A Belated Yom Teru'ah Card From Reilly

 

PS Reilly and "Momma" are not talking about those whom cannot fast—piku'ach nefesh comes first, and Yehovah (B"H) looks at intent.

An Early Card From Reilly

An Early Yom Kippur Card From Reilly and Camille

PS Since the sun has not set west of the EST Time Zone and some celebrate Shabbat until three stars appear in the sky, the card was technically not late 🙂.

Commentary: Why Does Yehovah Give Us Yom Teru'ah In the Middle Of the Year, and Rosh HaShanah In the Spring?

1. "1 And Yehovah spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: 2 'This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you." (From Exodus 12, JPS 1917)
2. "3 And Moses said unto the people: 'Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand Yehovah brought you out from this place; there shall no leavened bread be eaten. 4 This day ye go forth in the month Aviv." (From Exodus 13)
3. "And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have a holy convocation: ye shall do no manner of servile work; it is a day of blowing the horn unto you." (Numbers 29:1. This might look familiar 🙂.)
4. "And on the tenth day of this seventh month ye shall have a holy convocation; and ye shall afflict your souls; ye shall do no manner of work;" (Number 29:7)
5. "Then shalt thou make proclamation with the blast of the horn on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day of atonement shall ye make proclamation with the horn throughout all your land. 10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. 11 A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you; ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of the undressed vines." (From Leviticus 25)
6. "The spirit of Adonai Yehovah is upon me; because Yehovah hath anointed me to bring good tidings unto the humble; He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the eyes to them that are bound; 2 To proclaim the year of Yehovah's good pleasure, and the day of vengeance of Eloheinu; to comfort all that mourn; 3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the mantle of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called terebinths of righteousness, the planting of Yehovah, wherein He might glory." (From Isaiah 61)
7. "And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the broad place of the city; and the old man said: 'Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?'" (Judges 19:17)

Ken...anachu tovim? Anachu tovim achshi'av?

Ken. Anachu tovim. Anachu tovim achishi'av.   

So, why the long drash of verses here? Well, to answer the question as to why Yehovah give us Yom Teru'ah in the middle of the year, and Rosh HaShanah in the spring:

1. If for nothing else, Yom Teru'ah marks the middle of the year to both prepare us for the next year—especially if the year is the Shanah HaYovel—and have us thank Yehovah that we've survived the year so far—see especially Passages 3-6.
2. Yom Teru'ah and Yom Kippur help us reflect on the year so far, where we're going and where we've been in terms of walking with Yehovah, and what we can do differently with the rest of the year and with the coming year—see especially Passages 2, 6, and 7. Also note how Yom Teru'ah parallels with Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur with the picking out of the Pesach lamb (See Exodus 12:3-17), and Pesach with Sukkot (ibid.).
3. In light of Yom Teru'ah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot being times of reflection (since—remember—we should, if we can, dwell in sukkot during Sukkot to remember that we were strangers in Egypt—not to mention gerim v'toshavim like Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Ya'akov Avoteinu. Thus, no day of the year is unto our ourselves—every day is to Yehovah and thus for what we might do to both glorify Yehovah and to help others (and glorify Yehovah in doing so). See especially Passages 3-6.

There are other reasons as well. Meanwhile, these are the three main reasons: preparing for the rest of the year and the coming of the next year, stopping to take stock of where we're going and where we've been, and renewing our commitment to Yehovah and to helping others commit and recommit to Yehovah. 

PS:

1. I wasn't afraid to change the euphemisms "The LORD", etc. to "Yehovah", nor "Abib" to the more-correct "Aviv".
2. In full disclosure, I'm a Jewish Christian and see additional reasons as to why Yom Teru'ah is in the middle of the year and Rosh HaShanah in the spring, although I think that everyone can agree on the reasons that I cited above—regardless of what each of us believes about Yeshua (Jesus)—thus, I think to cite the reasons that I cited is sufficient. 

