L'shanah tovah tikatevi v'taihatem!
Happy New Year, folks!
Sure, I'm a pagan...but by blood, and occasional heart-warmth I'm a Jew...and it's New Year's again!
I took a walk earlier to do my Tashlikh ( or "casting off"). I took the metro home after work and detoured a bit to find some flowing water...harder than I'd expected. During lunch I had written down all the "sins," rotten things, unpleasantness that I'd said, done, or been involved with over the past year on small pieces of paper, one per scrap. When I got to the water I threw them in one, or a few, at a time...thinking about each and focussing on casting them away. In previous years I'd used small pieces of bread, as this is the tradition at my mom's temple...but I felt it was more important to be accurate than simply symbolic. This practice is not discussed in the Torah, but it is a long-standing custom, and one I like.
The issue I face now, though, is that of atonement...of Yom Kippur, which comes in but 9 days. Yom Kippur will atone for wrongs between me and my gods...but wrongs between myself and another person? Aah, that I must do myself...and ask for (and pray for) forgiveness and reconciliation with them before Yom Kippur ends.
So, I'm asking you, please, if I've wronged you this past year...tell me about it. I want to know. I want to talk to you. I want to beg your forgiveness, and most of all I want to continue to grow and change and become someone you will forgive, love, and accept.
Sure, I'm a pagan...but by blood, and occasional heart-warmth I'm a Jew...and it's New Year's again!
I took a walk earlier to do my Tashlikh ( or "casting off"). I took the metro home after work and detoured a bit to find some flowing water...harder than I'd expected. During lunch I had written down all the "sins," rotten things, unpleasantness that I'd said, done, or been involved with over the past year on small pieces of paper, one per scrap. When I got to the water I threw them in one, or a few, at a time...thinking about each and focussing on casting them away. In previous years I'd used small pieces of bread, as this is the tradition at my mom's temple...but I felt it was more important to be accurate than simply symbolic. This practice is not discussed in the Torah, but it is a long-standing custom, and one I like.
The issue I face now, though, is that of atonement...of Yom Kippur, which comes in but 9 days. Yom Kippur will atone for wrongs between me and my gods...but wrongs between myself and another person? Aah, that I must do myself...and ask for (and pray for) forgiveness and reconciliation with them before Yom Kippur ends.
So, I'm asking you, please, if I've wronged you this past year...tell me about it. I want to know. I want to talk to you. I want to beg your forgiveness, and most of all I want to continue to grow and change and become someone you will forgive, love, and accept.