24 thoughts on “Yom Kippur, May You Be Sealed for Good – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. Richard,
    You always see the core issue… You are a blessing to all who can hear your voice. Don’t let people get you caught up in the details, you know what is important.

    I think here, in it is denial, and maybe we all can be reflective and introspective and see what we may deny within our own romantic view of our own dreams or reality…

    May the veil be lifted that we may see reality and share life and creativity with all, and not keep it to ourselves.

  2. I so agree. Happy Holiday Richard, to you and your family. I’ve been reading your site everyday for four years and you just keep getting better as a positive force. You are a blessing.

  3. lovely poem. I was struck by the following lines,
    “I explained to him in my heart about all the decades
    And the reasons and the events leading me to be here now” which suggests, at some level, the narrator’s sense of wrongdoing , of usurpation. Why else the need to explain, if only in the heart. It seems today most Israelis would never feel this, although their founding fathers were under no illusions about what they did.

    1. Yes, I agree. That was why I responded so warmly to the poem when I first read it. It was, at the time, a brave attempt to make known to the Other what he was feeling & why. Today, most Israelis would find this sentiment hopelessly naive no doubt because they are hardened beyond measure, much like Pharaoh’s heart in the Exodus story.

        1. You’d be surprised how much you’d know about a country if you studied it for 40 yrs, spoke & read its language, read its newspapers & books, lived there for a few yrs, etc. This isn’t 1870 you know. There are ways w. the internet of knowing just about everything you need to know about a country without living there.

        2. # Shin Gemel)
          We just have to see how you vote ’cause it is a democratic country, isn’t it ? In order to vote Bibi and Lieberman, you sure have to be sotf-hearted and peace-loving folks.

      1. You are much too harsh in your judgments, Richard. I think it was an attempt to make it known to the ordinary other, the Israeli Jew. Not so brave perhaps but sensitive and perceptive at the time, surely. Things happen in steps, not all in one go.

        The poem was read aloud in both Hebrew and Arabic in Sheikh Jarrah only a few nights ago at a slihot event there. The reader in Arabic was the head of one of the evicted families and the reading itself took place in the courtyard of another. Read about it here:
        http://www.en.justjlm.org/216

        1. That is very touching & heartening . If anyone captured this on video I’d love to have it for my blog. As I said, I feel ambivalent about the poem. I agree that it is deeply touching in one sense while it also betrays certain limitations that were perhaps understandable considering how little direct contact Israeli Jews & Palestinians would’ve had so soon after the 67 War ended.

          1. There is a video of the event embedded at the bottom of the poem by Rabbi Arik Ascherman, though the sound and light quality isn’t very good.

  4. richard,

    no need to add to the prohibitions of yom kippur…there is no prohibition against wearing a leather belt

    not eating or drinking

    no leather shoes

    no washing

    no annointing

    no engaging in marital relations

    all this is learned out of the pasuk in leviticus…thou shalt afflict oneself

      1. [after enduring yr snark for far too long I put you on notice that if you want another comment to see the light of day, you’ll cut out the snark. If not, you & yr comments will sit in the deep freeze.]

        1. call me snarky if you wish, but it is you who are giving out incorrect information regarding religious practices

          if you wish to create your own religion, that is fine

          you can join with the ranks of chasidim and others who think it is mutar to feed fishes on the second day of rosh hashana, or using a goldfish bowl to do tashlich

          facts are facts

          one is not prohibited from wearing leather, except on one’s feet and after the shofar blast, the congregation all states in unison…next year in jerusalem

          the fact that you left that part out brings up serious questions

          shoot…even your buddy jerry still says it…he has just expanded it to include the palestinians

          not sure why my snarky comments bother you…just call me names like you did in a previous post

          1. You don’t understand what “snark” is. Snark is not correcting an error. Snark is the witless attempts at humor at my expense. And if you don’t know to what specifically I refer any reader here can quote you chapter & verse. Don’t attempt to score pts at anyone else’s expense or engage in witticisms & you’ll have no problem here. You know as well as I that my shul & yours says L’shana Ha-baa B’Yerushalayim. Besides yr snark being a non sequitur, it was a stupid attempt at scoring pts. I have no problem with Jerusalem, being in Jerusalem or saying next yr in Jerusalem. YOu’re confusing me with an anti Zionist.

            I don’t mind being corrected if I make a mistake & many readers do this both friend & foe.

            I don’t want to call you names, but even more I want you to stop the snark. If you can’t (perhaps it’s an inherited condition you can’t control) you won’t be here much longer.

  5. You forgot to mention the Yom Kippur Israel bonds drive.

    At your synagogue? The synagogue you voluntarily pay dues to?

    If so that would be interesting.

    1. My synagogue doesn’t have an Israel Bonds drive. I’ve belonged to or attended 5-6 synagogues over the past 20 yrs & NONE have Israel Bond drives. You are so Old School! We raise money for our own shul at Yom Kippur services.

        1. Again, you too are bordering into the snark region, which is objectionable. I said that I had attended diff. synagogues over the course of several adult decades. I said nothing about being dissatisfied easily or changing synagogues. That was yr snarky interpolation. Most Jews don’t belong to any synagogue, I remind you.

  6. Thanks for pointing out the fallacy of liberal zionism. In essence, there is no difference between Amichai and Lieberman. That is why BDS is the only correct path

  7. Richard makes a brave post that clearly is wrestling with doubt about the lack of empathy even he felt in the past. The point is he is taking responsibility for the only thing under his control, his reactions, feelings and beliefs, no one elses. One has no real control over anything else. Throughout history it can be seen the more you fight someone the more they fight back, in other words, the more you fight yourself. The word naivety is thrown around casually when someone speaks of teaching by example following what they feel is right but true naivety is believing it can be done any other way.
    Instead of passively aggressively changing the subject the prior posters should at least be honest about their true feelings instead of hiding behind a veiled moral superiority owing to their piety.
    As far as where Richard lives it does not matter since he speaks about roadblocks that are universal among man in relation to those he feels are different than himself. It is always easier to stereotype “others” in a black/white framework while actively searching for their negative traits than it is to empathize with them and actively search for their positive traits.

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