Rosh Hashanah, Head of the year. Rosh Hashanah occurs on the 1st and 2nd days of Tishri. In Hebrew, Rosh Hashanah means, literally, head of the year or first of the year. Rosh Hashanah is commonly known as the Jewish New Year. There are, similarities between the Jewish New Year and the Gregorian one: many people use the New Year as a time to plan a better life, making resolutions." Likewise, the Jewish New Year is a time to begin introspection, looking back at the mistakes of the past year and planning the changes to make in the new year. The name Rosh Hashanah is not used in the Bible.  The Bible refers to the holiday as Yom Ha-Zikkaron (the day of remembrance) and as  Yom Teruah "the day of the sounding" (shofar). The holiday is instituted in Lev 23:24-25.

No work is permitted on Rosh Hashanah. The traditional readings for the 1st day are Genesis 21, 1Samuel 1:1-2:10, Numbers 29:1-6, & Psalm 24 for the 2nd day the readings are Genesis 22, Jeremiah 31:2-20 and Numbers 29:1-6 is repeated.

A popular observance during this holiday is eating apples dipped in honey, a symbol of our wish for a sweet new year.  It's yummy. We also dip bread in honey (instead of the usual practice of sprinkling salt on it) at this time of year for the same reason.

Another popular Rabbinic practice of the holiday is Tashlich ("casting off"). Religious Jews walk to flowing water, such as a creek,  river or the beach, on the afternoon of the first day and empty their pockets into the river, symbolically casting off their sins. This practice is based on Micah 7:19-20, and is a long-standing custom.

Religious services for the holiday focus on the concept of God's judgment and his sovereignty, in the prayers we say "remember us for life, O King who desires (us to have) life and inscribe us in the Book of Life, for Your sake, O Living God".

The common greeting at this time is L'shanah tovah ("for a good year"). This is a shortening of "L'shanah tovah tikatevu v'taichatemu", which means "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year."

You may notice that the Bible speaks of Rosh Hashanah as occurring on the first day of the seventh month. The first month of the Jewish calendar is Nissan, occurring in March and April (Passover). Why, then, does the Jewish "new year" occur in Tishri, the seventh month?

Judaism has several different "new years," a concept which may seem strange at first, but think of it this way: the Gregorian  "new year" starts in January, but in the Australia the new "academic year" starts in February, and many businesses have "fiscal years" that start at various times of the year. In Post Biblical Judaism, 1st of Nissan  is seen as the new year for the purpose of counting the reign of kings and months on the calendar, 1st of Elul (in August) is the new year for the tithing of animals, 15th of Shevat (in February) is the new year for trees (determining when first fruits can be eaten, etc.), and 1st of Tishri (Rosh Hashanah) is the new year for years (when we increase the year number. Sabbatical and Jubilee years begin at this time).

Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement. Yom Kippur is probably the most important holiday of the Jewish year. Many Jews who do not observe any other Jewish custom will refrain from work, fast and / or attend synagogue services on this day. Yom Kippur occurs on the 10th day of Tishri. The holiday is instituted at Leviticus 23:26 et.

Yom Kippur atones only for sins between man and God, not for sins against another person. To atone for sins against another person, you must first seek reconciliation with that person, righting the wrongs you committed against them if possible. That must all be done before Yom Kippur.

Yom Kippur is a complete Sabbath; no work can be performed on that day. It is well known that you are supposed to refrain from eating and drinking (even water) on Yom Kippur. It is a complete, 25-hour fast beginning before sunset on the evening before Yom Kippur and ending after nightfall on the day of Yom Kippur. The Talmud also specifies additional restrictions that are less well known: washing and bathing, anointing one's body (with cosmetics, deodorants, etc.), wearing leather shoes (Orthodox Jews routinely wear canvas sneakers under their dress clothes on Yom Kippur), and engaging in sexual relations are all prohibited on Yom Kippur.

