Thursday, October 9, 2008

The Book of Life

Do you know what that is? I had never heard of it before. Last night we had the dinner for the night before Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday. Our friends came over, another excuse to hang out. No school today, the kids can still run around outside and play. Fun. Although, apparently Yom Kippur is a more "somber" holiday. I found this out because on FB Lisa wrote, "Lisa is.... going over to enjoy a somber dinner for Yom Kippur at Amy's house." "Holla."
So, coming back to what is Yom Kippur? We had this discussion at the dinner table. Dave (Lisa's husband) said it was the Jewish day version of confession. Hmmm.. "Who do you confess to?" I asked. "The guy at church?" Dave shakes his head, "No, not the guy at synagogue, you just confess to yourself." Well, Lisa was right, that is a bummer of a day. And there is a special day for that? Everyday is my Yom Kippur. So, that doesn't make any sense to me. I've never heard that before. Let's try again.
Lisa says, "It's the day your name goes in the book of Life for the year." This sounds better. Little Tommy, who is seven and Catholic got a little worried, "My name doesn't get to go in?" "No, your name is in another book," Christina tells him. "Hey, can you put all our names in your book of Life Lis, just to be on the safe side?" we ask. No sense in chancing it.
Then it's Chase's turn. My sweet little boy who is such an old soul. He is raising his hand. "I know what it is." he can't talk quick enough. "It's the day you don't eat anything so you can remember the people you have loved that have died." Seriously, love him. Now that makes the most sense to me, so that's the one I'm going with. I will fast, even if I'm not technically any religion. I think Jewish holidays are the best, so filled with meaning and tradition. How wonderful to have a day that you consciously just take the time to remember those you have loved that have passed away. Thanks Chay, you explained it the best.

Peace.

13 comments:

Lula! said...

Again, I know nothing about Jewish holidays. 'Cept what I learned when Charlotte converted for Harry on Sex and the City. "Shalom!"

Chase is precious...he is, indeed, and old soul.

Anonymous said...

I agree--I think the Jewish religion has very beautiful, meaningful traditions. I would add too that according to Kabbalah, today is a day of tremendous Light (positive energy/energy of the Creator) and all of your darkness (sins/mistakes whatever you want to call them)can be 'washed away' so to speak.

Have a happy day! :)

MarkNYC said...

I think it should be the day you thank every god that ever existed that your parachute opened and your body isn't splattered all over some field. Yes, I am back to the previous post. I woke up this morning, located my balls, and decided that I am going to hurl myself out of a plane. I'm requesting a really cute tandem jumper so that if my chute doesn't open, at least my final moments won't be spent in vain. As for Yom Kippur, I think I'll use it to pray to every god that ever existed that I have as much fun as you did and land just as safely.

Amy said...

Lula, I learned stuff from Charlotte too!! And thank you for saying that about Chase. He's a sweetheart.

Christy, I love your explanation too, I am going to copy and post that to the end of the post for anyone who doesn't read the comments.

Mark- YAY! Whoopee!! Guess what? Meredith is doing it too. She's jumping this Sunday. She couldn't find anyone to go with her. Do you think we should find a cheap flight to Miami and you guys can do it together. You know I'm 80% serious. You will love it!!!!

MarkNYC said...

Way to go, Meredith, but going alone? Man, that's brave. I'd love to enlist one of our brothers, but I can't see Scott taking any major chances (although he's willing to risk having McCain/Palin run our country for the next 4 years, so who knows), but Chris may be game. I'm thinking about convincing Jared to go and then rigging his chute. (Did I really write that?) Maybe I'll take Mickey and just paint "Jared" on his fur, taking care of two problems for the price of one. Maybe Mickey could cushion my landing. Who knows? Maybe that dog does have a purpose in life, after all. I learned that Jim O'Brien died on his 841st jump after getting entangled with another jumper. 1 out of 841 goes wrong... odds I'm willing to take, particularly if it means not having you hold it over my head for the rest of my life. You can have all of my music if I don't make it. Sorry, it's the best I can offer since I don't have kids, and since you probably don't want the photo collection you looked at during your last visit.

MarkNYC said...

Amy, I sent Jared a link to your video on youtube, as well as a link to skydivetheranch.com, and asked him when he wanted to go. His response...

"I knew it was Amy right away.. Of course, there was always the girl yelling "Hey Amy"... I think that would be tons of fun. I'm not sure I trust doing it with you. I will have to monitor your bank account activity for a month before hand to make sure I ddon't see any large withdrawals. You'll pay the person on my tandom jump to disconnect."

Guess he knows me better than I imagined.

Amy said...

Mark, Your ability so segue from Yom Kippur to Sky diving to slanderous comments about not only Scott but Sarah Palin too, straight into porn and then murder somehow just delights me. But we all know I'm crazy. LYTB

Anonymous said...

Amy, you know I'd never leave you but..... I may have to "cheat" with your brother Mark when he starts his blog. Love his....... train of thought. Totally get it.

Amy said...

Kathy, I love that you get it. For real real.

Anonymous said...

That was a great answer! Chase is so smart. I love him!

Anonymous said...

I read Marc's comment. He's funny! I'm sorry, but Matilda is on and distractiong me. I really like this show. Have you seen it? So I may be back and write something a wee bit better when I'm paying attention more. I really do love what Chase said. Dave and Lisa have no idea what they're talking about, do they? I'm just sayin... Nothing negative, cause juno I walk around 24/7 having no idea what the hell's going on. Or, even what my name is for that matter. More power to you. They're celebrating having no idea what for. I love to celebrate for no reason. Holla!

MarkNYC said...

kathy s. I'd love to have you as my blog reader, but I'm afraid my ability to write anything remotely entertaining is directly related to something written by Amy. She's funny all on her own, but it's our special bond that brings out the crazy in me, at least when it comes to blogging. She and I have batted around the idea of writing a book together and possibly developing a stage show to talk about all of our crazy antics, but now that she's found this forum, I think that idea has been shelved. Anyway, I appreciate your shout out to me, and if I do start a blog, I'll make sure you are among the first to know about it. Mark

Lisa Samuel said...

Loved all the explanations and the wonderful dinner that amy slaved over all day! Seriously, you outdid yourself with the baked goods! We turned sober in to Holla! I like it that way--