FW: At Least Six Slain At Pa. Amish School
"So far six confirmed dead and the helicopters are pulling into (Lancaster General Hospital) like crazy," Lancaster County Coroner G. Gary Kirchner said.Six people were dead after a gunman opened fire in a one-room Amish schoolhouse Monday in Pennsylvania’s bucolic Lancaster County, the county coroner said. It was unclear if the shooter was among the six, but state police had said earlier that he had been killed at the school. Police said the situation is now under control.

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On Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, this happens :(  How can we ask G-d for forgiveness of the entire human race when someone is willing to kill children?  What in the world could the Amish be targeted for?  The Amish have got to be one of the most harmless groups of people on the planet!  They keep to themselves and offer help to strangers when needed.

The Amish remind me strongly of a group of people Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time saga known as the Tuatha’an:

Those sworn to the Way of the Leaf are a pacifistic group, pledging to do no violence. They believe that violence harms not only the victim, but the person who harms the victim.

The Way of the Leaf also means taking what must come, and the leaf is an example: "For the leaf lives its appointed time and does not struggle against the wind that carries it away. The leaf does no harm, and finally falls to nourish new leaves." Those sworn to the Way of the Leaf pledge not do violence, but are willing to accept if it comes upon them.

Some born to the Way of the Leaf have trouble accepting this lifestyle. For the most part, though, those who follow the Way of the Leaf are happy and at peace with themselves. Many find it difficult to see how anyone could follow the Way of the Leaf in a world filled with violence and troubles, but these people find it hard to believe people would choose to live any other way.

Despite the difficulties involved, it easy to envy those who follow the Way of the Leaf for the simplicity and peace with which they live their lives.

I’m very angry and I shouldn’t be on Yom Kippur but I am.

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This holiday is the first of the Yamim Noraim (Hebrew, "Days of Awe"), the most solemn days of the Jewish year; the Yamim Noraim are preceded by the month of Elul, during which Jews are supposed to begin a self-examination and repentance, a process that culminates in the ten days of the Yamim Noraim known as Asseret Yemei Teshuva - The Ten Days of Repentance, beginning with Rosh Hashanah and ending with the holiday of Yom Kippur.  — Wikipedia

Even though I enjoy the High Holidays (yes, even the never ending seeming services), sometimes they seem to come at inconvenient times.  In only sixteen days I will be getting married and there are a thousand little things to do and I have work stuff to do and the list goes on and on.  In truth, I’m rather grateful for the High Holidays because they make me STOP and lookaround for a bit.

You know what I’m looking forward to the most?  It is the round challah bread with honey!  When we have challah in the house and my fiance isn’t looking, well, you would be surprised at how much honey challah can absorb without turning into mush!

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