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Pragmatist

L'Shana Tova, Billy Teabags
Mon Sep 29 2003

Well, what have you found out about Rosh Hashanah?

Rosh (head) Ha (the) Shanah (year). Why is it called the Head of the Year? Because the head rules the body. So the Rosh rules the Shanah. So why is the Jewish new year in the 7th month of the Jewish calendar? Because Pesach (Passover) is in the first month of the Jewish calendar. And Rosh Hashanah and the New Moon always coincide. The sighting of the new moon begins the Jewish month. Not the first day of the secular calendar, but usually somewhere near the middle of the secular month.

Rosh Hashanah is celebrated two days. If the first day falls on Saturday, the shofar is not blown, because the shofar is NEVER blown on the Sabbath. In that case it is blown on the second day.

We greet everyone with the phrase L'Shana Tova: A good year. We also dip apple slices in honey and eat other sweet things so that the coming year will be sweet in all things: life, profession, financial, love...everything.

But these two days aren't the end of the "season." Next comes Yom Kippur. During these ten days of Rosh Hashanah (a Day of Remembrance) to Yom Kippur (the Day of Judgment), we review the past year, our sins and our good deeds,
resolve to do better the coming year. We call this the The Ten Days of Repentance.

The standard greeting to others during this time is L'shanah tovah tikatevu vetehatemu (May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year). On Rosh Hashanah, we are inscribed (we hope "for good") in the Book of Life, and sealed On Yom Kippur.

Exodus 12 begins to explain why Passover is the first month of the Jewish year. Leviticus 23 ennumerates the various festivals of the year, and verse 23 specifies "a day of rest for you, a remembrance with shofar blasts, a holy convocation." And verse 26 ff. specifies Day of Atonement. That chapter continues to ennumerate the various holy days.

Any questions? As a rabbi.

Shalom

6 Comments
  • From:
    Ozone (Legacy)
    On:
    Mon Sep 29 2003
    Ah ha.....it is all perfectly clear to me now. I like that ten days provided for reflection on one's sins of the past year. I wonder how many actually do that. I think that most religions probably incorporate something like that in their doctrine but few practicing actually know about it. I do like that though, reflection is so good for the soul.
  • From:
    Sezrah (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue Sep 30 2003
    one of the things i love about judaism is all the feasts, celebrations and holidays (not that i know much about any of them)

    sez
  • From:
    MagicWhiskey (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue Sep 30 2003
    I done come here and got some educashun. I like entries that teach me something I didn't know. THanks.
  • From:
    CovertOps (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue Sep 30 2003
    Thanks for enlightening us, Chaya! I've read of Rosh Hashanah many times before, as a child. I've always been attracted to the practice of eating apple slices dipped in honey. Not difficult to see why! Giggle giggle! How about making some matzoh balls so light that they float to the ceiling and you have to sit on the top of a ladder and scrape them off the ceiling with a spoon to eat them?

    Tovah tikatevi v'taihatemi!
    Lots of love and best wishes for the New Year,
    E.L.
  • From:
    BillyTeabags (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue Sep 30 2003
    Thanks for the explanation. I'd never really heard of that holiday before.

    I also did some searching on the internet and came across several sites explaining it as well.

    I think the most interesting part was seeing how none of the pages would write out the word God in full. (they replaced the "o" with a dash.) I found the reasons very interesting, although a tad uncomfortable. (I can only guess the amount of times I might have accidentally thrown a piece of paper containing the word "god" into the recycling.) I found the part where jews are to visit a body of water with fish to be very interesting. I like the two-fold meaning behind it. That's something that's missing in most people's existence nowadays. Symbolism has all but disappeared these days.
  • From:
    Becoming (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Oct 02 2003
    Very interesting reading. There is a book called 'Jewish for Gentiles' I was thinking about getting. My older sister had a series of books about different religions of the world, I would also like to read something like that. However, Judaism holds the most interest for me at the moment, in part because of my friends here at DD and also because there are some big doings going on around the country commemorating (if that's the right word) the holocaust. It is interesting to me to know about the traditions, holidays and belief structure. I am still very stuck on Mitvah's - and recieved a very nice Mitvah from a Jewish man in New York today who could have been very upset with me but was instead gracious and understanding. It is nice to know there are good, kind people in the world.