This week has been both a very special week and a very busy week. While I know my friends still in University are, for the most part, on their winter breaks, I just passed the middle of the semester. So you can imagine there was a bit of work to be done; furthermore, it was also the beginning of Hannukah on December 20th and during this week I will admit to one score and five years. It’s a fun number, I suppose, but it is intimidating exactly how fast time has flown by. Despite my best efforts, I have yet to master the ability to slow time.
I know that in the grand scheme, my week is insignificant. Recently scientists reportedly found the first planets that are approximately the same size as earth (though too close to the sun), Syria has been accused of a terrible crackdown on its protestors including genocides, severe bomb attacks have killed many in Baghdad after U.S. troops were with drawn and the French National assembly passed a bill (which still needs to be passed by the senate) recognizing the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Empire. In light of all this terrible violence, the details of my quiet life of study seem superfluous.
Of course ridiculous pieces of news have also crossed my eyes drawing disbelief and anger. The supposedly international controversy of racism in FIFA is astonishing. I will only write two more sentence on it, because it really is not an issue that seems to require much debate. To begin with, when teams are in competition and one player is shouting at a member of the other team, he is certainly not going to be encouraging nor is he going to be endearing. That said, I believe the ‘expert commentary’ is complete garbage; when referring to someone as little is diminutive to begin with, even before bringing in skin color.
I will not bore you with any more of that talk; I just cannot understand how people can defend such actions, especially high level academics. Refraining from the more intense recourse I can imagine, I will conclude to say they should have to go back to school and come to understand ethics before they should be able to speak again.
It is of some interest how much people seem to debate the sincerity of the mourning in North Korea. While people continue to argue over if they are being compelled to publicly mourn, or if their pain is genuine, I have the same thought every time. What is the point? I have read numerous articles citing this and that, comparing him to other dictators and quite a number of pieces insulting or otherwise demeaning North Korea, yet though the authors write and write, none addressed the issue of why anyone should bother reading their work. What it does indicate to me is a need to de-legitimize an “other.” I can mention quite a few other places that employed such techniques, but I worry that some may find it distasteful if I were to compare American news agencies to the RTLM in Rwanda or the incredible bias in newspaper reporting during the troubles in Northern Ireland.
Though the above pessimism is certainly tangible, I cannot end on such a note; especially during this holiday season. December is perhaps one of the hardest months; the dark and cold are more than physical deficits. There is something special in sunlight, in its warmth and enjoying time outside. I refrain from making a blanket statement here, but I will confess no love for leaving before sunrise to return home after sunset, to waste away a full if not the majority of a day’s light indoors. It is fitting then, I suppose, that in this darkest of months and when perhaps our endurance is taxed, that we see light and familial based holidays.
What is Hannukah? It is a holiday celebrated by people of the Jewish faith and is symbolized in the lighting of what is (arguably incorrectly) interchangeably called a menorah and a hannukiah. The base story is fairly straight forward, and comes from the time of the Greek Empire during the second century BCE. The holiday is a celebration of a miracle (significant as it is the last widely recognized miracle in Judaism and because it is not recorded from the Torah). As the event is not within the Torah, the holiday is not one given to the people by the book but rather is unique in being a holiday that the Rabbi’s founded. While the main miracle remembered is the lasting of the oil, often it is termed a victory of the Maccabi’s over the Greeks. True, the Maccabis recaptured and rededicated the temple; however, the Maccabis never succeeded in liberating the whole territory of Israel.
There are many discussions to be had and many aspects of the history which can be analyzed and argued; all of which I would rather not delve into. Rather, I will leave you with one other even from the other day which has to do with Hannukah, and that of course would be a cross cultural karate “special training,” otherwise known as a tournament. It is one of Sensei Okazaki’s phrases that I recall from the tournaments where he spoke. This particular one will be special for a long time coming. It was the first tournament I assisted in judging. I feel perhaps a little guilty saying this, and I know Sensei would expect no less of me, but the tournament reminded me of fencing. the interactions were endearing and there was some incredible displays of form; all in all it was a fantastic day. Not to mention, that participants came from both Jewish and Bedouin backgrounds. While I got to practice my spoken Hebrew, I also started recognizing the Arabic words they were using. It may turn out that I will (when I have time) help teach the children English in return for learning more Arabic. Talk about jumping into the deep-end, anybody have a life-preserver?
Until next time, stay warm, keep smiling and enjoy the lights.
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