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Assisted living ,

A Very Goo
Year

in

A look at Tishrei,
the month that begins the Jewish year.

Elizabeth Applebaum
AppleTree Editor

1 note that the corresponding zodia-
ber when Rosh Hashanah occurs 1 cal sign for Tishrei is Libra.
Frequent mention of Tishrei is
on the Gregorian calendar.
made in rabbinic literature, espe-
Usually, it's in early September,
: cially Megillat Ta'anit.
1 but this year the holiday begins
4g' After Tishrei comes the Hebrew
toward the latter part of the month
months Heshvan, Kislev, Tevet, She-
1(the 20th) — and it can begin as
: vat, Adar, Nissan, lyyar, Sivan,
!late as October.
1. Tammuz, Av and Elul.
It's no problem, though, to know
Now, what about the Hebrew
I exactly when Rosh Hashana comes
on the Hebrew calendar: It's always 1 year?
With this Rosh Hashanah, we
the first and second days of the
enter the new year of 5759. This
I Hebrew month of Tishrei.
Tishrei is a special month because 1 marks the 5,759th year since the
1 world was created, according to
it contains two of our most impor-
t tont Jewish holidays: Rosh
those who interpret literally the cre-
1 ation account in Bereshit, or Gene-
Hashanah and Yom Kippur. But
sis. Even if we do not interpret the
here are some facts about the
Torah literally, Judaism teaches us
onth you may not already know:
that the words of the Torah are true.
(g The word Tishrei is not
How then can we reconcile the
Hebrew. It's Aramaic, from
truth of the Torah account or cre-
shera,meaning "to begin."
,g In this century, the earliest day 1 ation with what most people regard
as the truth of science, which says
1Tishrei began on the Gregorian cal-
I that the earth is millions of years
1 endar was Sept. 6 (and ended on
1 old? Some Torah scholars suggest
lOct. 5). The latest day it began
that we must do what Torah schol-
as Oct. 5 (and ended on Nov.
ars have done for generations: find
3).
1 a deeper meaning in the words of
cg The month is always 30 days
1 the Torah that what is immediately
i long.
apparent. Thus, when the Torah
Tishrei always begins on one
1 states that the world was created in
of four days: Monday, Tuesday,
six days, we must try to understand
1Thursday, Saturday.
what the Torah means by the word
In addition to being the month
"day."
in which we observe Rosh
Perhaps it was a 24-hour day
Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Tishrei
(remember, the sun was not created
brings other holy days: Tzom
until the fourth "day"), or maybe
1Gedaliah, Sukkot, Hoshanah
1 each "day" lasted thousands or hun-
1 Rabba, Shemini Atzeret and Sim-
dreds of thousands of years. We
'chat Torah.
simply don't know.
7 If you look to the stars, you'll

Studios and suites with private baths
Three well planned daily meals
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Nurse manager
beautiful surroundin g s Personal
care assistance
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Spa with pool and exercise room
created especiall y
Scheduled activities
Game room
Library
for older adults.
Hair salon
Sundries shop
Transportation
Valet parking for residents

t can be challenging to remem-

❑

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