Festivals | Tishrei
Backgrounder: Rosh Hashanah
This is a background file, designed to assist you in determining
which elements you wish to emphasize in your programming and to
enhance the activities in subsequent files. These materials were
adapted from "New Year and Day of Atonement: Program Material
for Youth and Adults", published by the Jewish Center Division,
National Jewish Welfare Board, New York, 1952.
Introduction
Rosh Hashanah (literally, "head of the year"), one of
the few solemn days in the Jewish calendar, is also referred to
as:
- Yom Teruah - the Day of the Blowing (of the
trumpets);
- Yom Hazikaron - The Day of Remembrance;
- Zihron Teruah - Tribute to the Blowing (of
the trumpets); and
- Yom Hadin - The Day of Judgment.
Rosh Hashanah is observed in the beginning of the seventh Hebrew
month, Tishri, for two days by Orthodox and Conservative Jews,
and for one by Reform Jews.
While Nissan is declared in the Bible to be the first month of
the year, Tishrei has come to be regarded as the beginning of
the civil year, for this was the month of Creation and it was
in this month that the jubilee year commenced, when slaves were
freed and all property was restored to its original owners.
Origin:
Rosh Hashanah is fixed in the following biblical verse:
"In the seventh month, in the first day of the month
shall be a solemn rest unto you, a memorial proclaimed with the
blast of horns, a holy convocation...."
In contrast to the other festivals, Rosh Hashanah has a basis in
neither history nor agriculture.
The concept of the New Year as "Yom Hadin" or "the
Day of Judgment," when all mankind is judged by its Creator
and the fate of each individual finds his place in the Book of
Life, is of rabbinic origin, based upon the following verses:
Blow the horn at the new moon, At the full moon of our
feast-day. For it is a statute of Israel, A (day of) judgment
of the God of Jacob.
(Psalm 81:4,5)
Observance:
Throughout the month of Elul that immediately precedes Rosh Hashanah,
many Jews engage in various spiritual preparations for the High
Holy Days.
- The Shofar is blown every weekday at the morning service to
arouse worshippers to serious contemplation.
- From the Sunday before Rosh Hashanah, penitential prayers (Selihot)
are recited daily sometime between midnight and dawn. When the
New Year occurs on a Monday or Tuesday, Selihot are begun on the
Sunday of the previous week.
New Year's cards, expressing wishes
for a good and sweet year, are sent to relatives and friends.
It is also customary for worshippers to greet each other after
the service on the eve of Rosh Hashanah with the Hebrew expression,
"Leshanah Tovah Tikatev Vetihatem"
(literally, "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year"),
the person addressed responding "Gam Atah"
(The same to you").
At Home:
The customs and ceremonies of the home also reflect concern over the
auspiciousness of the coming year:
- In addition to the recitation of Kiddush (the sanctification
prayer said over wine) and the kindling of the festive lights
on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, a piece of apple is dipped in
honey. The person performing this symbolic act implores, "May
it be God's will to grant us a good and sweet year."
- The person dips bread in the honey as well in the hopes that
just as the bread is sweet, so may the experiences of the
coming year be only the most pleasant.
- On the second night, a fruit that has not yet been eaten
during the year is tasted and an appropriate benediction is
recited.
- Sefardic Jews have a complete Seder of Rosh Hashana, reminiscent
of the Passover Seder and of the Tu Bishvat Seder.
Prayer
On Rosh Hashanah, Jews generally refrain from their daily occupations
and activities and instead participate in communal worship.
The prayer service primarily concerns itself with the lives and
general wellfare of individuals and the peace of all mankind.
Unetane Tokef ("We will celebrate the holiness
of this awesome day") is one of the day's most important
prayers. It discusses the themes of this Day of Judgment, and
concludes with the well-known phrase, "But penitence, prayer
and charity avert the evil decree."
Malhiot, Zihronot and Shofrot are prayers implying
the acceptance of God's kingship: (Malhiot), a plea for Divine
providence by remembering (Zihronot) the merits of our ancestors,
and the hope that life and peace will descend upon the entire
world as proclaimed by the SHOFAR - - ram's horn (Shofrot).
The Shofar blasts that call the congregants to repent occur before,
during as well as following the Additional (Mussaf) Service, except
when Rosh Hashanah falls on the Sabbath. The Shofar is sounded
a hundred times, at specific intervals in the service, to complete
silence in the standing congregation.
The sounds are of three kinds:
- Tekiah - A long, deep note that ends abruptly;
- Shevarim - Three short blasts;
- and Teruah - nine short blasts.
- The last sound, a prolonged Tekiah, is called "Tekiah
Gedolah."
Private Meditation
In the afternoon of the first day of Rosh Hashanah, many Jews go
to the banks of a river and recite verses from the prophets and
other appropriate sources. This ceremony is symbolic of a person's
casting (TASHLICH) his sins into the water's depths.
The Ten Days of Penitence
Rosh Hashanah inaugurates the Ten Days of Penitence (Asseret
Yemey Teshuvah), the most solemn period of the Jewish
calendar, a time set aside for sincere contemplation and repentance.
The Sabbath that falls out during these ten days is called "the
Sabbath of Repentance" (Shabbat Shuvah),
because the prophetic portion (Haftorah) read at the morning service
opens with the word, "Shuvah" (literally, "Return")--an
exhortation for Israel to return to God.
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