When I moved to Jacksonville, Florida, in 2006, I noticed much more general affiliation with university sports than I’d ever seen before.
I saw a “house divided” flag outside a home with University of Florida and Florida State University on either side, and I didn’t quite understand. In 2009, I joined the Gator Nation and finally understood the obsession. Fall means football in the South. Now that the college football season is over we can focus on the NFL playoffs and the upcoming Super Bowl XLVIII.
The Super Bowl is the once-a-year, end-all-be-all of professional football. Even if you don’t care about the game the Super Bowl is often the showcase for some of the funniest commercials shown all year, as well as a half-time show that is always full of surprises.
As the daughter of two avid Patriots fans, I’ve watched many a Super Bowl over the past several years. And as the daughter of a Jewish educator, I spent a lot of time growing up at temple. This got me to wondering, do we have a Jewish equivalent to this supreme sports event?
Yom Kippur is often called the holiest day of the year. Just like when people who don’t watch football the whole rest of the year make sure that they are watching the Super Bowl, if for no other reason than to be able to talk about with co-workers the next day. In the movie
Keeping the Faith
, Ben Stiller even refers to Yom Kippur as the Super Bowl of the Jewish calendar. It’s a time when rabbis write a “best of” sermon and Jews, who might not attend services the rest of the year, skip work and class to attend temple.
But in my home there is nothing better than Passover! You may not like eating matzah for 7 days, but there are few things greater than grandpa’s stories that he tells every year, delicious matzah ball soup, and singing—LOTS of singing—to make seder fun. Who said you can’t live off seder leftovers for the rest of Passover? Trust me…it can be done!
There are many other important Jewish holidays throughout the year, and everybody has a different connection to each.
So I’ll just leave you with this question:
What is your Jewish Super Bowl?
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seder
Pronounced: SAY-der, Origin: Hebrew, literally “order”; usually used to describe the ceremonial meal and telling of the Passover story on the first two nights of Passover. (In Israel, Jews have a seder only on the first night of Passover.)
Yom Kippur
Pronounced: yohm KIPP-er, also yohm kee-PORE, Origin: Hebrew, The Day of Atonement, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar and, with Rosh Hashanah, one of the High Holidays.
