La padre
deb@lapadre.com 631.935.2777
  • Home
    • What IS Ritual?
    • Frequently Asked Question
  • Let's Work Together
    • ritual write-ups
    • ritual write ups for celebrations
    • Story-Beads
    • Monthly Planning Ritual
  • Free Ritual Write-Ups
  • Blog
  • About

What I Learned About the High Holidays from a Lord of the Rings Movie Marathon

9/13/2015

1 Comment

 
by Deborah Globus
Picture
I am an unabashed geek, in love with the fantasy genre.  

To those who know me this is not news but it does cause a particular kind of insanity that leads me to do things like sit through a 10+ hour showing of all three of the Lord of the Rings movies.  


Yes, you read that right – 10 hours. As in,  it is daylight when you go in and dark when, with tears in your eyes, you stumble out of the theater with an ache in your back, and a numb…everything.

I have done this not once, not twice...as of September of 2019, I have done this three times!  


And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.  And yes, people think it’s nuts, and ask me why I do it.

They might as well ask me why I partake in the Jewish High Holidays.  After all, there are plenty of similarities. 
​
Picture
Both are time consuming and many’s the Kol Nidre service I’ve come out of services to a moon approaching full, with tears in my eyes and numb…everything.

But the two events – the marathon and the High Holidays – have something much deeper in common, something I recognized the last time I went to the all-day showing.

The Lord of the Rings movies don’t change; they are the exact same movies each and every time I see them.  


What changes year to year is me.  What changes is where I am and how I experience them.  Upon the backdrop of their constancy I can pause and take stock of how different I am from the last time I sat there.  

This trio of movies that pierced my heart and touched me so deeply allows me to see the changes I have gone through since this journey first began precisely because they never change.

As a very wise woman I met at the showing observed, “We’ve all seen the movies before.  We’ve all been on the journey.  What we don’t know is where it will take us inside.”

It’s no different with the High Holidays.



We’ve all been on the journey.  We know all the prayers and the songs sung only on those special nights.  We follow the practices year after year – honey and apples on Rosh Hashanah, the fast on Yom Kippur.  

They stay the same; it is us that changes year to year.

The High Holidays give us an opportunity to pause and sit with those changes.  They allow us a blessed opportunity to compare where we are now – physically, mentally, emotionally – to where we were a year ago, ten years ago.  


Against the backdrop of their constancy we can see our own changes, the new scars, the successes, failures and growth we’ve seen through the years.

Of course, the High Holidays are missing Hobbits.  And wizards.  High Holidays are also missing the applicable lessons of a dwarf and an elf being friends despite a history of differences between their people, (I'm looking at you Iran and Israel!)  But hey, nothing’s perfect.  


When I want hobbits and wizards and dwarves and elves I have The Lord of the Rings.  

And each year, blessedly, I have Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Shanah Tovah - May you have a sweet New Year! 
May you be inscribed in the Book of Life!  

And may this change of season allow you the opportunity to see where you've come from, and just how far you've come.
Picture
1 Comment
Cranky Fibro Girl link
9/17/2015 12:07:00 pm

I love this!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    My name is Deborah Globus and I am La Padre.  With me you'll find the support you need to uncover practical, do-able spiritual practices that work for you.  I offer new perspectives on old practices like journaling and ritual, with a side of compassion and a healthy dose of humor, just to keep it down-to-earth and real!

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Altars
    Blessingways
    Business
    Christianity
    Coming Of Age
    Earth Based
    Emotional Healing
    Hello Month! Welcome!
    Holidays
    How It Works
    Inspiration
    Interviews
    Intuition
    Journaling
    Judaism
    La Padre
    Leap Day
    Maggie And Christian
    Memorials
    Milestones
    Paganism
    Practices
    Prayers & Blessings
    Reference
    Retreats
    Ritual
    Rituals
    Rituals For Celebrations
    Rituals For Little Ones
    Rituals For The Moon
    Rituals For Writers
    Tarot
    Tricks And Tools
    Weddings
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Picture
Picture
Picture
631.935.2777
deb@lapadre.com
Website by LaraEastburn.com