Recurrent ceremonies observed with dedication to form promote wisdom. Or we may gerrymander Channukah or Christmas into indictment of Capitalism and the Distribution of Goods; or hijack Passover as a delivery medium for platitudes about Social Justice (whatever that is). But no one ever increased in wisdom from listening to his own opinions, whether from his mouth or that of a rabbi.
The traditional celebration of holidays induces one to reflect on changes in himself. If the liturgy for the Days of Awe does not change, nor the sermons stand in for Journalistic Commentary, the penitent may note a year’s changes in his own understanding of them.
“Reformed” religions all veer toward atheism, as they enshrine the momentary understanding of writ and ceremony as pretext for and so celebration of the individual’s superiority to Divine Will and its expression in Scripture.
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