This evening starts the Jewish holiday of Tishe B’Av. It is one of those holidays that is almost impossible to explain to a non-Jew, especially a western one. Let it suffice for now to say that it is a solemn day, a day of mourning when we fast and abstain from pleasurable things.
Additionally, there is a short period of time leading up to it that is also solemn and introspective.
That is why it was rather odd to find myself, today, explaining some things from the New Testament- from the Christian religion to my daughter.
Today happened to be registration day at her school- North Central High School.
Years ago, this meant standing in lines for hours doing all of the business parts of registering your children. You had to pay the book rental and other fees, sign emergency forms, fill out health forms for the school, etc. Nowadays, since you can pre-register on-line and do most of the things that way, it entails standing in a line to get a slip of paper to have your photo taken for the yearbook, standing in a second line to get your school schedule, bus schedule and assignment book, and possibly wasting some time buying an overpriced sweatshirt or a parking pass.
A process that used to take at least 90 minutes has been reduced to ten, and that is if you arrive when it is busy.
Everything was going very smoothly. I had not managed to embarrass my daughter, she had managed to avoid running into more than 4 people that she knew, and we were about to leave the building, when she looked at the front of her new assignment book.
The front of the assignment book has been decorated with the visages of the principal and the 3 assistant principals riding horses and bearing weapons, just like heroic knights.
At least, I think they must have meant it to be heroic- the problem is that the only thing that I could think of, when I looked at it, was the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. And then I had to explain the reference to my daughter.
This has created a bit of a conundrum for her- and she does like that word because now she will need to decide which each of them represents.
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3 comments:
Or they could be meant to be Crusaders, which isn't any better (not that they'd know that).
Last time we were in a hotel, I browsed the NT, just to see if I recognized anything. I was totally shocked to see that a majority of the first 50 pp or so were very familiar. I mentioned this in a Mishnah class once, and the other students, all American born, refused to believe that they'd also recognize all the references, just from growing up in this culture. I'm still waiting to hear if any of them have taken a look.
They could be the Three Muskateers with a plus 1 ! Then Sarah would have to decide who was the watered down one that was the plus 1 and who the others were, but ultimately it would easier to figure that out. :)Liz
Maybe the three stooges? plus one?
and, yep, it is like osmosis- I know a ton of Xmas songs, too!
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