To Life!
APPLETRE
ashai lpti Glance
minates with Simchat Torah.
At The Synagogue
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
Contributing Editor
When We Celebrate
This year, Rosh Hashanah begins
the evening of Monday, Oct. 3. It
lasts for two days among
Conservative and Orthodox Jews,
and one day among most Reform
and Reconstructionist Jews.
Why We Celebrate
Rosh ("head") Hashanah ("of the
year") marks the Jewish new year
and commemorates the creation
of the world.
The Torah commandment to
observe Rosh Hashanah is in
Parshat Emor (Leviticus 23:24),
and Parshat Pinchas (Numbers
29:1). The words "Rosh
Hashanah" are not stated in the
Torah; the name of the holiday
was developed later.
Rosh Hashanah begins the
three-week holiday season that
continues with Yom Kippur,
Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret and cul-
26
Like other Jewish holidays, Rosh
Hashanah features special prayers
and rituals. A unique feature of
the day is the practice of blowing
the shofar, done immediately
before the congregation says the
silent Amidah prayer at Musaf.
All congregants recite Psalm 47
seven times. The shofar blower
and the congregation then
responsively recite seven verses
drawn from Psalms and
Lamentations. The shofar blower
next says two blessings, after
which he blows three sets of
blasts. This is followed by a
responsive reading of three verses
from Psalm 89.
In the Ashkenazi rite, the shofar
is again blown during the cantor's
repetition of the MusafAmidah;
in the Sephardi rite, the shofar is
blown during the congregation's
silent Amidah prayer. The shofar
is not blown on Shabbat.
For the Torah reading, five per-
sons are called up. Except on
Shabbat, the Avinu Malkeynu
prayer is recited after the Amidah
of the morning and afternoon •
services.
Along with Yom Kippur, Rosh
Hashanah is the only day when
we prostrate ourselves in prayer,
in a modified form, as was done
in the days of the Beit HaMikdash,
the Holy Temple. The prostration
occurs during the Aleinu portion
of the Amidah.
Thematic
Significance
Rosh Hashanah carries three
main themes. In addition to its
importance as the beginning of
the calendar year, Rosh Hashanah
is regarded the day of judgment
( Yom HaDin), when God weighs
the acts of each person over the
past year and decides his fate.
Rosh Hashanah also is referred
to as the Day of Remembrance
(Yom HaZikaron), when God
remembers the world, and we
remember our relationship with
Him, the Torah and the Land of
Israel. We also reflect on our lives
during the past year, consider-
ing the right and the wrong
of our thoughts and actions.
Rosh Hashanah also is
the day on which
help
we publicly pro-
fam
claim the sover-
eignty of God.
Customs And Traditions
Rosh Hashanah is replete with
symbolic foods. A custom more
than 1,500 years old is to dip
slices of apple in honey and recite
a prayer expressing hopes for a
sweet year. Many also dip their
bread in honey (instead of the
usual salt) for the motzi prayer
that begins the meal.
Jewish families enjoy honey
cake or lekach (literally "portion"
in Hebrew) on Rosh Hashanah.
The inspiration behind this is the
Book of Proverbs verse (4:2) that
reads: "For I give you good lekach,
do not forsake My teaching." The
honey cake reflects one's hope
that those who follow God's teach-
ings will receive a "good portion:'
Other symbolic foods may
include the head of a fish (a play
on the word "rosh"), carrots
(based on a Yiddish pun on the
word for "increase") or pome-
granates (which have many seeds,
symbolic of many children or
many good deeds. Some also
believe the pomegranate has 613
seeds, the same number of
mitzvot, or commandments, in
the Torah).
A Chasidic tradition is to eat
beets. This was inspired by the
Hebrew word selek, which means
beet. Selek is said to sound like
sh'yistalku from the words sh'y-
istlku oivaynu ("May we rid our-
selves of our enemies"), which is
said on Rosh Hashanah.
Though summer offers the best
produce of the entire year, some
Jewish families abstain from tast-
ing any in those hot months.
Instead, they reserve
enjoying the first
fruits of the sea-
son for the second
night of Rosh
Hashanah, when one may
utter the Shehechiyanu, a
brachah, or blessing, said
especially for doing something for
the first time (or, for a first time
in a certain season). The fruits
most popular on the second night
of Rosh Hashanah are pomegran-
ates and grapes.
On Rosh Hashanah, we look
with hope to the future. A round
bread is said to symbolize a life-
cycle that continues unbroken
and harmonious. While round
challah is the most popular on
this holiday, some prefer to make
a challah in the form of a ladder,
inspired by the High Holiday
prayer Nesaneh Tokef, which
includes the famous lines, "Who
will live and who will die/Who
will be rich, and who will be poor
..." The ladder shows one's hopes
to rise on the ladder of life.
Among Jews from Ukraine, a
popular holiday challah shape is
that of the bird, echoing one's
hope that God will watch over the
Jews. It is based on the Isaiah
verse (31:5): "As hovering birds, so
will the Lord protect Jerusalem."
Tzimmis is a traditional Rosh
Hashanah dish made with any
September 29 2005
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