Lent's Got Nuthin' on Us

When I was an Episcopalian growing up in Covina, California, we always ‘gave up’ something for Lent, that season before Holy Week when we were supposed to commemorate Jesus’ fasting in the wilderness for forty days (remind me some time and I’ll give you my thoughts on the use of numbers like three, seven, forty in the Bible).
I usually gave up chocolate; actually, I should say my mother gave up chocolate for me. I don’t remember the things she gave up; I can assure you, however, that my dad would have loved it if she’d given up her ‘charge-a-plate’ cards (what they used to call credit cards back in the Stone Age) for Lent.
When I was a grown-up Episcopalian I used to give up meat for Lent. I ate a lot of pita bread and Jack cheese and tuna and always lost some weight (after a while the boredom sets in but the shame of breaking Lent was greater than the desire for a Bob’s Big Boy).
When I grew away from Christianity and into the Judaism that has always been my soul’s home, there was no Lent. There was, however, Passover. For the first few years, Passover’s eight days made memories of Lent fond memories of….bread! No bread, no cupcakes, no crackers, no oatmeal, no cereal if it was made from leavened grains, no wheat, oats, rye, barley or spelt (spelt?) that wasn’t grown kosher, harvested kosher, and made into, you got it MATZAH!
Matzah brei, matzah kugel, matzah ball soup. Oy vey is mir!
But only eight days.
As I’ve learned more and more about Judaism, I’ve come to realize that we have our own Lent in reverse. We have a whole month of holidays called Elul, the month before the High Holy Days begins on One Tishrei with Rosh Hashanah.
Okay, we can do something with that. But then, of course, our Rabbi thought of a something first. Give up gossip for the month of Elul and take on one more positive thing we haven’t been doing before.
Do you know how fracking hard it is to give up gossip – lashon hara (tongue of evil) – for one day, let alone one month?
And what is this, a holiday month, in which I have to give up something? Aha (you have to say it ‘aaaachaaaah’ with that good Jewish ‘ch’)! That’s the trick. Not engaging in lashon hara is a mitzvah, a commandment, and every time you obey a commandment, it’s a yom tov, a good day. And you should celebrate all good days.
So here’s what a bunch of us decided: every time we engage in lashon hara (saying gossip or allowing someone to pass gossip), we put a quarter in our lashon hara jar.
So far, $17.50 and counting….