn’t feel true.” And certainly, looking at the details, it couldn’t have been.

Did boys still wear lederhosen in the twentieth century? Would a Jew have walked down a German street during the World War II? Could a ship of refugees have approached the Land during daylight when the British had set up a blockade to prevent Holocaust survivors from reaching Palestine?

I couldn’t find any connection between my subconscious and the story I had told. (Of course, the nature of the subconscious is that you can’t really know it.)

Whatever the source of that story, it evokes strong feelings in me now.

Immaculate Conception and Anti-Semitism

It seems that many people, even some scholars, do not know what the term "Immaculate Conception" means. It does not refer to Mary's supposed virginity.

You may think this is an odd pet peeve for a Jew to have, but stay with me.

The Christian belief that Mary was still a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus is called virgin birth.  Immaculate conception is an entirely different concept, one that is a necessary result of another Christian belief: original sin.

Early Christian theologians invented the doctrine of Original Sin and based it on a Jewish story to explain why it was necessary to worship Jesus rather than practice Judaism, a temptation apparently still faced by some Christians in the early Church. The doctrine asserted that, before Jesus, no one was "saved."

Christians invented the idea that the disobedience of Adam and Eve had caused all successive generations to be born with an ailment called Original Sin. They claimed that worshiping Jesus was necessary for one to be worthy of heaven. According to them, the Hebrew prophets, patriarchs, and matriarchs were dwelling in hell. Only people living after Jesus could have this original sin washed away. It required baptism... by a Christian priest, of course.

This new idea, Original Sin, created a problem in the minds of some Christians. Since Mary must necessarily have been infected with Original Sin, how could she have given birth to the son of god?

Christian theologians solved this problem with another new idea called Immaculate Conception. When Mary was conceived, god made sure she didn't catch the disease from her parents. Why god couldn't have done this for all people remains unexplained.

All these ideas were sufficiently convoluted to prevent most theologians from asserting their absolute truth. It wasn't until the middle of the nineteenth century, when the near-divinity of Mary was widely accepted by Catholics, that a papal bull commanded "all the faithful" to believe that Mary was conceived "without the stain of Original Sin."

So, the term Immaculate Conception does not refer Mary's chastity. It is the end result of one more idea that was invented to invalidate Judaism.

_______

As an aside, I must admit that I rather like statues of Mary and appreciate the inclusion of feminine imagery in religion.

So for a more complete and more sympathetic explanation of the concepts of "virgin birth" and "immaculate conception," as well as an appreciation of the divine feminine in Christianity, I'd like to point you to this article.

Person of the Year

Mr. Snowden, you are my person of the year. Thank you for sacrificing so much for the sake of freedom. May your courage always bring you the best of everything. 

 

Yasher koach, may your strength be straightened.

nedjeljnikomentar.files.wordpress.com

Why People Have Weddings

Weddings puzzle me. They are a nightmare to plan, they’re completely unnecessary, the rules and requirements are medieval, and no one enjoys them. (Seriously, have you ever heard anyone say, "I had so much fun at their wedding!")

If a friend wants to have a wedding, of course I'll help her out. I’ll order the flowers, pick up the cake, and keep track of the gifts-- whatever she needs. But I will NOT be a bridesmaid.

I feel 1992 as if it happened yesterday. (Actually, I feel it even more than I did then.)

I was honored when Vicky Flowers asked me to be her Maid of Honor. After I agreed, she said, “We didn’t know who to ask to be Best Man and Maid of Honor. We just realized that we don’t have any friends!”

She must have misspoken.

The weekend I was supposed to drive to Monterey to help her shop for bridesmaid dresses, I came down with a terrible cold. This taught me an important lesson: Never let a young woman enter a bridal shop without supervision. 
Vicky had said that she didn’t want her bridesmaids to wear silly costumes, but alone with a salesperson, she changed her mind. (Here's some advice: if you're ever asked to be a bridesmaid, start saving immediately. You won't believe the cost of that dress.)

I was looking forward to fulfilling the Maid of Honor’s most important job, throwing the bridal shower. (There are books on this subject, if you ever need guidance.) When I brought it up, she said her future sister-in-law had asked to do it. That was disappointing.

Not getting an invitation to the bridal shower was more disappointing. I had to call Vicky and ask for directions.

After a very long, early morning drive to Monterey, I couldn't find the restaurant where the bridal shower was to take place. It wasn’t in the phone book, so I called her father. He didn’t know any more than I did. 
I drove around some more.

A couple hours after the party was scheduled to begin, all I could do was go to her home, give the shower gift to her father, and drive back to the Bay Area.

The wedding day rolled around. There was much posing for pictures. (Boring! Don't do this at your wedding.) The other guests clustered in their old high school cliques. I smiled a lot. Later, the best man took me out on the floor for the first dance. For the rest of the afternoon, I smiled a lot and tried to start conversations with strangers.

Vicky looked beautiful and seemed to be having a wonderful time. She was upset when she noticed that the hem of her white dress had turned black from swishing across the dance floor so much.

Then there was another drive back to the Bay Area where I waited for a post card from their Hawaiian honeymoon or a wedding picture. I assume her parents let her know that I called a several times.

Do you think she is still married? After all that went into the wedding, she damn well better be! 


Perhaps that is the purpose of weddings:

to get everyone invested in making the marriage succeed.