"THE VERY SIMPLE THINGS OF LIFE"
I have this superstition, a rather enjoyable one, really. On Rosh HaShanah (Jewish New Year) and the New Year occurring on January 1st, I scrub my apartment to bits, tend to errands and the like (this year I had the added bonus of using all of my fancy new Method goodies. Remember, swap your toxic cleaning stuff in for their earth-friendly product equivalents at their temp-shop in Lincoln Park before October 12th as part of the Detox Your Home Chicago campaign. See this post for details.).
Anyway, I do this heavy cleaning and life once-over because I feel like the condition of my life as I step into a new year (either new year) sets the tone for the year ahead. So, I cleaned and cleaned and tidied up errands and checked off items from my mighty to do list and was ready to roll.
The Rosh service was lovely, my rabbi, hip guy that he is, said beautiful things about becoming the kind of person we dare to become, then I went to Leah's for her annual tea and challah mixer. A little boy did magic tricks for me, and I helped him give treats to Leah's cat, as he (the cat, not the boy) hid under her bed for fear of so many strange people. After, a small group of us went to late lunch at Indian Garden in the Devon Avenue area. We laughed and ate and had a lovely time and generally enjoyed one another's company and the spirit of the day.
Upon saying our goodbyes, maybe there was a tiny incident involving my car door and a speeding SUV. Maybe. Whatever. Everyone is insured and nobody was hurt. These things happen and aren't the end of the world. Mind you, it was a tense moment, or couple of moments, but once the other driver left, we, the remaining group, laughed our heads off at the complete you're-kidding-me-ness of the incident as we pantomimed various reactions we only wished we had involving responding to the other driver's anger with a shofar blast instead of words, and really, how could that not be funny?
"...because I feel like the condition of my life as I step into a new year (either new year) sets the tone for the year ahead..."
The four of us laughed a bit harder as I explained my superstition of the first day of a new year setting the tone for the year to come, and agreed we are in store for a year of laughing to make an enjoyable moment out of accidents that might otherwise foul something up, expecting the unexpected, and lovely adventures. L'chaim to that.
4 comments:
Most folks see Nissan (pesach) as the big cleaning time, but whatever gets you up for it!
Rosh Hashanna is really not the Jewish New Year, as far as the calendar goes - it's the 'Head' (Mochin) of the Year, imparting the universal mystical creative energy of the creation of the universe to the physical world. This new moon is a true day of Judgment for Nations - who will prosper, who will have war, etc. A very auspicious time for this financial moron created muck, where those who perpetuated it in any number of ways, will be judged.
Why yes, that's quite right. It is indeed the case that "rosh" is "head", head of the year.
I don't know that it's a superstition that the first day of the year sets the tone of the year to come. I once heard a rabbi talk about that idea. Maybe it's more like using the day to focus on the year you would like to have ideally. That sounds more enlightened, doesn't it?
Certainly, agreed.
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