Yamim Noraim, the
Days of Awe, are the first ten days in the Jewish calendar. These days consist
of a spiritual assessment that is meant to lead people to greater
self-awareness. This in turn offers an opportunity to seek forgiveness from
those whom we have wronged as well as offer repentance to God, thereby
beginning the new year with a clean spirit.
Rosh Hashanah (literally: Head of the Year) is one of four new years in the Jewish calendar. This new year, the beginning of the calendar year, celebrates the birth of creation, the beginning of all humankind. However, until Talmudic times, it was referred to as Yom Teruah, the Day of the Sounding of the Shofar and Yom HaZikkaron, the Day of Remembering. These are the traditions that we continue to observe as mitzvot (commandments) in observing the holiday. The service is one of introspection. We look at what we have done, who we have been during the past year and look toward making t’shuvah (repentance) - a turning, a correction, a repair to any past wrong words and deeds. Toward that end, we listen to the blasts of the shofar, a natural horn from an animal. The shofar was heard when the Torah was received at Mt. Sinai. It was sounded in ancient times as a wake up call for battle, for announcing holidays and for anointing kings. The various calls sounded this day represent the yells, cries and sobs that awaken us to do the tasks required to make repairs to ourselves and to our world; the world of which God is King.
After the service, we head to a living body of water for Tashlich, a service where we ceremonially cast away sins into the water. Water is rebirth and purification. The fish, whose eyes are always open, remind us that we can’t ever hide our actions from the Architect of the World, nor from ourselves. We will be back here, hopefully, next year.
We eat apples dipped in honey and wish each other a ‘Good, Sweet Year’, ‘L’Shana Tovah, U’metukah’.
The tenth day of the month, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is a 25 hour complete fast day: neither food nor drink. This is not for the sake of deprivation so much as for concentration on spiritual rather than physical needs. The day is filled with prayer, study and special nusach (melodies used throughout the season). Communal confessional prayers are chanted, martyrology is proclaimed, yizkor (remembrance for the deceased) is recited. At the end of the day, forgiveness is assumed, the shofar is sounded, the fast is broken and we joyously begin the preparations for the next holiday, Sukkot, which begins in five days.
Rosh Hashanah (literally: Head of the Year) is one of four new years in the Jewish calendar. This new year, the beginning of the calendar year, celebrates the birth of creation, the beginning of all humankind. However, until Talmudic times, it was referred to as Yom Teruah, the Day of the Sounding of the Shofar and Yom HaZikkaron, the Day of Remembering. These are the traditions that we continue to observe as mitzvot (commandments) in observing the holiday. The service is one of introspection. We look at what we have done, who we have been during the past year and look toward making t’shuvah (repentance) - a turning, a correction, a repair to any past wrong words and deeds. Toward that end, we listen to the blasts of the shofar, a natural horn from an animal. The shofar was heard when the Torah was received at Mt. Sinai. It was sounded in ancient times as a wake up call for battle, for announcing holidays and for anointing kings. The various calls sounded this day represent the yells, cries and sobs that awaken us to do the tasks required to make repairs to ourselves and to our world; the world of which God is King.
After the service, we head to a living body of water for Tashlich, a service where we ceremonially cast away sins into the water. Water is rebirth and purification. The fish, whose eyes are always open, remind us that we can’t ever hide our actions from the Architect of the World, nor from ourselves. We will be back here, hopefully, next year.
We eat apples dipped in honey and wish each other a ‘Good, Sweet Year’, ‘L’Shana Tovah, U’metukah’.
The tenth day of the month, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is a 25 hour complete fast day: neither food nor drink. This is not for the sake of deprivation so much as for concentration on spiritual rather than physical needs. The day is filled with prayer, study and special nusach (melodies used throughout the season). Communal confessional prayers are chanted, martyrology is proclaimed, yizkor (remembrance for the deceased) is recited. At the end of the day, forgiveness is assumed, the shofar is sounded, the fast is broken and we joyously begin the preparations for the next holiday, Sukkot, which begins in five days.