Our daily thread for Wednesday Sept. 26

[Anne]

Haven't had one in a while...

It's the eve of Yom Kipur here and I'm home alone. Hubby and his dad and brothers have a family tradition of spending Yom Kipur at the beach (overnight) and I decided I wasn't up to it this year. Well, I do have the cats to keep me company

Mishmish is lying on the bed right next to me, sleeping on her back and tempting me to rub that sweet furry tummy

For Deb25 and anyone else interested in Jewish tradition, Yom Kipur is the Day of Atonement when people ask God for forgiveness for all their sins. It is a day of fasting and prayer and religious people spend all day long at the synagouge. The traditon is that God forgives you for your sins against Him if you really repent and ask for forgiveness, but He doesn't forgive the sins you committ against other people, unless you ask them for forgiveness and receive it first. So this is the time of year where people go around asking other people to forgive them for any insults and such.

Hope you all have a great day!

 

[debra myers]

Anne - I am so glad that the daily thread is back - I have missed it!
This sounds like an important time for you in your religion. Do the women go to the synagouge too? - or just the men?

 

[sunlion]

I'm not Jewish, but I have a friend from college who is. One year I drove her to her parents' house for the high holidays and I went to synagogue with them. It was very interesting. There is something about all those people in one place, asking for forgiveness. You could feel the prayer in the air. Very cool.

I liked the smoked salmon and the pastry thingies, but I couldn't get into the creamed mackeral. I suppose tho' that all food choices are personal, even if there are some traditional dishes. Funny, now that I think of it, how many Jewish holidays I associate with food . . .

 

[Anne]

Yes, women go to the synagouge and pray like the men. They are in a seperate room though.

As for the food, dishes very a lot. Because the Jews were driven out of the land of Israel some 2000 years ago and disperesd all over the world, there are lots of cooking styles. They are all kosher and so alike in that sense, but otherwise very different. I am half Tunisian and half Polish in origin (third generation in Israel) and I can tell you that Polish Jewish cooking is very different from Tunisian Jewish cooking

I'll take the Tunisian dishes every day - spicy and yummy! Some of the differences are because of the different climate and surroundings. Tunisians use very little dairy products, as this is a hot country and they didn't have good storage conditions for anything that has milk in it. Polish use less fresh ingridients for a similar reason and use sugar as a spice. I have never had smoked salmon or creamed mackrel for any holiday meal

I would guess your friend's family is of Russian origin or they may have picked it up in the US

 

[deb25]

Hey Anne,

Thanks for remembering me! It's nice to know why I had the day off from work today, as this is the first time ever that we have a one of the Jewish holidays off. It's a far cry from NY down here.

 

[krazy kat2]

Thanks for sharing the information about your holidays and traditions. It is always interesting to hear about other cultures. I looked at you cat's pictures and they are beautiful. Gezer looks like my Fred when he was young.