From my 90 year old mom: SHANA TOVA Rosh Hashanah means many things to a few of us oldies. For me, at 90, memories and present day happenings collide in a big collage of crushing thoughts that are ever on my mind. Let me share a few of them before I wish you Shana Tova! The exciting series about the Roosevelts reminds me of how our family would sit around our rather tall radio and listen to FDR with excitement, approval and hope. The way he could spin so many thoughts and words into the Solnits thinking gave us a way to think about the world and feel that, maybe, the world was changing for the better. It was a time of deep, deep depression economically and in our hearts and minds. In Europe, Hitler was taking his ugly place in history and we also heard on the same tall radio, Father Coughlin and Jerald L K Smith telling us that Hitler was right. FDR made us think another better world was possible, never thinking or believing that he would turn away boats of Jews trying to escape the holocaust or that he would intern our Japanese neighbors. Around the dinner table my father and mother always had something interesting to say about what was happening in the world. At one dinner, I remember well, I was around 10 or 12, I made some sarcastic remark about the man who sat in front of the bank selling apples, thinking maybe I could do that and make some money. My father patiently explained that man could not find work and was selling apples to make a living for his family. He said,” Don’t make fun of people who are less well off than you. If it were not for luck, I could be that man”. Lesson learned! Rosh Hashanah meant other things to me. It was usually the hottest time of the year, and our little temple in Sierra Madre was not air conditioned. It was the beginning of the school year and a time that my mother would buy our winter clothing and I would dread having to wear my wool finery to go to temple…..everybody did it! I would try to escape in anyway I could. I think my father, an atheist, felt the same way. He would take off his talit and head for his car and the radio…and I would follow. One time in particular I remember listening with him to H.V. Kaltenborn describing Hitler’s take over of Sudetenland. It seemed to me that anytime there was a Jewish holiday, Hitler would move in a way that frightened me… and the world. Today, we are faced with many of the same, but also different problems: horrible income inequality, children throughout the world going to bed hungry, wars that are insane with seemingly no end and nasty, powerful people making policy decisions that will only benefit the wealthy of the world. There are islands of wonderful, dedicated people who need support, speak the truth (as I see it) and are fighting the good fight. It is to those brave and dedicated people to which I want to be associated in spirit, financially and with as much energy my body will permit. Shana Tova and may the new year bring peace, comfort and determination to those most in need!
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 20:21:54 +0000
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