Last call

It's closing time in D.C. And everywhere else

Sometimes everybody needs a break.

Most Major League baseball players finished up their long seasons Sunday, while the rest of them took a day off yesterday to get ready for the playoffs. Soon, they’ll all be looking at a few months of vacation.

Meanwhile, esteemed former Fox News host Pete Hegseth has called some 800 of the nation’s top generals and admirals to abandon their posts around the world to meet with him and the head of the regime in Washington today for some R&R, before sending them back to work, no doubt refreshed and reinvigorated, with a renewed culture that includes using American cities as a training ground for warfare.

And of course, tonight at midnight, Congress is getting ready to take a siesta, too, until everyone signs off on a funding bill that has bitterly divided Republicans and Democrats. They reach this point on a regular basis, but after taking heat for wussing out last time, the Dems are now really serious about protecting their chance to get re-elected our healthcare, despite the big guy’s threats to permanently fire hundreds of thousands of employees who’ll be directly affected by the budget impasse.

I myself will be taking off tomorrow at sunset for Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year on the Jewish calendar, which I’ve been observing more or less devoutly (mostly less) my whole life. For me that means 24 hours of fasting, contemplation, repentance for my misdeeds, both small and large, and watching the Dodger game on tv.

That Dodger part is not technically a religious requirement, but we all observe in our own way.

Like many Americans, I was educated in my religion as a child and drifted away from it later, but a lot of people take the High Holy Days pretty seriously, beginning with the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, and running through Yom Kippur 10 days later.

The more literal-minded, orthodox Jews are working hard during that time to convince God to inscribe them in the Book of Life for the coming year, which seems a little too transactional for my taste. I view it more as a chance to reflect on what I’ve done or haven’t done to make the world a better place, to wipe the slate clean, and to start over, trying to do better. Throw the fasting in there with the reflection, and it really ups your game.

Those are just about the only guidelines I follow, yet for the past 10-12 years, when I have gone to synagogue for the holidays, it has been one affiliated with Chabad, an orthodox hasidic movement. I’ve visited many synagogues over the decades and despite my disinterest in adhering to rigid, orthodox principles, I’ve found the Chabad rabbis to be more interesting to me and better able to deliver inspiring sermons. Funnier too, which helps them soothe frayed nerves about what’s going on in the world these days.

That got harder after the horrific, October 7, 2023 massacre and harder still over the past year, as Israel’s response to the attack began to look less like a dedicated effort to rescue its hostages and more like a way to justify a retaliatory, right-wing land grab. A year ago, the sermons I heard during the holidays were somewhat comforting. This year, the one I heard on Rosh Hashanah was less so. It didn’t help that there was one guy in the packed room wearing a red, MAGA yarmulke, and he was sitting right in front of me.

I don’t know if I’ll go back for Yom Kippur this week. Like I said, sometimes people need a break.

The good news is, my daughter sent me a link to her non-denominational rabbi’s Rosh Hashanah sermon, which addresses the issues roiling the world today in a deeply Jewish way. I know not many of you will want to spend 39 minutes watching this gifted speaker, especially during playoff season, but I highly recommend it if you’re interested.