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2003-01-25 - 7:51 p.m.

A TIME TO EVERY PURPOSE

Our local newspaper reports Orthodox Christians here in southeastern Wisconsin held a �Blessing of the Outdoor Waters� service by the shores of Lake Michigan. They stood in the wind and the cold (although not the bitter, bitter cold of the last few days), sang an ancient hymn, and sanctified the lake. And they say that newspapers never report anything positive!

Although I am not Christian, I am very, very glad that someone has taken on the responsibility of blessing the lake. Apparently, the Orthodox Christians plan on making the event annual. Lake Michigan could use an annual blessing more than many other lakes. After all, Lake Michigan is much more a body of sin that many of the Orthodox Christians ever imagine.

Each year in the fall on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, members of my synagogue gather by Lake Michigan for a prayer service. But we do not bless the lake. Instead, we throw bread crumbs into it, thereby symbolically casting off our sins. Over the years, that lake has accumulated LOTS of sins (but I�m not telling what the ones from me were.) Yes, it�s true that those sins eventually would flow into other Great Lakes and down the Saint Lawrence Seaway to the ocean but then so would any blessings.

On a deeper theological level, I don�t really believe in blessing things. As I taught for many years, Jews bless God for various things but they don�t bless the things themselves. Although we sometimes colloquially of the candle blessings or the challah (bread) blessing, our language is simply imprecise. More accurately, we speak of the blessing over wine or the blessing over the candles.

But sometimes surface level thought is very satisfying and comforting and I�ve always liked symbiosis and balance. We cast the sins into the water and the Orthodox Christians purify the water.

There�s a time for every purpose under heaven.

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Here Comes Atticus
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