July 28, 2014 1 Av 5774 Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av Blog This war feels different. It may have a conclusion; it may become possible to point to events as having occurred after or before this war, something untrue of the two or three wars that preceded it. That is, it may join the tiny number of wars in which a guerilla insurgency was defeated. The key to victory, if so, was enabling Hamas to become more than a guerilla insurgency, permitting it a territory and a population that could be attacked. After the war (wonderful phrase) we must make sure Gaza receives all it could have dreamed of winning in war except for the military ability to attack Israel. I realize that means Gaza cedes some pride, that pride which comes from the ability, sometimes worthwhile, to frighten your neighbors. But there are great rewards, like getting to see your children grow up. Because my right leg has chosen today to remind me how much pain it can inflict (I’m tempted to rename my leg “Hamas” but that would, the second time I said it, sound silly) I have cancelled Victor, postponed him until tomorrow. Our student and her children have departed, and Susann and I are left alone for the first time in weeks. It is not a bad feeling, and we’ll probably have company by Shabbat. It is the first day of the Hebrew month of Av, and this initiates a nine day period of mourning for the Temples, destroyed on the ninth of Av. During these nine days, among other signs of mourning, we do not drink wine or eat meat. I cannot drink wine in any case because of pills I take that come with a warning that if I guzzle booze with them I’ll die. (The Internet reassures that I’ll probably just get very sick and hurt all over.) And we don’t eat that much meat anyway. The ninth of Av is a strict fast, but not quite as strict as Yom Kippur because it was instituted by the Rabbis rather than by God. The penalties for violating it are therefore social rather than divine. I’ll probably write more on this later. I promised to write about a fast I did not keep on the 17th of Tamuz. Many of my students have heard this before, but: I had informed, about a month earlier, CSC (Computer Science Corporation), my employer, that I was resigning to go teach in a Hebrew Day School. CSC had been altogether understanding and helpful to me in all relating to Judaism (and all else, they are good people). I took off for Jewish holidays with full pay and no loss of vacation time; I left work early on Friday afternoons in winter; I wore a yarmulke altogether unselfconsciously. On the 17th of Tamuz, I showed up for work as usual and, at about 12:30, was called into the conference room. I expected a warm farewell. My work had been successful, I’d made friends. What I found was an enormous spread of kosher cold cuts, salads, beers and in general hundreds of dollars of good stuff, to which had been invited the entire staff. They did everything but sing Hava Negilla. They gave me presents and assured me I could always return (and a few times I was tempted) and made speeches. My boss, Irish, compared his country’s struggles to Israel’s. And so on. I had to choose to inform them it was a fast day (the other two Jews present did not know) or to join in the festivities. I was amused that the deli owner, who did know that it was a fast day, did not inform the CSC people. I decided that the insult to good people who had prepared all this would be worse than the insult to the rabbis, none of whom was present, and I ate and drank.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 08:08:18 +0000
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