Different Slants

By Robert M. Katzman © October 21, 2012

 

I hold coats for women

Open doors

Walk on the curb side

And push in their chairs

As they sit

 

Because they are

“Fragile Flowers?”

No

Moments of civility

In a

Savage world

 

I write letters

On paper

In ink

Using all of the

Alphabet

(Read on …)

Robert M. Katzman’s Amazing Story:  http://www.differentslants.com/?p=355

Âby Robert M. Katzman  October 1, 2012

Choosing to be in a small town in Central Illinois over praying for forgiveness for my sins in a North Shore Chicago area synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, is no simple decision.

God, may be watching.

Possibly, not approving.

The risk could be fatal.

But then, who knows?

When a person belongs to a group of people whose numbers worldwide consists of less than 2/10ths of 1% of the entire world’s population of seven billion or so, why worry about God noticing you, no matter what you do?

To give it context, there are twice as many Kurds as there are Jews. Most people haven’t a clue and think there are 100 million of us roaming around the planet. An actual number would be closer to fifteen million, or the populations of Arizona and North Carolina put together, not that they’d like that.

A more interesting combination would be Israel and Switzerland put together.  That would make the Swiss cheer, I bet.  Interestingly, on Wikipedia when I looked these numbers up, those two countries were next to each other (Switzerland # 96, Israel # 97).

Yom Kippur follows Rosh Hashanah, which translates to “Head of the year”, or the Jewish New Year of 5773. The exact day moves around within September or October every year because of a different calendar.  Jews who don’t ever go to Temple otherwise overwhelmingly do go on Yom Kippur because the psychic consequences are impossible to live with.  If there is a God and you don’t go, and he wants you to go, man, you could be in real trouble.  Why live with pressure like that?

Also, there is a part of the text that says on that day, it is determined for the coming year:

“Who will live and who will die; who will prosper and who will suffer; who will find happiness and who will be miserable” and this is my favorite part: “Who will die by fire, by drowning or be torn apart by wild beasts.”

Observant Catholics have to worry about eternal damnation in hell when they eventually die.  Jews have to worry about lions and tigers and bears eating them within the next twelve months! This explains why Jews invented psychiatry and possibly Valium.  In effect, God wants what he wants and are you in or are you out?

(Read on …)