My peeps invented penitence
Yesterday I was telling a friend that I’m starting lent today along with all the Catholics in the world. I give up alcohol for forty days. My friend asked why I, a Jew, would be observing a Catholic holiday and I said because I can. But I was reading a friend’s blog this morning and saw that perhaps the tradition had some roots in Judaism, a religion that certainly knows how to suffer and commemorate suffering probably better than most.
I like the whole idea of Lent because I think it is good to take a break from the ordinary and get distance from it. It’s easy to stop and meet friends and have a cocktail, or have a glass of wine with dinner, or look forward to a cosmopolitan when we head to Meaux Bar for our now infrequent dinners out. But the truth is there are other ways to polish the apple, and giving up alcohol for 40 days goes a long way in helping my waistline avoid empty calories.
So ashes to ashes, pounds to dust.