The Jewish High Holidays are about re-birth, starting-over spiritually and religiously. On Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement (or as my daughter calls "The Sorry Day"), the story of Jonah and the Whale calls for profound reexamination of ourselves. Sukkot and then Simchat Torah follow, and we begin reading the Torah all over again. We start with the book of Genesis and the story of Creation: Adam & Eve and the Garden of Eden. Whales and Garden of Eden are two very appropriate motifs for this time period. |
