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Rosh Hashanah Quiz Box

By RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX

fCopyrighil, 1953, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)

QUESTION: Why is it customary to eat sweets on Rosh Ha-

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OF

• Shanah?
ANSWER: This is an old custom. Some trace it back to the
days of Ezra, the scribe, who commanded the people who returned
‘4130 the Holy Land from the first exile to eat sweets on the oc-
casion of this festival. The Talmud (Babli-Horiyot 12a) mentions
this custom as a means of providing an omen for a sweet year.
In the twelfth century we find the Jews of France eating apples
and honey. •
An interesting - explanation is given by one of the sources
which traces the connection between Judgment and sweets in the
*Pentateuch," the "Prophets" and the "Writings" of the Bible.
The 'most interesting of these accounts is the account where.
Abigail brought sweets to King David who was on his way to
Nabal to wreak judgment and vengeance. (I Samuel 25:18). David
TO THE JEWISH. COMMUNITIES.
himself thanked her for greeting him with these symbols of
sweetness, such • as wine, cakes and raisins and preventing him
from causing bloodshed. This, say the commentaries, happened
of Detroit, Flint, Pontiac, Huntington Woods,
on the Day of. Rosh Hashanah. .
The parallel is - self-evident. Just as Abigail turned aside the
Oak Pork, Saginaw, Southw . esiern Michigan and
justified wrath of the King by bringing offerings of sweetness,
so can the people of the world, in their hours of judgment turn
Windsor, whom we are happy to serve in the best
aside the justifiable anger of the Lord by deeds of kindness and
mercy, charity and devotion, love and sweetness. Eating sweets
interests of our people.
thus serves not only as a sweet omen for the New Year; but as
a moral command for us to sweeten our dispositions and outlook
on •life in order to merit a good judgment at the divine tribunal
on the Day of Judgment.
QUESTION: Why is the 47th chapter of the Psalms recited
seven times before the shofar is first blown on Rosh Hashanah?
Additional New Year greetings will appear in the next two weeks' issues of
ANSWER: A number of interesting reasons are offered fur
The Jewish News,
this custom. King David is said to have recited this chapter when
he captured the city of Jerusalem and realized that there the
If your greeting does not appear in these columns, you may insert it in the
Lord •would be recognized as the King over all mankind. Rosh
following issues by filling out the coupon below and mailing it with $2, to
Hashanah, likewise is a festival where we dream of the univer-
THE JEWISH NEWS, 17100 W. 7 Mile Rd., Detroit 35, Mich. Your coupon
sally recognized Kingship of the Almighty.
should reach our office as soon as possible.
The reason for repeating the Psalm seven times is considered
by some as a means of having the shofar blast, which is a call
for mercy, pierce through the seven heavens until it reaches the
MR. and MRS.
and FAMILY
throne of Judgment. Some see in this the seven circuits which
the Israelites made around Jericho before the walls fell, blowing
ADDRESS
the shofar as they went around. We, likewise, seek to break the
walls of indifference, hatred and prejudice that stand in the
(Please Print)
way of mercy.
QUESTION: Why is it necessary for the Rabbi of the congre-
gation to announce the name of each sound of the Shofar before
it is blown?
ANSWER: It was important that the notes be sounded in
their proper succession, each with its own distinctive effort. In
By DAVID SCHWARTZ
order to avoid the possibility of error on the part of the man who
that first settlement in 1654 legs. It was not the Jews, but
(Copyright, 1953, Jewish
blows the shofar, it was customary for that note to be an- Telegraphic Agency,
but Governor Peter Stuyves- others of New Amsterdam who
Inc.)
nounced beforehand. Also, it is claimed, the congregation is re-
The new year will mark the ant, the Dutch governor of said that he aspired to be an-
quired to give full attention to the different notes. Having them. celebration of the 300th anniver- New Amsterdam was afraid other "Grand Duke of Muscovy."
announced beforehand readies it to listen to the next note. It is sary of Jewish settlement in they might prove a menace to
Stuyvesant urged as a pre-
also explained that the rabbi, or in his absence, the leading and America.
his way of life. Of course, the
text for the deportation of the
most learned elder, pronounces the names of the notes, so that
How did the first Jewish set- Dutch themselves were but a
Jews from New Amsterdam,
a man who is learned and understands the full meaning of the
tlers—the Jewish "Pilgrim Fath- very small number and the In-
that they might become a
notes, chants their respective names,' lest the name be chanted ers" feel and celebrate their
dians
didn't
like
their
immi-
. first
public charge and he tried to
by a man who may innocently have conceived of the wrong con- Rosh Hashanah in America back
gration either. The Indians
'do everything possible to make
ception which is of - cardinal importance in the blowing of the
in 1653 and 1654? I call them were the original Americans
his predictions come true.
Shofar.
and all the white men w h
"Pilgrim
Fathers".
That
tag
has
They were forbidden to open
QUESTION: Why is the festival of Rosh Hashanah the only
came to America, they regard-
festival which begins on the first day of a month on the Hebrew usually been reserved for the ed as upsetting the American • stores or trade with the In-
English settlers who came over
dians. But the Jewish settlers
calendar?
way of life.
were no supine lot. They made
ANSWER: It is natural that a holiday such as the New Year on the Mayflower thirty years
The immigration problem that Peter Stuyvesant "eat crow."
should begin on the first day of the first month of the year. before the first Jewish settlers.
However, the rabbis make careful note of the fact that the other But the Jewish settlers of New troubled these first Jewish set- They appealed to the Dutch
