AT-ONE-MENT

Sunday, September 27, 2020: For many of the Jewish Faith, (and I am one of them) tonight is the eve of Yom Kippur ( a 24-hour period of atonement. (OR, one might pronounce it AT-ONE-MENT) Kotvenu b’sefer he-ayyim, “Inscribe us in the Book of Life,” Jews pray in the days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur. “May you be written down and inscribed for a good year,” they say to each other. This, Book of Life: First, it implies that after Yom Kippur the fate of everyone is sealed for the rest of the year and suggests that Judaism adheres to a belief in pre-determination. Once we are in the column for good or bad, our path is pre-set.In fact, the opposite is true: many scholars believe, God may know ahead of time what choices we are each going to make, but we have complete free will and it is we who take the ongoing, everyday decisions that affect the course of the coming year. This Hebrew Year, 5781 and our American calendar year of 2020 based on the Gregorian Calendar (The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most of the world. It is named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582.) have been tumultuous, terrifying, treacherous, and tyrannical, and so full of self-imposed Theocracies, both within the confines of the dogma’s of religiosity as well as the coffin-like confines of politics and politicians!

 

Choices have been made by madmen such as Trump suffering the maladies of insecurity, vengefulness, vindictiveness, narcissistic needs, and delivered in a manner most suitable to a sociopath or someone deeply disturbed, considered to be a psychopath! His newest, attack on the lives of Americans is to nominate a very controversial Judge, Amy Comey Barrett, whose personal religious views do not permit for a well stated and VERY intended DIVIDE between church and state, as the Founding Fathers declared within the Constitution, and the various papers written as collateral reinforcement. One could conjure up the impetus for this one particular choice, by Trump, and because it IS Trump the variety feckless, selfish, self-serving snake oil gimmicks would most likely fit under the column of truth and consequences…Trump’s truth (which is as vapid as a fart, and his consequences intended for his perceived bully’s.  But, even in this chaos, and intentional corruption, now, of the meaning of a Supreme Court, and of Lady Justice (The Scales of Justice represents the balance of the individual against the needs of society and a fair balance between interests of one individual and those of another), the Senators, “have complete free will and it is we who take the ongoing, everyday decisions that affect the course of the coming year.” I must, as I begin my 24-hour period of reflection, introspection, and atonement, understand, miracles can happen, and that the enigma of evil, is a frail as the humans who created it, and could evaporate. I watch my Book of Life, and as the last open pages of the Book appear, I must BELIEVE for the BETTER!