Monday, September 29, 2008

apples & honey.

It's the high holidays, folks!  Well, for about 1.3% of your beautiful country, it is.  For those who don't know what this means, it is that the two most important holidays in the Jewish faith have arrived: Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (Yome Key - Pour.. not Yahm Kipper).  If you just said - or plan to comment - that you thought Chanukah was the "most important Jewish holiday," just e-mail me.  We'll talk later.

Moving on.  For those who do not know what these two holidays are, they are the Jewish New Year (5769) and "our" day of repentance, respectively.  They are also the days of seeing the entire hometown congregation for the first time since you moved out of your parents' house, shvitzing in the local synegogue for two hours, sneaking Tic Tacs around the back row, and having a silent party in your head when they sound the shofar because you know that means the service is coming to a conclusion.

Unfortunately, the holidays (like the other 98.3% of the population's) come with stress and part of that stress always involves food in one way, shape, or form (no pun intended).  Tonight, my mother received the infamous, "You gotta put some meat on her bones!  Girls these days don't eat enough!" To which she replied, "Oh, haha!  Believe me, she knows.." and we semi-awkwardly walked away.  This duo has a wide range of responses along those lines.

Less than being part of our society, it's a part of my history; Jewish women must be sure that all other people of the world are well-fed.  Truth be told, I would probably still hear lines like that even if I were at the weight I am working towards.  I take about as much offense to comments like those as I do to any Jewish person telling your average "big nose joke".  I think it's mostly because of the generation that is commonly trying to feed every not-as-hungry-as-she-thinks person; they were raised in a different time when eating disorders were never spoken of.  Of course, I think that specific time ended with the "baby boomers" generation, but that really only reinforces my point.

I'm starting to realize that as much as comments about other peoples' weights and eating habits can really frustrate me, the people who makes those comments are ignorant to that.  We have two choices of how to deal with that ignorance: express our discomfort, or let it roll off.  Not saying anything and then being frustrated about it is like hating our president when you didn't vote.  I'd prefer to let it go.  There are more important things.

..Like enjoying our sweet new year.
L'shana tova :)

3 comments:

KC said...

good luck through the holidays. yeah, comments are the pits. when I was in New Zealand my host mum kept complaining that "American girls don't eat enough." she'd send me to work with candy bars and chips trying to fatten me up.

Anonymous said...

When someone says something so blatantly ignorant you can't seem to think past what they’ve said and how it affects you. Then when you're calm later, you realize what you wish you had said. I wish I said, “Yes my daughter is quite aware of her own body. 1 because she is a very wise young woman able to take care of herself, and 2 because she’s recovering from an eating disorder and has gotten a wonderful education in nutrition.” WHY do we think of this stuff AFTER!!!!! Wouldn't it be great if we could all take a deep breath and calm down after someone says something stupid? I'll be working on that this year. :)

emmy. said...

hang onto that for the next time someone comments on my weight in front of both of us ;)

love youuu.