A headline caught my eye this week. Earth Is Flat as a Pita: The Israelis Who Push the Ultimate Conspiracy Theory.  I admit it. I do enjoy a fun conspiracy theory. But Flat Earth Society? Here in Israel? In this day and age? Yes, they are here and they prefer to be called “flatters.”

The moon landing was directed by Stanley Kubrick.  In fact, the moon is a hologram.  NASA is faking all the spherical earth pictures. There are no such things as satellites. The “space race” was just part of the Cold War propaganda of the US and USSR lying to each other.  We are slaves in the matrix.  Fun stuff!

I had the opportunity to see The Book of Mormon on Broadway and along with everyone else, I laughed at the very detailed and specific beliefs of Mormons.  For a little taste, here’s “I Believe” from The Book of Mormon.  Interestingly, according to the lyrics, God and Jesus have planets and our singer expects to get one as well.  However, no reference is made to whether the planet would be flat.

The Book of Mormon got me thinking: Phrased in a certain way, wouldn’t all religions sound ridiculous?  For example, the basis of Judaism is that a guy went up a mountain and sat in the clouds for while. He came down with two tablets listing ten rules for living that he said were carved by the finger of God. If you believe that, why couldn’t the earth be flat?

Rosh Hashana is coming up next week and we will be starting the year 5778.  The rabbis calculated how long it has been since the world was created based on ages given the Bible, reigns of kings, and then some post-Bible history, and they came up with 5778.  Never mind that the sun was only created on the fourth day and so it seems unlikely that the three days before it were on a 24-hour cycle.  How long is God’s day anyway?

A year should be earth’s revolution around the sun.  But “flatters” believe that the sun revolves around the earth.  I wonder if they just accept the matrix version of a 365-day year.

One thing that I think everyone, no matter their beliefs, can agree on is that it is worthwhile to regularly take some time to be introspective and evaluate where you are in life and where you want to go from here.  When you look in the mirror, are you proud of the person you are?  What can you do to improve?

Every year, Jews spend a few days doing some “soul accounting” (heshbon nefesh) to have a good start to the next year and be written (probably by the finger of God) in the Book of Life.

Here’s a little video about gaining clarity in the New Year (with the mention of the planet spinning).  Never mind that there are no women in the video and who knows what break dancing has to do with clarity, but that’s a different blog post.

Wishing everyone a Shana Tova u’Metuka!

A good and sweet year! May it be a year of good health, much happiness, and great success!

*Next week I’ll be on hiatus and maybe doing a little introspection, but I’ll be back the week after.