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 have always puzzled me. They are grand, elaborate events that seem to stress everyone out more than they bring joy. I’ve attended fewer than a handful, but my one experience as a Maid of Honor was nothing short of a comedy of errors.

Marriage itself seems to be a bit of a mystery to many people today considering it occurs so infrequently. Despite the significance of weddings, they often seem to be more of an attempt to mirror medieval pageantry than to celebrate a relationship. Planning a big wedding is a nightmare, and let’s be honest, has anyone ever said, “I had so much fun at their wedding!”

In 1992, my college friend, Vicki Flowers, asked me to be her Maid of Honor. I was flattered, but little did I know the rollercoaster that awaited me.

During that same call, she told me “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!” I assumed the nervous bride had misspoken; surely she meant that she didn't have close friends locally.

The Friday evening before I was supposed to drive down to Monterey to help Vicki shop for bridesmaid dresses, a “little” disaster occurred, and I sadly called to cancel my trip. Vicki shopped with just her mother. She had promised that her bridesmaids wouldn’t wear silly costumes, but without supervision, she changed her mind. (Note: If you’re ever asked to be a bridesmaid, start saving immediately. Those dresses cost a fortune!)

I was looking forward to fulfilling the Maid of Honor’s most important job: throwing the bridal shower. However, Vicki told me that her future sister-in-law had taken charge of that. I didn’t receive an invitation and although Vicki didn’t know the precise address of the restaurant where it would be held, she assured me, “You can’t miss it.”

After a very long, early morning drive to Monterey, I could not find the restaurant. It wasn’t in the phone book, so I called her father. He didn’t know any more than I did. I drove around aimlessly for hours. Eventually, I gave up, took the gift to her father, and drove back home.

The wedding day finally arrived. There were tedious hours spent posing for pictures. The other guests clustered in their old high school cliques, while I smiled a lot and tried to start conversations with reluctant strangers. Vicki looked beautiful and seemed to be having a wonderful time until she noticed the hem of her dress had turned black from swishing across the dance floor.

After all the wedding, I never received a postcard from the Hawaiian honeymoon or a picture from the wedding. I assume her parents let her know that I called several times, but I never heard from her again. I wonder... Is she still married? After all that went into the wedding, she damn well better be!

Perhaps that is the true purpose of weddings: to get everyone so invested that they make the marriage succeed, no matter what.