Somewhat Offbeat: A Milestone October 11th (And Maybe a "Yom Kippur" Miracle If "Momma"'s Lucky) & Reilly's Afternoon Antics

The October 11th of 2016 is Yom Kippur 5776 & the two-week countdown to Reilly's two-year-and-seventh-month birthday—not to mention:

1. One month after the painful 15th anniversary of 9/11—and America somehow still stands strongly.
2. One month before the 98th Anniversary of Armistice Day
3. The day that is two weeks before Reilly's 2016 seventh-month birthday being on the same day as the Fast of the Seventh Month in 5776.
4. The day that Reilly would be fasting if puppies—including adult puppies, whom are "bark mitzvahs"—could fast and would have to fast for teshuvah v'kippurim.

While puppies cannot fast and do not have to fast for any reason, let alone l'ma'an teshuvah v'kippurim, especially because of today would Reilly certainly have to fast if she had a mitzvah to be a shomeret HaYom HaKippurim! Being a single "Momma" with a disability, "Momma" certainly had no fun with Reilly's disobedience as Reilly burst out of the back door while she was taking Camille to "go potty"—Reilly, albe unintentionally, added insult to "Momma"'s injurious state in life by making "Momma" chase her around the backyard, try to get her to avoid eating "nasties" such as mulch, and putting a neighbor in a bad position as he or she was unable to help get disobedient Reilly back inside and late leaving for a family obligation as a result—not to mention that the neighbor, even though he or she has recovered from his or her recent surgery, had the surgery only about a month ago.

This is also another reminder of why "Momma" needs a "Daddy" for Reilly as both "Momma" and "Reilly" get older—besides, an as-possible-as-able man would be able to have authority over Reilly than 5'1.75"-and-afflicted-with-CP-and-Scoliosis "Momma". Granted that, for example, the main person who inspired "Momma" to write about Reilly got frustrated when "Momma" once complained about her state in her life—as he understandably viewed "Momma"'s complaining as being a pity-party schtick, as most other people view it because they don't get how hard it is for "Momma".  

Still, as "Momma" wrote in her last "Offbeat" post:

"As if "Momma" isn't in enough pain, didn't hope for a miracle on Yom Teru'ah and National Boyfriend Day, and isn't even trying to be a good "Momma" to Reilly! As if "Momma" doesn't think about herself and "Reilly" getting older while "Momma" either needs Reilly's "Daddy" to come into her life soon or might have to end up remaining an alteh moid and being another stereotypical and forced-by-life case of the ableist argument that people with disabilities don't get married because society doesn't love them!

"'Momma' hurts enough for herself and for Reilly, and feels like Daisy in The Great Gatsby did:

"'Through this twilight universe Daisy began to move again with the season...'

"["Momma"'s own "twilight universe" is mental-illness flareups that only exacerbate "Momma"'s injurious situation in life.]"

On that note, may "Momma" have a Yom Kippur miracle and have God break her forced fast known as being single with little to no hope of having a "Daddy" for Reilly unless by some miracle. Whether "Momma" will observe the tzom l'Yom Kippur, by the way, is nobody's business but her business and God's business.

By the way, Reilly came back inside after the last time that "Momma" bribed her with yogurt—and Camille got extra yogurt for being a good girl and waiting patiently inside while "Auntie Nicole" had to chase Reilly, had to admonish Reilly several times, pray to a God whom seemed to be not helping her out at quite a few points, try to bribe Reilly with multiple treats (e.g., turkey, yogurt, peanut butter), try to trick her (e.g., "Is Mom-Mom home?"; "Let's go get some salmon."), and otherwise try to get her to go back inside after she explicitly disobeyed "Momma" by bursting out into the backyard as "Momma" was trying to get out through the doorway with Camille.

Also incidentally, as Reilly turns two weeks older and perhaps more stubborn, Reilly's 2016 seventh-month birthday will be wedged right in between what would've been "Momma"'s great-granddad Czarnecki's 112th birthday and his paternal grandmother's 178th birthday—and her namesake granddaughter's 119th birthday (and if only she'd've lived to 120 years instead of died in her 51st year of Breast Cancer!), By the way, "Momma" talks to Reilly about her human family all of the time—and speaking of family, Reilly's twice-removed cousin Shelby turns a year old on October 20th! 

For An Easy Fast On Yom Kippur