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The trifecta

The coincidence of holidays this year–Yom Kippur (the Jewish day of atonment) yesterday and Eid al Adha (the Muslim feast of the sacrifice) begins tonight for at least some people–is purely coincidental. Both Jews and Muslims use lunar calendars, but more “corrections” are applied in the Jewish one to keep the holidays in more or less the same season each year. Muslim holidays peregrinate through the seasons. The Pope peregrinates in the world. His arrival in Washington on Yom Kippur eve was presumably coincidental too.

Eid al Adha commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, as allegedly commanded by God. The two religions differ on who the son was. Muslims today generally say it was Ishmael, though he is not named in the Quran. Jews think it was Isaac, as specified in Genesis.

On Rosh Hashanah last week, Jews read the Torah portion that recounts the bizarre story of Isaac’s near-death at his father’s hand. Religious Jews and Muslims seem to regard Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son as the epitome of human devotion to the divine. Some of the more sacrilegious among us think what Abraham was supposedly prepared to do was nuts. The claim that God then told  him not to do it might be taken as proof. These days at least, people who hear directly from the divine are not high up on the rational scale.

In contrast to Eid al Adha, which is an occasion for great feasting among Muslims, Tuesday night and Wednesday for Jews was a day (25 hours or more officially) for radical fasting: no food, no drink. On Yom Kippur we repent. We cleanse ourselves. We atone for our sins against the deity in prayer. Atonement for sins against people requires that we deal with them directly by taking responsibility and acknowledging harm. That’s not easy. Nor is there anything easy about a full day without food or water. That’s why we wish each other an “easy fast,” which doesn’t make much sense. We wouldn’t be doing it if it were easy.

We also wish each other “a good seal” (hatima tova), meaning a seal in the book of life. That’s a remnant of the belief that God decides on Yom Kippur who merits life and who doesn’t, presumably based on behavior, or degree of atonement, or faith, or something like that. These days we are more likely to suggest that you choose, not God, but neither proposition is convincing. Life is full of chance, not predetermination or choice. Anyone who thinks the good are rewarded and the evil are not doesn’t live in my universe.

We broke the fast at my house after sundown. It wasn’t a feast, just a bowl of matzoh ball soup (don’t ask me what they do with the rest of the beast called “matzoh”), salads, a bagel and smoked salmon (it’s been a long time since my wife allowed anything called lox into the house). The Muslims will provide a lot better than that for Eid over the next few days.

Meanwhile the Pope has met with the President, paraded on the Ellipse, prayed at the Cathedral and canonized a debatable saint. Today he speaks at Congress.

The three Abrahamic traditions are coexisting pretty well in America these days, though there are certainly occasional conflicts and many misunderstandings. All of us will behave a bit better if we listen to the preaching of our separate traditions. But the bigger lesson is that there is room for all of us, if only we allow it.