No Foolin' Around

On April Fool's Day, actress Mayam Bialik put an April Fool's post on her blog dealing with incorporating "pot" into the sader meal. One of the jokes involved putting joints into the menorah rather then candles, and just taking a hit whenever you needed one. There were many other things in the post that involved getting high and singing and other things of that nature. I read the post and busted up laughing...I must admit. I was imagining everybody laughing while they were getting high. I debated for a minute, and then I posted her post on my FB page. But in reality, I thought, "You know, that's terrible. They should not be making fun of the Passover meal, that is very sacred and represents a cleansing and a purifying process." Now Mayam Bialik is Jewish herself and she has written about her roots in Israel. She was where I came across this April Fool's entry, and I figured, if she laughed at it, and found it funny, then I could too (even though I'm not Jewish). So later that evening, I saw a post from one of my Facebook friends, which said, basically, that they did not understand all this April Fool's stuff, because it was anti-Semitic.

I paused a moment. Oh dear. Had this person read the post I'd put on my page? I was not sure, and I did not ask...but I felt bad. I would NEVER want to give any impression that I were being disrespectful to those who are Jewish, those who are from Israel, or for any Jewish holiday/feast day. For the record, I LOVE Passover, because I love the idea of cleaning out the leaven. Spending deliberate, planed time with God and beginning again...making a fresh start. Because I'm not Jewish, I've not been raised celebrating these traditions or knowing what they mean...It's only been recently that I've been finding out that our western holiday, Easter, is actually based on the spring equinox, and fertility and other traditions that have little or nothing to do with Jehovah Jire, the God who provides... The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is the God that I presumably worship. Do I know who I'm worshipping? Not if I'm celebrating Easter. (At least in my opinion).

My goal, in all of this, is to be as close as I can to my savior and Lord: Yeshua Hammashiach. I know, as soon as I write this that I need to be who I am without apology because many folks who are Jewish, do not believe that Yeshua is the Messiah, and I suppose, this is because the Tanak speaks of Yahweh, the Father. All I can say, is that I do. I made the decision to be converted (as a Christian) when I was 15. We call it "getting saved" of course...and that's what happened to me. I have read the Old AND the New Covenant's, and am convicted in my heart that Yeshua's undeserved death, hung on a tree, is what paid for our sins. When I say I've read them...that's not cover to cover. I mean that his Holy Spirit has come alive for me through the scripture that I have absorbed. Anyway, I believe the faith that I have is missing a tremendous amount of depth...and on that note, there are many scriptures that I do not understand that I believed I did, because I've not been taught to look at the scriptures with a Hebrew perspective. In short, I think that through history, we have changed the Jewish calendar and replaced the original feast days with what are largely pagan holidays. I can tell you, I have celebrated Easter and Christmas all my life, and won't be offended if anyone gives me best wishes on these days. I just want a deep connection to things like Passover and Palm Sunday (because of the donkey and palm branches), Sukkot, Yom Kippor... These are Biblical feast days that were part of the savior's life, and for most of my short "Christian" life, I believed these did not apply to me.

Anyway, talk about mixed messages! I claim to want to "embrace" the Jewish faith so much (and let's face it...April Fools Day is probably the worst day of the whole year for BAD Jewish humor) and then I post something on FB that was totally mocking one of the Old Covenant feast days. Now, don't misunderstand me: this post is not to say anything negative about Mayam Bialik. She was celebrating April Fool's Day, and she said so in her post, and that's her choice, and that's cool. But being that this is only my first Passover (and I have no idea what I'm doing), being that I've never had a Menorah in my house before (although I would love to), being that I have so much to learn; AND being that I really did not agree with the article anyway, as far as whether it was funny (no), I really should not have re-posted something that took such a crass, blatant "shot" at something so sacred and holy, and wonderful. I LOVE Isreal and I LOVE Israel's people...I stand with them, not against them. I never want to give anyone reason to believe otherwise. Certainly, my intent was never in any way, to appear anti-Semitic. :)

On a final note...I have no idea who bgan Aril Fools Day, but the information I read said that pope Gregory changed our calendar from the Julius Calendar, to his own, and that New Years Day had been previously celebrated on April 1st, rather than January 1st. So, if true...that could explain a lot.