Well, it wasn’t exactly a clash but I thought the title might catch your eye! Last night was “erev” Yom Kippur which means it was the eve of the holiday. Yom Kippur is the holiest day in the Jewish faith, a day of reflection and atonement. Being a Catholic it seems like it’s a day where you think about your sins and ask for forgiveness, sort of like a day long confession. However, the Jews take it one step further and not only ask forgiveness from God but also from those to whom they may have done harm to during the year. Very nice idea.
Having said all that, I am married to a non-practicing, atheist but somewhat cultural Jew. He doesn’t go to synagogue unless there’s a Bat Mitzvah or wedding and he eats shellfish, pork and dairy at the same meal as meat. In other words it’s very easy for an Italian Catholic to be married to him since I don’t engage in my religion although I deeply espouse it. It’s a marriage not of compromise but rather one of peaceful co-existence regarding religion. Fortunately for us, we don’t have any children together and we didn’t raise any together so their religious training or lack thereof has never been issue. We have a crucifix in the bedroom and a menorah in the living room. Christmas is celebrated as is Passover and Rosh Hoshana, the latter two dependent upon invitations from friends and family. I am a good cook but I haven’t ventured very far into Jewish traditional cooking and would rather leave the making of tsimmis to my sister-in-law.
This past week or so I have been playing a lot of Mah Jongg and all of the women in my group are Jewish, what a surprise! Anyway much discussion has taken place about the holiday food, the going to Temple, and the traditions in general. The other day lots of talk was centered around the tradition of the Yahrzeit candles. These candles are purchased and lit on the anniversary of the death of a loved one and also at sundown on the eve of Yom Kippur in memoriam of those who have passed away. There are also several other occasions when one might light a Yahrzeit candle. We have never done so in our house.
I guess it was the culmination of much discussion and the one holiday falling on the heels of the other that inspired me yesterday to surprise my husband with some “treats”. We were planning a quiet evening and dinner at home so on my way home from work I stopped at Fairway and bought gifilte fish, potato latkes, and noodle kugel as well as 4 candles.
I waited till he had made himself a martini and then brought out the gifilite fish with some horseradish (a tradition). He loved it. I looked up online when sundown was to occur and precisely at 7:10pm last night I produced 4 candles lit in honor of both of our parents who have been long gone but not forgotten. There was no praying just the lighting and it made me cry when I thought of what this stood for and how much I have missed my mother my whole life, since she died when I was 9 years old.
English: A lit Yahrtzeit candle, a candle that is lit on the Hebrew anniversary of a loved one’s death. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Now here’s the clash (in some eyes perhaps but not ours); I made dinner which was a pasta dish I created while cooking . I sauteed aspargus in lots of garlic and oil, tossed in a small can of drained and rinsed garbanza beans and then the ale-dente-cooked linguine to the braising pan with the asparagus. I topped it off with some shredded parmigano-reggiano cheesw and I have to say it was delicious as evidenced by the fact that there was none left over.
Once the dishes were cleared and we were settled in to watch Minority Report, I went into the kitchen and came back with two dishes of noodle kugel. I thought it was great, so full of cinnamon, he thought it a bit dry, but what do I know?
A s you can see cultures don’t have to clash; They can mesh into a lovely evening and a delightful if not varied dinner. Today true to his own set of beliefs, he is not fasting but I keep reminding him of his sins LOL LOL. He’s also wearing a suit!
Bill Ding and his band of clowns are the security patrol for this blog site. He is a favorite toy from the 50*s. By the way sometimes a blog is just an ego-maniacal stream of conscience.
Pbenjay's Blog 
Is Religion the Root of All Evil? – PRISONERS
Posted in From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, tagged Catholic, Christian, Crusade, God, Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jihad, Judaism, maze, movie review, Muslim, red whistle, turkey on September 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Well, think about it; Many people believe this and they’re not all atheists! People have been persecuted for their religious beliefs dating back to way, way back and how far back might depend somewhat on your own beliefs. What I mean by that is if you’ve been raised as a Catholic (and probably all Christian religions) then you’ve heard or read some or all of the following stories: Moses led his people out of Egypt where they had been enslaved – this one is part of the Jewish religion too. We’ve heard that Christians were thrown to the lions, that they were forced to become gladiators and were laborers for the Romans.
Popes organized the Crusades; Catholic Europe went to war against the Muslims. Sound familiar? Christians call it a Crusade and Muslims call it Jihad. The pilgrims fled to America to escape the Anglican church and Hitler tried to eliminate the entire European Jewish population. Jim Jones convinced hundreds of people to kill themselves, all in the name of religion. The Taliban imposes harsh laws and restrictive behavior, again in the name of their religion. In theory, Turkey recognizes the civil, cultural and political rights of non-Muslim minorities. In practice, the government only recognizes Greek, Armenian and Jewish minorities and does not grant them all the civil liberties allowed in the Treaty of Lausanne.
And that brings us to PRISONERS , a movie I saw the other night. Two hours and twenty minutes long and pretty intense! It was a tale of twisted religious beliefs as well as a story about kidnapped kids. From the opening scene, I was struck by the religious overtones. I mean who really recites The Our Father before they shoot (to kill) a deer. As scenes unfolded, I saw crosses on the walls and one hanging around Hugh Jackman‘s neck. I heard religious talk shows on the car radio, and watched the lead character kneel and pray as he tortured his victim. In one of the final scenes you see a large poster of angels.
It didn’t stop there; On the hunt for registered sex-offenders in the town, you just knew one of them was going to be a priest. You were not wrong! And there’s more; this priest is not just a sex-offender, he is a drunk and a killer! And who did he take out? Why a twisted, distorted religious crazy who actually kidnapped and killed kids because….are you ready for this philosophy? Because he “was waging a war against God and losing their children makes parents crazy” – this may be a bit paraphrased because I couldn’t quite remember it and all my research did not turn up this very poignant-twice-stated reason. Apparently he and his wife lost their child to cancer and were very angry at God. So once again we have heinous crimes being committed, heavy with religious overtones.
Hugh Jackman is a very angry, vengeful soul and this is the man who prays before he shoots. Jake Gyllenhaal seems unmoved and uninterested in anything other than finding Anna and Joy. He is darkly intense, his hooded eyes seek out everything because as he says, “Everything matters”.
It’s a suspense thriller with maybe too much foreshadowing; you could predict a lot of what was going to happen even without the blatant and obvious telltale signs. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go see it, this commentary really isn’t that much of a spoiler.
Photo from Amazon.com
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