{"id":24831,"date":"2015-07-03T08:46:20","date_gmt":"2015-07-03T14:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=24831"},"modified":"2015-07-03T08:48:36","modified_gmt":"2015-07-03T14:48:36","slug":"should-we-feast-or-fast-during-4th-of-july-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/should-we-feast-or-fast-during-4th-of-july-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"Should we feast or fast during 4th of July weekend?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By EDMON J. RODMAN<\/p>\n<p>LOS ANGELES (JTA)\u00a0\u2014 On this holiday weekend, due to a confluence of special days \u2014 Independence Day, the 17th of Tammuz and Shabbat \u2014 American Jews will have the opportunity to both celebrate our religious freedom and retrace what we did when it was threatened.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_24832\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Fireworks.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24832\" class=\"wp-image-24832 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Fireworks-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Fireworks\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Fireworks-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Fireworks-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/200;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24832\" class=\"wp-image-24832 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Fireworks-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Fireworks\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Fireworks-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Fireworks-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-24832\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A fireworks display is a popular way to celebrate the Fourth of July \u2014 but it\u2019s not the only way. (Shutterstock)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The 17th of Tammuz, a little-known fast day, commemorates the breach of Jerusalem&#8217;s walls by the Romans that led to the destruction of the Second Temple \u2014 and, eventually, to another chapter of the Jewish Diaspora. The day also marks the beginning of the three-week mourning period leading to Tisha b&#8217;Av.<\/p>\n<p>The 17th of Tammuz falling on July 4th is a coincidence that happens about every 10 to 20 years, with the most famous being in 1776. The next time this will happen is in 2034, a Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>For observant Jews, the answer of how to observe this calendrical concurrence is dictated by the day. Since the 17th of Tammuz falls on Shabbat, which is supposed to be joyous, the fast \u2014 which lasts from sunrise until nightfall \u2014 gets a rain check until Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>For those of us who are less traditional, and perhaps not even vaguely aware of this minor Jewish day, how should these commemorations color our weekend? For myself, it\u2019s hard enough to integrate celebrating the Fourth on Shabbat \u2014 I\u2019m going to an outdoor service \u2014 let alone add an additional fast day to the two I already observe, Yom Kippur and Tisha b\u2019Av.<\/p>\n<p>I wondered: Is there another way to have a celebratory day of red, white and blue \u2014 followed by a more somber day colored more, well, blue? Something like a Passover seder, which would allow us to remember our \u201cgoing out\u201d and recall a time when our religious freedom and our lives were in jeopardy.<\/p>\n<p>Looking for direction, I contacted Ron Wolfson, who has written extensively about holding seders for occasions other than Passover, including Shabbat and Thanksgiving. Perhaps he had ideas about how to celebrate these days in early July.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_24833\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Ron-Wolfson.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24833\" class=\"wp-image-24833 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Ron-Wolfson-300x286.jpg\" alt=\"Ron Wolfson\" width=\"300\" height=\"286\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Ron-Wolfson-300x286.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Ron-Wolfson.jpg 566w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/286;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24833\" class=\"wp-image-24833 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Ron-Wolfson-300x286.jpg\" alt=\"Ron Wolfson\" width=\"300\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Ron-Wolfson-300x286.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Ron-Wolfson.jpg 566w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-24833\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Author and educator Ron Wolfson \u2014 in a bagel shop decked out for the holiday \u2014 says the Fourth of July is a time to remember. (Photo by Edmon J. Rodman)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In his latest book, \u201cThe Best Boy in the United States of America,\u201d Wolfson reflects on his childhood growing up among Jewish immigrants. In the memoir, he writes about his grandfather Louis Paperny, a fruit peddler in Omaha, Nebraska, who successfully made his way in the new world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe came to the U.S. from Minsk in 1906 with nothing,\u201d said Wolfson, who met with me in a bagel shop in Southern California&#8217;s San Fernando Valley that was decorated, appropriately enough, in red, white and blue.<\/p>\n<p>His grandfather, who first sold melons at the train station, turned that success into a fruit and vegetable stand \u2014 and eventually into a family-owned grocery store, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Fourth of July is a time to remember that,\u201d said Wolfson, a professor of education at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p>But he also believes that this year, \u201cThe Fourth of July ought to be a time when we just don\u2019t have a picnic and watch fireworks,\u201d he said. Instead, Wolfson wants us to \u201cstop and think about the blessings of freedom and independence and the great opportunities that America afforded the Jewish community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat about using the weekend to look into the journeys our families have taken to come to America?\u201d I suggested, thinking of my grandfather Joseph Singer, whose U.S. certificate of citizenship lists his former nationality as \u201cRumania Austria\u201d and his race as \u201cHebrew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wolfson also thinks that immigrants who have arrived more recently, such as Persian and Russian Jews, can identify with the hopes for religious and economic freedom that brought earlier waves of Jewish immigrants to America.<\/p>\n<p>For inspiration, he suggests checking out <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freedomsfeast.us\/\" target=\"_blank\">Freedom\u2019s Feast<\/a>, an online &#8220;interactive civics program&#8221; that encourages &#8220;creative celebration of our national holidays.&#8221; Freedom&#8217;s Feast \u2014 Wolfson is its executive editor \u2014 implores us\u00a0 to \u201clearn new ways to explore and participate in our American democratic tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There, besides the holiday \u201cconversation starters&#8221; I found, in their guide to Independence Day, the beginning of the Declaration of Independence turned into a responsive reading:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cALL: We hold these truths to be self-evident<\/p>\n<p>Reader: that all men are created equal,<\/p>\n<p>Reader: that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,<\/p>\n<p>Reader: that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Generations later, if we have we forgotten their journeys and their reasons for coming, it\u2019s time to rediscover their stories. This holiday weekend, perhaps the morning after the &#8220;rockets\u2019 red glare,&#8221; we can retrace the paths that brought them to America \u2014 and then, if we are not fasting, with a strong cup of coffee, say a &#8220;l\u2019chaim&#8221; for the freedom that they gave us.<\/p>\n<p><em>(Edmon J. Rodman is a JTA columnist who writes on Jewish life from Los Angeles. Contact him at <a href=\"mailto:edmojace@gmail.com\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"clickable ClickableEmail inactive\">edmojace@gmail.com<\/span><\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Should%20we%20feast%20or%20fast%20during%204th%20of%20July%20weekend%3F\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":24832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7188,6953,8790,8795,7187,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24831"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24831"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24834,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24831\/revisions\/24834"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}