Hava Nedaber Ivrit: Celebrating Rosh Hashanah In Israel
Each month in this space,
L'Chayim will present a' Hebrew
lesson entitled, "Hava Nedaber
Ivrit!" (Let's Speak Hebrew), whose
aim is to encourage further study of
Hebrew. The lesson will include a
brief story utilizing the Hebrew
words to be studied, a vocabulary
list with English translations and a
family activity which involves using
the new words. The lessons will be
prepared by Nira Lev, associate
professor of Hebrew language and
literature at the Midrasha College of
Jewish Studies. Mrs. Lev also
teaches Hebrew language and
literature at the Community Jewish
High School at the United Hebrew
Schools.
Following is this month's
lesson:
Ruthy is a tayeret in Yisrael.
She is s'mecha to be visiting in
Yisrael for Rosh Hashanah, which,
she knows is the Jewish New Year.
She expects meseebot, orot in the
Rechovot, blowing of horns and
harbe simchah, as she is used to in
New York, where she lives.
Her kroveem tell her, however,
that Rosh Hashanah has no
resemblance to New Year as it is
celebrated all over the world. Rosh
Hashanah, meaning the Head of the
Year, is the first chag in the luach
HaYehoodi. This chag occurs on the
first two yameem of Chodesh
Tishrei, the first chodesh of the
shanah. This chag is not zman for
simchah chageegot and meseebot.
Unlike other chageem
yehoodeyeem, it does not mark a
meorah historee.
Rather, it is zman for cheshbon-
nefesh, for serious, solemn
machshava and t'feela. Rosh
Hashanah also is called "Yom
Hadeen," the Day of Judgement,
and "Yom Hazikaron," the day of
remembering. Rosh Hashanah is
zman leezkor all the important
meoraot historeeyeem that made
Yisrael an am, and it is zman
lachshov about our ma'aseem.
Everyone's duty is leeshpot
himself and lachshov how to
become adam yoter toy in the year
to come. Anasheem spend harbe
shaot in Belt Haknesset, in t'feela,
asking God for s'leecha. According
to our masoret on this yom, God
shofet each of us, and writes in
Sefer Hachayeem what our fate will
be bashanah haba'ah.
In the Tanach, this chag is
called "Yom Truah" and "Zichron
Truah," the Day of Sounding the
Shofar and the memorial of the
blowing of the shofar. These shemot
indicate the main event of Rosh
Hashanah, which is t'keeat shofar
— the blowing of the shofar. The
shofar is a very important semel in
our masoret. The shofar reminds us
of akeidat Yitzchak — the binding of
Isaac, when Avraham Aveenu was
ready to commit the utmost act of
emunah and God substituted the
ayeel for Avraham's ben, Yitzchak.
.
Sukkah-Building Contest
Families, religious schools and institutions are invited to enter the
Jewish Community Center's third annual sukkah-building contest.
Entrants must send up to four photographs with the registration
coupon showing the building of, decorating of or celebrating in the sukkah.
There is no registration fee. For details, call Stuart Rogoff,
661-1000, ext. 202.
Below is a registration form:
Sukkah-Building Contest
Registration Form
The
(Family, School, Institution)
will build a sukkah this year for the third annual Jewish Community Center
Sukkah-Building Contest.
Address
Phone Number
Please return coupon and photographs to:
Stuart Rogoff, Family Programming
Jewish Community Center
6600 W. Maple
West Bloomfield, MI 48322
L-8
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 1988
Vocabulary (Meelon)
tayeret
tourist
s'mecha
happy
harbe
much, many, a lot of
simchah
joy, happiness
kroveem
relatives
chag
holiday, festival
luach
calendar
HaYehoodi
the Jewish
chodesh
month
shanah
year
zman
time
chageegot
celebrations
chageega
celebration
meseebot
parties
meseeba
party
chageem
holidays
yehoodeem
Jews
meorah
an event
historee
historical
chesbon-nefesh
soul searching
machshava
thought
t'feela
prayer
leezkor
to remember
meoraot
events
historeeyeem
historical (pl.)
am
nation
to think
lachshov
maaseem
deeds
maase
deed
leeshpot
to judge
adam
person
yoter tov
better
anasheem
men, people
shaot
hours
Belt HaKnesset
synagogue
s'leecha
forgiveness
tradition
masoret
yom
day
shofet
to judge (present tense,
singular)
Sefer Hachayeem
Book of Life
bashanah haba'ah
next year
Tanach
the Bible
shemot
names
shem
a name
t'keeat shofar blowing of the shofar
semel
symbol \t
akeidat Yitzchak, binding (sacrifice)
of Isaac
Aveenu
our father
emunah
faith
ayeel
ram
ben
son
orot
lights
Family Activities
Make your own greeting cards.
Use family pictures, postcards from
Israel, quotations from the Bible that
you like, quotations from poetry.
Make a list of people to whom
you want to send greeting cards.
Update the addresses. Update the
list every year. Include teachers that
you don't see any more, your doctor,
neighbor that you know, and
especially people that you don't see c/
very often. A greeting card can be
an opportunity to renew old
friendshps.
Try to compose greetings in the
form of a poem or a limerick. Keep (/
these for use in future years.
Keep a list of all the people
from whom you receive greetings so
that you remember to reciprocate
this year and in the future.
Teen Corner
Last month, L'Chayim pursued
"respect for the elderly" as its
theme. This month, to keep that
concept alive, L'Chayim invited
students to write about their
experience with senior adults. Lisa
Zaks, age 12, of Farmington Hills
accepted the invitation. Here is her
report:
By Lisa Zaks
I participated in the Dor L'Dor
program this past year from Hillel
Day School. I was assigned a
senior citizen from the Federation
Apartments as my pen pal.
We wrote many letters to each
other telling about ourselves. This
way, we were able to get to know
each other. The day had finally
come when we were going to meet.
Because we had sent each other
our pictures, I spotted my pen pal,
Olga Taysig. Right away, we felt like
old friends. We often exchanged
gifts to show our friendship.
I was able to see Olga again
this summer. She was staying at
Butzel Conference Center, just
across the lake from where I was, at
Camp Maas.
Coincidentally, we met again
the next day when she came to
Pioneer Skills at Camp Maas. When
it was time for her to leave, I walked
her down to her bus, gave her a
kiss, and said my last goodbye. I
really love Olga, and I didn't realize
how much until that moment.
Holiday Questions
Following are some discussion
questions about this month's theme,
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur:
Can a shofar be of any size or
from any animal or should it just
come from a ram?
Why do we refer to God as
Avinu Malkenu (Our Father, Our
King) on these holy days?
Why are the Torah and the
rabbis and cantors dressed in white
on Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur? What's the importance of
the color white?
L\
—Submitted by ,)
Rabbi Norman T. Roman
Temple Kol Ami