(And Why Diabetes is Like Judaism…)
Today, Jews around the world are celebrating their traditional New Year’s holiday, known as Rosh Hashanah, which translates literally to “the head of the year.” We eat apples and honey, to usher in the beginning of a sweet new year (no idea how to properly dose insulin for that, btw). But it’s not only the beginning of a new calendar year; it’s considered a celebration of the Birthday of the World.
[I read that Rosh Hashanah is particularly auspicious this year, as the date coincides with the 70th anniversary of "that infamous moment on September 30, 1938, when Neville Chamberlain stepped off a plane, waving a sheet of paper like a white flag of surrender, and then declared outside 10 Downing Street peace for our time" — by standing up to those who sought to seize absolute power in World War II.]
This new year in Jewish history will be 5769. That’s a long, long time. And as history tells us, the Jewish people spent much of that time being ridiculed, exiled, and persecuted. They had about as little reason to keep up a message of hope as any dogged prey. But that’s just what they did.
Seemingly against all reason, they just kept talking about hope, about improving the world, about trying to do it better next time. Rosh Hashanah was and remains “a time to look ahead with hope.”
Like the secular New Year, this holiday calls on people to transform their lives, by looking back at the year past and determining what they can do better. “It teaches us that we can stop repeating destructive patterns of behavior and move on.” There’s always room for a fresh start and a new beginning, even when things look hopeless.
And it strikes me that this is kind of the way we ought to — or hopefully do — live our lives with diabetes: full of hope despite the odds, and ready to try a fresh start even after we’ve stumbled again and again. Of course with diabetes, you’ve got to recommit to this transformation every single morning when you get out of bed (sigh).
There’s even a Rosh Hashanah tradition of casting off your “sins” (your worldly mistakes, not your moral shortcomings) by tossing away bread crumbs in a creek or park — as if to say, “be gone, boo-boos, let me start over today.” Wouldn’t it be cathartic to go for a walk and ritually “cast off” all the diabetes mistakes you’ve made? Let the birds eat them!
When I think about it, even the crux of Rosh Hashanah could be pure Diabetes Doctrine: “Although the future is uncertain, and fraught with peril, let us look ahead with hope.” May it be so.
In that spirit: Happy Birthday, World.
Interesting column… I thought you made some good points. However, you should have read the Guardian column a little closer. 1938 was not the end of World War II; it was the beginning. What Neville Chamberlain did with the Munich Agreement is “infamous” because it was part of the policy of appeasement towards Hitler and Nazi Germany. Anyway, I enjoyed your column but being a history nerd I just wanted to clarify a few points!
L’Shanah Tovah!
And along with the apples and honey are the challah dipped in honey, and the carrot coins simmered in honey, and the honey cake, and all the other sweet treats…
If you have not done so, check out both Jewish Friends With Diabetes and also the Jewish Diabetes Association. The JDA also offers for sale Nechama Cohen’s Enlitened Kosher Cooking; Nechama is T1 (most likely LADA) and had to practically reinvent kosher cooking to make it a bit healthier for living with diabetes. (Check the review and comments over on DiabeticConnect.)
Oh, so close! But you’re still misreading the original article. Chamberlain had just signed the Munich Agreement, giving Germany a large area of land in an attempt to appease them and avoid war. So he didn’t really stand up to anything, and the speech they are referring to is remembered ironically. The article is not saying that this event was a positive one (“infamous” is a negative word); it is urging people to stop repeating destructive cycles and to make real change (also a good lesson for people with diabetes!)
Hello Amy, I just want to say, I am inspired by today’s column and feel a sense of renewal from having read it. Happy New Year!
L’Shana Tova.
Wishing a sweet and healthy year of goodness to you, your family and readers.
Roger Curtis
Los Angeles
Type 1 44 years and going strong!
L’shana tova!
Awesome analogy between Judaism and diabetes…I like anything that ties any part of my life to diabetes even if it’s a small part. And I’m so with you, I have no idea how to count the carbs in…pretty much any of the Jewfood. Heck I’m not even 100% sure what’s in some of it. The holidays I participate in usually hurt.
But your post does inspire me, because of the connection. Thank you.
Ashley
I like using Rosh Hashannah and the days between now and Yom Kippur to reflect and renew on my diabetes stuff and I too think there are some good parallels. And I’m not usually super religious/ into the idea of sins, but I find it useful to think about sins including those I commit against my own body, and being able to repent/grieve, than forgive myself and let it go, with a renewed hope/drive to work on stuff. I certainly need it this year.
Shana Tova.
Happy World Brithday Amy.
LY/MI
Amy,
Happy New Year! I loved this post. I have never heard the “happy birthday to the world” theme before 5769 and I’m hearing it all the time now. Did Israel send a central briefing to all the Rabbis?
Question: do you post a column about fasting on Yom Kippur and diabetes?
Melissa
L’Shana Tova, Amy.
Thank you for all that you do. May you have a healthy, happy year.
I blogged a little bit about Rosh Hashanah, too this year, for the first time. I definitely think about my diabetes when I’m surveying my own “progress” over the past year.