Photo by Brian Hendler/JTA e 'J ; ; ; f A Rosh Hash At A Glan Elizabeth Applebaum Special to the Jewish News W hen We Celebrate: This year, Rosh Hashanah begins the evening of Friday, Sept. 22. 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 devel- oped later. Rosh Hashanah begins the three-week holiday season that continues with Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret and cul- minates with Simchat Torah. • At The Synagogue: Like other Jewish holidays, Rosh Hashanah features special prayers and rituals. A unique feature of the day is the practice of blow- ing 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 respon- sively 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 fol- lowed 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 Musaf Amidah; in the Sefardi rite, the shofar is blown during the congregation's silent Amidah prayer. The shofar is not blown on Shabbat. For the Torah reading, five 90 September 21 2006 persons are called up. Except on Shabbat, the .Avitt Malkey nu prayer is recited after the Amidah of theMorning 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, considering the right and the wrong of our thoughts and actions. Rosh Hashanah also is the day on which we publicly proclaim the sovereignty 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 teachings will receive a "good portion!' ' IN A familiar sight: s blowing in downtown Jerusalem. Other-symbolic foods may include the head of a fish (a play on the; word "rosh"), car- rots (based on a Yiddish pun on the word for "increase") or pomegranates (which have many seeds, symbolic of many children or many good deeds. Some also believe the pomegranate has 613 seeds, the same number of mitz- vot, 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'yistlku oivaynu ("May we rid ourselves of our enemies"), which is said on Rosh Hashanah. Though summer offers the best produce of the entire year, `some Jewish families abstain from tasting any in those hot months. Instead, they reserve enjoying the first fruits of the season for the second night of Rosh Hashanah, when one may utter the Shehecheyanu, a 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 pomegranates 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 holi- day, 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 variety-of vegetables and fruits, but always including honey and carrots. In Yiddish, the word for carrot is meiren, which also translates to "multiply" By eating carrots on Rosh Hashanah, we hope that our blessings multiply in the coming year. Sliced carrots coated with honey are believed to resemble gold, which reflects our wish for a year of prosperity. Some Jews avoid nuts on Rosh Hashanah because the Hebrew word for nuts is egoz, which has the same numerical value as the word chet, or sin. • Tashlich: Some Jews observe tashlich, which literally means "you shall cast." It begins late afternoon on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, or on the second day of Rosh Hashanah if the first day is Shabbat. The inspiration for this tradition reflects a desire to begin the new year with a clean slate, with God forgiving past sins that are literally tossed away. During tashlich, Jews assign "sins" to bits of bread, then sym- bolically rid themselves of these by throwing the bread into the water. Usually, this -is accompanied by the recitation of certain verses, including Micah 7:18-20, Psalms 8:5-9:33; and 130, and Isaiah 11:9. Tashlich is not Halachah (Jewish law). The inspiration for the ceremony is Micah 7:19, which states: "You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea," but little is known about how the tradition began. Some say it is an imitation of a pagan rite, while others point out that fish, like God, never close their eyes. (Thus we should remember that God's eyes are always observing our actions.) Others note that fish were among the first of God's creations, and so stood as witnesses to the begin- ning of the world. A custom associated with tash- lich is shaking out your pockets at the source of water, likely in refer- ence to a talmudic verse compar- ing clean clothing to moral purity. Another is adding a few verses from the Zohar while reading psalms. • Fast Facts: The day immedi- ately following Rosh Hashanah is Tzom Gedaliah, one of four fasts that begins at sunrise and ends at sundown (as opposed to Yom Kippur and Tisha b'Av, which are 24-hour fasts). Tzom Gedaliah commemo- rates the murder of Gedaliah ben Achikam, governor of Israel in the time of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia. Nebuchadnezzar not only attacked and destroyed much of Israel (including the Temple sanctuary), he exiled virtually the entire Jewish population there — except a few, including the man he appointed governor, Gedaliah ben Achikam. A rival king ordered the assas- sination of Gedaliah and hired as his hitman Yishmael ben Netaniah, a Jew. In their decision to institute a fast day in his memory, the rabbis said, "The death of the righteous is likened to the burning of the house of God." Today, some see Tzom Gedaliah — a day on which one Jew killed another Jew — as a response to factionalism, rivalry and hostility within the Jewish community.