Results tagged “Judaism” from Kristin Swenson

This essay first appeared in the Fredricksburg Free Lance-Star on April 4, 2010.  

Of all the Christian holidays, it's Christmas that gets the most attention. And can you blame us for that? Light and life in the dead of winter, gifts galore, and cookies to boot -- no wonder it's a favorite. Yet Easter is the most important Christian holiday and was celebrated long before Christmas became what it is today. We can be comfortable with Christmas, its jollity and twinkling beauty, the stable, newborn, and serene mother. Easter, on the other hand, is different and a bit unsettling. For one thing, it is preceded by a gruesome, torturous death by crucifixion. What's more, it's based on an utterly unnatural event -- the coming back to life again of a definitely dead man. Let's face it, being born is nothing special. We've all done it, and in every case at least one person was on hand to witness the occasion. But resurrection?... 
 

I wish I'd had the presence of mind to bring a notebook with me to "Sherlock Holmes." I should know better -- that the Bible shows up everywhere. This movie was no exception. A fun flick -- a little cerebral, lots of action, and a sobering reminder that what may seem to be convincing magic is sophisticated manipulation of the physical world. (And its seductive agent may be a malicious liar.) The movie has several biblical references that I just can't remember in detail. In addition to the evil Blackwood's overt associations with Jesus (busting out of his tomb after 3 days, eucharist-like ritual, and address as "Lord"), was it Revelation 1:18 that Blackwood cites? (And does the movie make the common mistake of identifying the book as "Revelations," with an "s" on the end?) Also, I remember being startled to see several Hebrew Bible/Old Testament references in the iconography of Blackwood's estate. For example, was it an altar or a kind of throne-like structure that was flanked by golden winged creatures (like descriptions of the biblical ark of the covenant... which serves in the temple as a kind of divine ottoman)? And what's with the Hebrew shin, lamed, mem, vav, tav writing underneath some structure (again, was it a different scene with Blackwood on a throne)? In the Hebrew Bible that word appears as such as a proper name. It also appears as a word modifying "stones" in a couple of references to building an altar of "unhewn" stones (so translated because the word is based on the root shin, lamed, mem which can mean "whole"; that's where the word shalom "peace" comes from, too). I still don't quite "get" why it would be in that scene, though, unless it's meant to mark an altar where a sacrifice would be perfomed (as in Deut 27:6 and Josh 8:31). Whatever the case, does this association of Hebrew with the occult have anti-Semitic implications? While I don't think that that the movie is anti-Jewish (after all, the guy manipulating these symbols and appealing to New Testament texts is obviously mis-directed... to say the least), such associations can be problematic, given the long Christian suspicion of Jewish rituals and traditions. Overall, the movie was good, entertaining fun and gives astute viewers some intriguing things to think about. 

 As my dear friend and colleague Jack Spiro says of this and other Jewish holidays, "They tried to kill us. We survived. Now, let's eat!" Good wishes to Jewish friends and family celebrating this Festival of Lights! Latkes for all. You may enjoy this column by Ben Romer, a Richmond-area rabbi -- a thoughtful meditation on the season. Did you know that although the book of Daniel is set during the periods of Babylonian exile and Persian diaspora, its apocalyptic sections (chaps 7-12) were probably written around the time of the great Hellenization crisis (167 B.C.E. and Jewish victory) that Hanukkah commemorates. Go, Maccabees! 

This year, our Jewish and Muslim sisters and brothers are celebrating big holidays at the same time. Sweet New Year wishes to Jews just wrapping up the two days of Rosh Hashanah ("head of the year" in Hebrew) and embarking on the days of instrospection and repentance before the fast of Yom Kippur (Sept 27-28). And to Muslims: a happy Eid al-Fitr! ("festival of fast-breaking") -- three days of celebration following the Ramadan fast. Good wishes to all, and may your spiritual journeys be a blessing to all.

Quentin Tarantino's new movie, Inglourious Basterds, was informed in part by taking part in a seder at Philip Roth's house. The Passover seder is a religious practice of remembrance commanded by none other than God in the Bible to commemorate God's liberating the Hebrew people from Egypt in order that they could be free to be servants of God. With violence, liberated from violence. 

In Inglourious Basterds, the extraordinary violence that characterizes Tarantino's filmic art takes on a new meaning in the context of a real, historical moment -- the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel, holocaust survivor, and Nobel prize-winning writer, has championed the importance of remembering -- of remembering in order to prevent horrific crimes such as genocide from happening again. 

Elie Wiesel and Quentin Tarantino on the Holocaust. In the same context? Discuss. What does remembering violence require? And to what end?

Today is the Christian festival of Pentecost, and I've been working on what looks like it'll be the final chapter in my Bible Babel book. The several different names for God that show up in the Bible -- that's what the chapter's about. Although one could argue whether or not it belongs, I include the Spirit -- Holy Spirit, Spirit of God -- there, and no discussion would be complete without some description of the dramatically in-Spir-ing moment of the first Christian Pentecost, narrated in the New Testament's book of Acts (chapter 2).

That story in Acts is a kind of Babel revisited, to opposite effect.