The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Today is the first day of Hanukkah. Also I guess there's some other holiday happening today too.

Thanks to the current political climate I've decided that I'm going to stop just being quiet about my heritage. Something about having literal Nazis coming to power makes me finally understand why Jews historically have refused to assimilate even if it means losing their freedom and life. This is something I never really understood growing up, and I still can't explain it in words.

So I lit the menorah and said the little prayer for the first time in years, and had latkes for dinner.

Oh also I quit my job. Nothing against HBO - it's the best place I've ever worked by far - I'm just tired of being a software engineer and building impersonal things that don't mean anything to me. I want to finally do the things I've always wanted to do. I'm going to live off savings and occasional freelance gigs while I work on comics and music and games and stuff. I have a few years' worth of savings hoarded at this point so that's plenty of time for me to figure this shit out, right?

And I mean it's not like the world is even going to be here by the time my savings run out anyway.

Congrats, fluffy! I know how scary such a move can be, but I haven't regretted it for a second.

JB

Good luck on your newfound freedom and adventure Fluffy! I admire your decision to spend some time living for yourself and throwing yourself into creative work that inspires you.

Good for you, Fluffy! Best of luck to ya, but you'll be alright.

Thanks, everyone. I'm looking forward to it, even if my new boss is totally scatterbrained and never knows what the hell they want.

As a devout and fundamentalist atheist who married the daughter of jewish refugees (mom from Germany and dad from Indian partitioning), I've found the community in and around our synagogue most reassuring, supportive and action-oriented. We're organizing to house Syrian refugees in the building next to our synagogue, volunteer monthly at the homeless shelter in the basement and I play in the Shir Shabbat band with my son every few weeks with some great musicians. Both my sons' Hebrew classes meet with the Imam and kids at the local Mosque a few times a year, a tradition they've had since long before 9/11. Many members are atheists, and there are no assumptions about god, beliefs or whatnot. They do, however, encourage all to discuss, argue and participate. It's built in, in fact, as the torah doesn't use vowels it lends itself to multiple interpretations, which they take delight in arguing over daily. I leave that to the die hards. I'm happy playing and singing.

I've always liked how most forms of Judaism have built-in agnosticism. Growing up my family went to a Conservative temple and the rabbi there was pretty clear about how we know that the Torah is stories passed down by people and that errors and embellishments accumulate, and it's not meant to be the literal word of God so much as a guide for life subject to wiggle room and interpretation. Although I think he'd have been better suited in Reform.

(For what it's worth, a few of the member families were Orthodox and they always clashed. No Hasidic as far as I know though.)

Here in Seattle we have a temple that takes Reform one step further, and is completely secular. I'm not quite sure how that works, exactly, because to me that seems like it's less a temple and more a philosophy club with Saturday brunch. But I guess it's a large and growing movement.

Well fluffy, I've never known you to be an illogical person, so I have the utmost confidence that you are doing the right thing.

....except one thing. I think you should buy a mobile food truck and start selling matzah ball Pho. Really dive into your heritage with a Vietnamese fusion. Blow everyone's taste buds right out of their pie holes! Call your company Fluffy's Pho King Balls.

I'm not sure what's worse, the idea itself or the fact it'd probably do REALLY WELL here.

fluffy wrote:I'm not sure what's worse, the idea itself or the fact it'd probably do REALLY WELL here.

I'm pretty sure it's the idea itself. Because, well, I'm an idiot. It's amazing that I even know how to type on this computing device machine.

Welp, fluffy hasn't responded. You know what tat means. He ran with my idea and opened............Fluffy's Pho King Balls!

I'm still thinking about it.