Magic Jewball

Hey, it’s almost Yom Kippur, every Jew’s favorite holiday! Well, no, not really, but it is mine. Seriously. It’s not that I enjoy sitting in synagogue all day and fasting for 24 hours any more than your average person with brain function, it’s just that I appreciate the second chance. Which brings me to my favorite analogy, How Yom Kippur Is Like Tennis.

How Yom Kippur Is Like Tennis
It’s not just the fact that wearing white is traditional (you can thank Brother2 for that joke, he shouted it out while I was making this analogy in front of 30 relatives). You see, I always wonder when I’m watching a match where the first set is 6-0 and the second one is 7-6, WTF? It seems to happen all the time and I mean, did you just forget how to play tennis and it suddenly came back to you when the second set started? But I realized it was just the structure of a tennis match which, although cumulative in its scoring, separates things into games and sets. So when each set is over, you get to start the new one unencumbered by what happened before. Sure you’re at a disadvantage if you tank the first set, but you get the next one to start over and hopefully turn the match around.

This is kind of like Yom Kippur. Your life is separated into years. No, you can’t change what came before, but you get this fantastic chance to put it all behind you and start off at 0-0 on Yom Kippur. So I try to make the most of that and get myself all clean, spiritually speaking. Then I can proceed to tank the next set all year long. Occasionally, I’ll even smash my racket.

In other Yom Kippur related ephemera, I saw one of my favorite movies again this week, Run Lola Run. Besides all the arty interestingness to it (and Franka Potente’s hair), the other thing I find fascinating is the way they show that the smallest thing that happens in life can change events forever. But unlike the movies, we can’t really go back and see how the same situation would unfold if it was done just a shade differently. We can only go forward. So, by all means look back, but instead of just wishing* you did it differently, look forward and change what can be changed now. Don’t worry if that all happens without a pulsing techno soundtrack

I also have to admit, one of the reasons I’m so into Yom Kippur is that I feel a connection from birth. On the Hebrew calendar, I was born just a few days before and part of my name (the part you don’t know unless you’re one of maybe eight or ten readers) is tied to the holiday. I always felt that the new year was my new year because my birthday falls around the same time. Yes, it’s this week on the secular calendar and should you wish to send me a gift, just keep reading the J-Ball, that’s gift enough. Well, no, it isn’t really, it’s just that I’d be nuts to put my address on the Internets.

 

*for more on wishing, please see the iPod song of the week < /end shameless plug>

 

Depeche Mode – Clean