Date: September 27, 2022 09:19 pm Title: Rosh Hashanah (September 13, 2007)
A very nice look into the Jewish!Jim world for sure. I like that now that he's past the troubled waters he has the head space to reflect on some of the aftermath of the last few years. O e gets the sense that this Jim was really being quite selfish while he was pining away. To recognize that, gave it, and let it go would yes be a moment of lightness.
Feels like Pam gets to reap the rewards of that after, during, or before dinner.
Belated Happy Birthday Max.
Shana tovah!
Author's Response: I feel like he has to have had this moment at some point post-The Job, you know? Given both the opportunity to safely reflect and the very noticeable human cost of that episode.
Well, Pam's earned it!
Thanks as always for taking the time to read and review!
1 [Report This]Date: September 27, 2022 12:38 pm Title: Rosh Hashanah (September 13, 2007)
Well Shana Tova Jim! And Shana Tova DJC!
The idea of Jim doing Taslich here is really nice, and I love how you included pretty much EVERYONE (including Sara-without-an-h). Maybe Dwight could have snuck in there though hehe
Very cute of Pam trying to make the meal the next day
Would love to see Michael's attempt at Yom Kippur for next week (joking, but kinda not, chop chop)
Have a jellybean while you can still eat it!!
Author's Response: Shana tovah to you, my friend!
Well, Jim has a lot of wrongs to think about. He's casting a wide net here.
Pam is a good egg. She's doing her level best here.
I shudder to think what Michael would do with Yom Kippur.
Thanks so much, and thanks for taking the time to review!
1 [Report This]Date: September 26, 2022 09:39 am Title: Rosh Hashanah (September 13, 2007)
I don't necessarily buy Jim as Jewish, but I don't have anything against it either. He needed this, and so did we. Thanks for writing it.
*“You get so much more Jewish when there’s food to be eaten or work to be skipped, Halpert”*
Haha, THIS I can buy.
*Except… now he has his happy ending. Jim woke up this morning spooning Pam Beesly, just like he’d always dreamed. Her clothes are in the top drawer of his dresser and her ring is in a shoebox on the high shelf of his closet.*
swooooon
*Bread for his mom, and how sad he saw his own sadness made her. “A mother is only as happy as her least happy child,” she always says, and that’s been him for a long damn time.*
This really got me.
*For all the snippy comments when she wouldn’t give him what he wanted. For all the times she needed a friend and he was something other than one. For dropping a bomb on all her plans. For leaving her without saying goodbye. For how cold he was when he came back to Scranton. For taking the olive branch she offered him after the pepper spray incident and snapping it over his knee. For the week she had to wait for him to come back after her Beach Day speech.
He has more to make amends to Pam for than anyone.*
Eep. You right, though.
This was beautifully written, great job!
Author's Response: Jewish!Jim (and Jewish!Toby, another of my personal hobbyhorses) undeniably took multiple fatal blows in canon in Seasons 5 and 6. But as with Thanos, reality can be whatever I want, and you are very welcome. It's always fun to dig out that headcanon.
Pam has his number, for sure. Although I maintain this comes across a little meaner that she strictly speaking intended it and that leads her to her actions in the conclusion.
Season 4 is so light and happy. It's great.
I'm not sure where I first heard this phrase, but it's always stuck with me.
Truth hurts, Jimbo. Not as much as jumping on a bicycle with the seat removed, but it hurts.
Thank you so much! And thanks for taking the time to review!
Date: September 26, 2022 05:02 am Title: Rosh Hashanah (September 13, 2007)
It's the morning after my personal new year and the morning of the one of my people. Like Jim, I'll be heading to synagogue myself soon. Is that why this fic got me so verklempt? A bit, but even without my personal attachment, this one was moving and very sweet.
Thank you for the birthday wishes and fic. I am touched by it. Thank you also for the image of Jim above the water. I can't help but think he might have been thinking of some other moments by the water as they pertain to Pam, on their boat trip where he could not find the words, and after the beach games, standing ankle deep in it as he maybe finally starting coming around to the 'right decision'. It conjured up other similar ritual images, him fisting his chest, reciting more general sins and (I borrow these words but it fits so well here) defibularating his heart to awaken a better self...one that Pam helped bring about.
