Introduction:
I decided to focus on Rosh Hashanah (The Jewish New year) and Yum Kapor. However, being that I have already done a couple of posts on Israel I have decided that it might be more prudent to focus on a portion of the world that holds the highest percentage of Jews collectively, North America. Yes, 46% percent of the worlds Jewish population lives in the U.S. and Canada. You may then ask, why are so few of my friends Jewish? Hopefully, the answer to your question does not have to do with being antisemitic. The fact is, you may not know too many Jewish people because they only consist of a small percentage of us North Americans; only 2% in the U.S. and 1% in Canada are in fact Jewish (LeElef).
An overwhelming majority of my Jewish friends and acquaintance were ones that I have met while in Michigan- from a bacon eating roommate I briefly had in college, a sorority sister who taught me what Kosher and Proven really is, co-workers, and former coworkers. According to one of my old high school friends of Jewish decent, many Jews came to the U.S. seeking refuge after or during World War II. Many of them converted to other religions, such as Catholicism to avoid any future antisemitic persecution, as was the case with the friend that told me this (Ohnomus).
Yom Kippur/ Rash Hashanah
Rash Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. It is celebrated on the 1st day of the 7th month of the year. It is followed by Yom Kippur (10th day of the 7th month), which is considered the Holiest day of the year. Both days are considered the days to ask for forgiveness, but Yom Kippur is much more sober with its fasting, as opposed to the lavish foods like apples and honey and honeyed dates, and black eyed peas (something much of us eat for our own New Year).
T.V. Shows:
One of my favorite shows is the Colbert Report. Every year for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Steve Colbert does a skit devoted to the Jewish New Year celebration, in which he allows people of the Hebrew faith to call in and atone for sins they committed against him. The phone number for this made up hotline is 1-800-Oops-Jew. I like this skit not because he covers small aspects of the Rosh Hashanah and celebration without going into great detail.
http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/full-episodes/4jd61g/september-24--2014---bill-cosby
The T.V. show "Raising Hope" also had a Jewish Episode (Season 3, Episode 21) Burt Mitzvah, the musical. In that Episode Burt's parents tell Burt that they just found out they are Jewish. Burt and family take this new self identity on with full force.The family tries to learn as much as they can about their new found religion, so that he can have a Bar Mitzvah. After a lot of hard work he is finally ready to "become a man" only to find out that his family's new identity was a clever lie his parents made up for their own selfish reasons. My favorite part is when they're is a musical number on how to make a sader dinner.
Radio:
Of course North America does not just consist of the U.S. and Canada. NPR ran a story summarized here: Recently, a small sub-sect of the Jewish population, Lev Torah, moved to Guatemala after being driven out of Canada. They were driven out of Canada after accusations of child abuse arose. However, Lev Torah is also having problems fitting in with the locals of their new home.
For the full story click on the link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/09/10/347123746/dogged-by-controversy-a-jewish-sect-is-on-the-move-again
Please Note: I am not trying to make the Jewish People look bad. It is not like these are the same Jews most of us see on T.V., at work, or in school on a regular basis. This is a small sect, that is not representative of the entire North American Jewish population. The piece goes as far as implying that Lev Tohor a Jewish based cult.
Food:
I started the Rosh Hashanah morning having apples and honey. For a snack I had dates, and pomegranate seeds later. Finally, for dinner, I ate the same black eyed pees dish that I had made in my New Year's post back in January. Some times when I make this dish I put in turkey ham. However, you have to pay attention to whether or not the turkey ham is Kosher if making it specifically for a Jewish friend or Holiday. However, not pork (ham or otherwise is appropriate to celebrate a Jewish Holiday. That is never Kosher. If you add the turkey ham, don't have a dairy product with it, since that is also not Kosher; Jews can only have meet or dairy in a single meal, never both. If a meal has neither meat nor dairy it is called proven.
Conclusion:
I wanted to leave you leave you with one last thing, a fun video I found on Rosh Hashanah where this guy sings about the holiday, acapella style :
Work Cited:
"All About Rosh Hashanah" YouTube. Posted: September 18, 2014. Retrieved: September 28, 2014.
Gorbin, Eyal. "Burt Mitzvah". "Raising Hope". Season 3, Episode 21. 28 March 2013.
Ohnomus, Rebecca. Personal Conversation. December 1, 2013.
LeElef, Ner. "World Jewish Population". Website: http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/world-jewish-population.htm. Retrieved: September 27, 2014.
Robins, Ted. "Dogged by Controversy, A Jewish Sect is on the Move Again". National Public Radio. 10 September 2014. Retrieved: Sept. 28, 2014. Website: http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/09/10/347123746/dogged-by-controversy-a-jewish-sect-is-on-the-move-again
"Rosh Hashanah". Wikipedia. Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_Hashanah#Symbolic_foods. Retrieved: September 28, 2014.
"Yom Kippur in 60 Seconds". YouTube. Retrieved: September 18, 2014.
"Yom Kippur". Wikipedia. Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_Hashanah Retrieved: September 28, 2014.
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