Home for the (Jewish) Holidays

Matt Forte Meets Scream

So this weekend was the Jewish Holiday, Yom Kippur, or the Day of atonement.  I decided to go home to Chicago to see my family.  Not having Friday classes made this exceedingly easy and worth my while to do. Unlike previous years (both in college and medical school) when Friday classes prevented me from getting home until late Friday evening only to fly back early on Sunday leaving me with barely more than 24 hours at home, being able to fly out Friday morning left me with two full days and evenings to spend with my family. 

A little halloween decorating by the neighbors

            This holiday was an especially good one, as my little brother was able to get time off from work to fly in from New York, and my little sister’s exam schedule permitted her to fly in from Boston as well.  We had the whole family, including my 90-year old grandfather there for Friday night Shabbat dinner.  It was great having everyone together again, as it rarely works out where we all have time off at the same time.  It reminded me of our weekly Shabbat dinners growing up (except the table feels a little small now that we’re all grown up) which made me smile. 

            We decided to go to a new synagogue this year, as the one we had belonged to growing up had become progressively rigid and not accepting of forms of Judaism and belief other than those they profess.  We went to a more progressive temple this year.  The stated purpose of the synagogue was to increase the connectedness of the congregation to Judaism.  There was music, dancing and a very different tenor compared to your traditional services.  While my mother, brother and sister objected to the upbeat nature of the service on this Day of Atonement, believing it was inappropriate for the occasion, my dad really liked the service.  I fell somewhere in the middle.  While I agreed with my mom, brother and sister’s point that perhaps the service should have been a little more somber, after all we are supposed to be atoning for our sins, I appreciated the idea behind the service.  At various points after saying a prayer in Hebrew when our old synagogue would have merely recited the same prayer with the direct English translation, this set of Rabbis attempted to interpret the prayer in the context of modern society.  During the prayer where we ask forgiveness for specific sins, instead of reading off the litany of archaic sins (such as coveting thy neighbor or worshipping false idols), this rabbi asked for forgiveness for her feelings of inadequacy which prevented her from bonding with her son.  I really appreciated the attempt to make Judaism more relevant, as for the last ten years since I received a woefully inadequate explanation of why September 11^th happened from my Rabbi, I have felt spiritually disconnected from Judaism (I have retained the cultural and familial connections, but spiritually I have felt disconnected). 

At Shabbat dinner, after the initial conversations about out lives, the conversation inevitably turned towards current events at which point our generational differences showed through as they always do.  My grandfather’s borderline socialist views came through loud (especially so since he’s hard of hearing) and clear as we discussed the protesters on Wall Street.  My dad countered with his socially progressive but financially conservative disappointment with the current administration and my mom lamented the pointlessness of this protest compared to the protests of the seventies.  She wondered what their goal and end game was, as it was not entirely clear.  My brother sister and I all offered up our indifference, showing our disillusionment with the current political process.  I pointed out that in my mind none of it really mattered because in the end it would be business as usual in Washington.  After watching an opportunity for health reform get completely gutted and replaced with a toothless (and in my opinion useless bordering on ineffective and financially irresponsible) policy by politicians who seemingly have the ability to turn anything into a sound bite to advance their popularity regardless of its truthfulness, I have become quite disillusioned with the prospect for any real change in the current political climate.  It was interesting to see how the experiences of our lives shown through in our perception of the political process.  My grandfather, having grown up in the Great Depression was championing “putting a buck in a guy’s hand,” while my father has become disillusioned with the idea of unions, believing they’ve outlived their time and now propagate their own survival rather than the rights of their members finds the insistence on redistribution of wealth to be a corrupt process.  My mother, with her experiences watching the protests of her high school and college years, laments the pointlessness of the current set of protests, which seemingly are gatherings with no goal.  And then there was the Generation Xers and Yers to whom the political process is a bunch of blustering from which we’ve come to believe that real change just doesn’t really happen. 

Overall it was a fantastic weekend at home, filled with some quality family time, some reflecting time (a lot of time spent catching up on reading), and some heated political discussions.  I can’t wait for thanksgiving to get to rinse and repeat.