Now Jim can just… be. And wouldn’t you know it, it turns out Pam loves him just as he is, unfiltered and unrestrained. Because Pam loves him. (Pam loves him!) - this was beautifully written.
Cute that Pam calls him out on his selective devoutness and I so relate with the uncomfortable folding chairs - (see Pam, many people become more Jewish around this time, so much that extra chairs need to be brought out). We've had to sit in them many times - hard to get two young boys dressed for temple (plus fancy myself up, since we all know that looking around to see everyone is what we all do) - and get to synagogue in time to get a seat in the pews.
Now the section where he atones via bread thrown in the water for all those he had wronged, that just got me. You got me starting with Karen (who as you said he had a lot to be sorry about).
Bread for his mom, and how sad he saw his own sadness made her. “A mother is only as happy as her least happy child,” she always says, and that’s been him for a long damn time. OH HOW TRUE THIS IS. More so as they are older since its no longer silly stuff, but real troubles that we moms feel as strongly perhaps as they do. I feel for what Betsy must have gone through during his darkest days following Casino night.
Of course he must atone for Dwight, even if he will be back to it by the next work day.
And for Roy, this was so poignant - the line about coveting...you don't often think about it how it was that, but for years he was breaking the 10th commandment. Not to mention how he upended what Roy had with Pam, even if he didn't appreciate it like he should have.
'For taking the olive branch she offered him after the pepper spray incident and snapping it over his knee. For the week she had to wait for him to come back after her Beach Day speech.' - another line that just got me.
The ending was just so sweet and perfect... the taste of the honey on her lips..delish.
And I love the justification for your continuity discrepancy. I say if GD (that being Greg Daniels) can do it, so can DJC.
Thanks you again for the birthday wishes and the fic. A Sweet New Year to you and all.
Author's Response: Well, verklempt was definitely my goal here, and I'm happy to take credit for the work of the calendar. A happy and sweet fresh start to both of your new years.
The latter images were very much intended, and I'm glad that came through. The comparison to all the Jim-and-Pam-by-the-water moments hadn't occurred to me and I wish I'd referenced it now!
Season 4 Jim is really fun to write sometimes. He's just so giddy.
The plight of the High Holy Days-only synagogue attendee is REAL.
I think, or at least hope, the pain he caused Karen is very much on his mind at this point in the story, not yet knowing that she's getting her happy ending.
Hmmm. By the way, if anyone non-Max is reading this and agrees, you really ought to read "Sleepless Nights."
He is sorry! Just not sorry enough to in any way restrain himself!
It's kind of hard to define what Jim did to Roy without getting into touchy questions about what the "theft" of a person is... I think coveting covers it pretty well, though.
Pam really does take it on the chin a lot from Jim in Season 3, and while I am a staunch Season 3 Jim defender or at least explainer, I think he would've been cringing at a lot of his behavior with 20/20 hindsight.
The ending mainly came about because I thought the "you get more Jewish when there's worked to be skipped or food to beaten" line, while funny, was maybe a little meaner than Pam might be and I thought she'd feel bad. She's a good egg, that Pam Beesly. Glad you liked it!
Continuity is for mortals.
You are very welcome, and thank YOU for being born.
1 [Report This]Date: September 25, 2022 10:29 pm Title: Rosh Hashanah (September 13, 2007)
Uh hi, why did this make me emotional?
But for real, Jim's introspection here is really good. His self-awareness and concern for those around him, especially pre-Pam, was great to read and felt true to his character as well.
And of course Pam being adorable and them being adorable together and fluff and happiness and I love it all thank you sir.
Well done!
Author's Response: I know he's happy about how it ended and thinks the sacrifices were worth it... but I do strongly feel that there's a lot he did in this period of his life Jim would ultimately feel pretty awful about, and probably did at the time, too.
The last bit sort of came because I thought the crack about him being more Jewish when it got him something was too funny not to use but also maybe a little meaner than Pam typically is, and she might want to make up for it, and it wound up in a delightfully fluffy place.
Thank you so much! Really glad this one worked for you.