struggling over Yom Tov

[cellio]

Today is the seventh day of Pesach. The Torah states quite clearly that this is a festival day (like the first). Yet here I am at work, just like last year and the year before and...

I don't know why I have so much trouble with this one. (And, correspondingly, the last day of Sukkot.) There is natural resistance -- it's another vacation day, and clumps of holidays disrupt work schedules already, and there's no real ritual associated with it (unlike the seder), and -- locally, at least -- there's basically no community encouragement for it outside the Orthodox subset. (Yes, everyone has holiday services, but the presumption that of course you're observing the holiday is absent.)

But the Torah tells us it is a festival and to "do no work", just like the others, and that ought to be sufficient. And every year I feel a little more guilty and become a little more aware that I am sinning.

Maybe next year I will finally overcome this. (Once I start, I will feel bound to do it every time -- no "just when it's convenient" observances here.)

Comments

[fiannaharpar.livejournal.com]

sinning

Question, what does that mean in the Jewish context?

i had no idea i would write so much! :-)

[jeannegrrl.livejournal.com]

I understand how you feel on this one. I'm sitting at work today as well. I have a website going live on Friday and I opted to take the first two days of Pesach off instead of the first and the last. The only thing that really digs a bit is missing Yizkor (which is on day 8 and even though I'm in the camp of folks who think day 8 is no longer really Pesach, I would still like to be at services tomorrow).

I think you hit on something about the end of Pesach not being as 'real' since there's no ritual associated with it. Doesn't change the commandment of course, but it helps figure out where the behavior is coming from. Maybe we should start a tradition of having another (much smaller) festive meal to mark the end of the holiday - although I'm already so sick of Matzo, it's hard to imagine cooking even more with it!

In any case, try not to be too hard on yourself - the important thing is that you're moving forward, not sliding back. When I began my path towards observance, I found it very important to take things in stages because like you, once I take on a mitzvah, I don't want to turn back, but I also don't want to take more than I can/will do at a time. That's why it's taken me 5 years to have a Kosher kitchen. I wasn't ready for it when I started so I did stages, gave up pork, later gave up shellfish, later gave up mixing cattle and dairy (don't get me started on the chicken/dairy argument! ), later only purchased Kosher meat (that one was tough for me - I hate paying over 3x more for something than I used to pay), and finally this year, buying all new stuff and making the kitchen official. I'll still eat Kosher-style out of the house (e.g. I'll eat non-kosher meat, but I won't mix it w/ dairy, and I won't eat inherently non-kosher animals at all), but eventually, I'll probably just go fish/veggie when I eat out. I'm not there yet, but I'll get there.

How did I get here? Oh yea, we were talking about Pesach. I am really the Queen of taking a tangent and running with it.... Anyway, what I was trying to say, is you'll take on the observance when you're ready. It sounds like you're pretty close anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if next year there's no entry for Pesach day 7 in your live journal. :-) But even if there is, the struggle you're going through is important as well and there are good things that come out of the process....

[celebrin.livejournal.com]

Here is where my melting pot view of Judaism comes into play.

As I don't believe that homosexuality is wrong, that means that some things in the Torah have changed. I have always believed that the Torah is a living document, and that means that it grows and changes.

There are so many days in the Torah where you're supposed to "do no work" that many places of employment will start having fits if you're out that much. (Unless you happen to work for a temple) Since, being at work is necessary to your survival you have to pick and choose the days and times that are most important to you.

If, next year, you feel compelled to take the day, by all means do so. If not, find a way to remember the departure from Egypt in your own way that is between you and G-d.

To quote one of the wisest Rabbi's I have ever met.

"There are some people who would love to wrap themselves in the Torah. Not me. If I wrapped myself in Torah...yes I would understand the words but I couldn't see the world that I should apply them to. The Torah would blind me, and cut off my air, and I couldn't see my children to teach them Torah.
No, Instead I will wrap myself around the Torah. I will absorb its goodness into my heart. I will absorb its lessons into my soul and teach the world by my example. I would find that some parts are best left in the time of Moshe, and others are truer today than any other. "

Either way...happy end of Pesach to all.

Sorry to run on.

[goljerp]

And, correspondingly, the last day of Sukkot
But that's easier, because it's at least got a name of its own - Shmini Atzeret.

The end of Pesach is just... well... the end of Pesach.

Despite the fact that my shul realized that enough people wanted to work and go to Yizkor that they had a 7am Yizkor minyan yesterday, there were a good number of people who were at shul today and presumably didn't go to work.

I find it meaningful as a way of making the end of pesach meaningful as well as the beginning. It's a way of bookending the holiday, rather than letting it taper off. And if you think of the fact that pesach and shavuot are themselves bookending a period of 7 weeks, you get some nice symmetry.

And some cool torah readings as well... on the 7th day you get to cross the red sea again... and 8th day, of course, has Yiskor...

I ended up having meals with friends on Wednesday lunch & dinner and Thursday lunch, and that helped a lot, too!

I am working tomorrow (ugh, later today) so I'd better stop LJing...