major holidays come in the midst of the month when the moon Amsterdam have also the right tlers of New Amsterdam three East India company, and Stuy-
centuries ago is probably still vesant was ()ferruled.
is at greater fullness. Rosh Hashanah, they note, comes at a to be called Pilgrim Fathers.
There were many groups of the major problem not only of
There was a Jew who ran a
time when the moon is practically at its smallest state or virtually
Pilgrim fathers, t h e Swedes the Jews, but of the whole world butcher shop on what is now
"hidden" from view.
It is noted that the beginning of this month is the only who came over to Delaware, the today. A world where iMmigra- "Wall St." His name was Asser
beginning not preceded by the customary blessing of the new Quakers who came to PennSyl- ton is fluid is like a man with Levy. There is some. reason to
month usually recited in the synagogue on the Sabbath before vania. They were all Pilgrims good blood circulation. It is fun- believe that Asser Levy was also
the beginnirig of the month. Some claim that this was done so and fathers of the world, that damentally sound. Consider to- the shohet. One day, the sheriff
as to confuse Satan: who awaits his opportunity to appear_ before was to be America. Pilgrim day, if the surplus populations came around to Levy with a bill
the bar of judgment to prosecute them. Not hearing -it announced means to journey, to wander and of Italy, Japan and so on could for a special tax:
In that respect, the Jewish set- flow freely to the less densely
"What is this?" asked Asser
beforehand he is thus considered outwitted.
-
Also, the Sun and the Moon- are the two witnesses to 'prove tlers of New Amsterdam were populated countries, the tensions Levy.
a man's guilt. The absence of one renders the testimony inade far more Pilgrims than those of the world would be vastly re- "This is a special tax placed on
quate. In addition to these reasons, some claim that Rosh Hasha-: Who came on the Mayflower, for duced. But no one loves an im- Jews by Governor Stuyvesant in
view of the fact that they do
nah is so designed to make man himself the master of time, so the Jewish settlers were several migrant.
The Dutch were relatively not join with the others in
that he by his wisdom of calculation knows when the time comes times Pilgrims. They had wan-
to plead for a New Year and to renew his faith and courage with dered-. from' Spain 'to Holland, more tolerant in those days of Standing guard. "I will not pay
from Holland to BraZi1 and had the first Jewish settlers, but the tax and I' demand that tight
the help of the Almighty.
fled from the South American GOvernor Peter Stuyvesant cer- to stand guard," replied the
country to New Amsterdam: And tainly possessed little of thiS' 'Jewish shohet.
when they arrived at New Am- fine quality. Henot only did . riot
Asser Levy won his point
sterdam, they still were not sure like Jews, he had wanted to pre- Stuyvesant did - not permit the
By DR. JOSEPH H. HERTZ
the children of men shall form that they had found a haven.
vent any settlers except those of Jews to build a synagogue,' but
Late Chief Rabbi of Great Britain
one band of brotherhood; when
What was the trouble? The his own church froth establishing it is probable that on the first
The New Year festival is far national arrogance and oppres- same trouble as today. Immi- themselves in the new world. He' Rbsh Hashanah in New Amster-
other than the mere opening sion shall have passed away, like gration troubles. There were was one legged but swell-headed. dam, they held services at the
day, according to the olden Jew- so much smoke from the earth. only 23 Jews who came over in He had vanity enough for four homes of one of the:gettleis and
ish reckoning, of another year
it also very likely that the
in the flight of time. Unlike the
Chazan was Asser Levy.
New Yea r celebrations of many
It was a tense and vital time--
ancient and modern nations,
this period of the first Jewish
the Jewish New Year is not a
settlement in America. A time
time of revelry. It is a solemn
of many wars, but a time also
season of self-examination and
when the mind seemed to be
self-judgment in the - life of the
throwing off the old fetters. New.
ton had astonished the world then
Jew. Scripture prescribes a spe-
cial symbolic rite for this day,
as Einstein does today. Spinoza
the sounding of the ram's horn,
was blazing new paths in philo-
the Shofar.
sophy. Rationalism flourished
alongside of an intensified mys-
Since days immemorial, the
ticism. Shabbathai Zevi was to
sounding of the ram's horn on
come forth in a few years to
the New Year has been inter-
proclaim himself the Messiah.
preted in Israel as the clarion
Spinoza's friend, Henry Orden- .
call to repentance and spiritual
burg, wrote to the Dutch philo-
renewal.
sopher that there was a grow-
And on the High Festivals the
ing belief in the restoration of
Jew thinks not only of himself,
the Jewish State and Spinoza
but of peace and blessedness for
himSelf wrote that he thought
all mankind. In the most an-
it entirely possible that the y
cient and solemn part of the
On the sixth New Year since Israel achieved statehood, new areas of economic growth
services, both of the New Year
have been developed with the aid of the State of Israel Bond issue. At the left, a workman might return to their ancient
land again, "they might be
and the Day of Atonement, he
is shown fixing pipes, which have permitted the development of such projects as the Negev
prays God to hasten the time
irrigation. At the right, employees of the Central Telephone Exchange in Jerusalem are occu- chosen by God."
when the mighty shall be just
pied with their daily chores. The exchange has been increased eight-fold with the aid of Israel
26 DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
and the just mighty; when all
bond dollars.
Friday, September 11, 1953

THE JEWISH NE

S

Extends Sincere Greetinas

for the New Yew

5714

More Greetings In Next Two Issues

first Rosh Hashanah in U.S.

The New Year Is Here

•

_

Israel Industry Thriving on Bond Issue

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