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Community Corner

Burt's Eye View: Two Holidays

You might think today is just another ordinary Tuesday, but this Tuesday is a rare day indeed because it is sandwiched between two holidays— Labor Day was yesterday, and tomorrow night is the beginning of the Jewish New Year.     

No matter how hard I try, I don’t see how these two holidays have anything remotely in common whether in purpose, origins, or longevity. I don’t recall Rosh Hashanah ever coming this early in September, so we might never see these holidays mentioned together again which would not be a tragedy.     

Back in the “old country” Labor Day represents not just the end of summer but the end of good times.  Many people close their summer homes at the Jersey Shore until Memorial Day, and like squirrels, start preparing for cooler days.  Short sleeve shirts are put away, and sweaters come out of mothballs.  It is a sad time.    

I am not sure what Labor Day means for us in Malibu.  Yes, the kids are back in school, but houses aren’t being winterized, and I still wear short sleeve t-shirts.  These are not sad times for us to say the least. The crowds of invaders stay away which means less traffic on the PCH, and we no longer have trouble making weekend reservations at our favorite restaurants.     

In other words, the good days of summer in Malibu are followed by the great days of autumn. Not a bad way to live!    

As for Rosh Hashanah, it pretty much means the same thing for Jews on both coasts.  We either go to synagogue or lay low. The family gets together, and we welcome in the New Year with sweet food.  We welcome everything with food.      

Unlike the American New Year, we do not go to Times Square and get drunk.  We do make a lot of noise though with the blowing of the shofar, a ram’s horn. And, of course, we do help ourselves to a second serving of dessert.      

Since we use the lunar calendar, Rosh Hashanah can come any time between early September and October. We only count 353 to 355 days a year, so occasionally there are actually 13 months in a year.  I think we do this to confuse the gentiles. Tomorrow night we celebrate the beginning of year 5774 which means the Christians and Muslims are quite late to the party.  We seem to have survived about as long as any other group which is not bad for a ragtag band that wandered in the desert for 40 years.

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