As always, any of these restrictions can be lifted where a threat to life or health is involved. In fact, children under the age of nine and women in childbirth (from the time labor begins until three days after birth) are not permitted to fast, even if they want to. Older children and women from the third to the seventh day after childbirth are permitted to fast, but are permitted to break the fast if they feel the need to do so.

Most of the holiday is spent in the synagogue, in prayer. In Orthodox synagogues, services begin in the afternoon and continue until late that night " Erev Yom Kippur ". People then usually go home. And return in the early morning for a service which continue until nightfall. The services end, with the blowing of the tekiah gedolah, a long blast on the shofar.

It is customary to wear white on this holiday, which symbolizes purity and calls to mind the promise that our sins shall be made as white as snow (Isaiah. 1:18). Some people wear a kittel, the white robe in which the dead are buried.

Yom Kippur Liturgy.

The evening service that begins Yom Kippur is commonly known as Kol Nidre, named for the prayer that begins the service. "Kol nidre" means "all vows," and in this prayer, we ask God to annul all personal vows we may make in the next year. It refers only to vows between the person making them and God, such as "If I pass this test, I'll pray every day for the next 6 months!"

This prayer has often been held up by anti-Semites as proof that Jews are untrustworthy (we do not keep our vows), and for this reason the Reform movement removed it from the liturgy for a while. In fact, the reverse is true: we make this prayer because we take vows so seriously that we consider ourselves bound even if we make the vows under duress or in times of stress when we are not thinking straight. This prayer gave comfort to those who were converted to Christianity by torture in various inquisitions, yet felt unable to break their vow to follow Christianity. In recognition of this history, the Reform movement restored this prayer to its liturgy.

There are many additions to the regular liturgy (there would have to be, to get such a long service). Note that all sins are confessed in the plural (we have done this, we have done that), emphasizing communal responsibility for sins.

There are two basic parts of the Amidah confession: Ashamnu, a shorter, more general list (we have been treasonable, we have been aggressive, we have been slanderous...), and Al Chet, a longer and more specific list (for the sin we sinned before you forcibly or willingly, and for the sin we sinned before you by acting callously...) Frequent petitions for forgiveness are interspersed in these prayers. There's also a catch-all confession: "Forgive us the breach of positive commands and negative commands, whether or not they involve an act, whether or not they are known to us."

It is interesting to note that these confessions do not specifically address the kinds of ritual sins that some people think are the be-all-and-end-all of Judaism. There is no "for the sin we have sinned before you by eating pork, and for the sin we have sinned against you by driving on Shabbat" (though obviously these are implicitly included in the catch-all). The vast majority of the sins enumerated involve mistreatment of other people, most of them by speech (offensive speech, scoffing, slander, talebearing, and swearing falsely, to name a few). These all come into the category of sin known as "lashon ha-ra" (lit: the evil tongue), which is considered a very serious sin in Judaism.

The concluding service of Yom Kippur, known as Ne'ilah, is one unique to the day. It usually runs about 1 hour long. The ark (the cabinet where the scrolls of the Torah are kept) is kept open throughout this service, and so you must stand throughout the service. There is a tone of desperation in the prayers of this service. The service is sometimes referred to as the closing of the gates; think of it as the "last chance" to get in a good word before the holiday ends. The service ends with a very long blast of the shofar.After Yom Kippur, one should begin preparing for the next holiday, Sukkot, which begins five days later.
 

Jewish Calendar upto Dec 1998.  1st Day Rosh HaShanah Monday 21st September 2nd Day Rosh HaShanah Tuesday 22nd September Days of Awe 20th-30th September Shabbat Shuva 25th - 26th September Erev Yom Kippur        Kol Nidrei Tuesday 29th September Yom Kippur Wednesday 30th September Sukkot                      Morning Monday 5th October Shemini Atzeret         (Yizkor) Monday 12th October Chanukah                  (Start) Sunday 13th December Sukkot,

This festival is sometimes referred to as "Zeman Simchateinu", the Season of our Rejoicing. Sukkot lasts for seven days. The two days following the festival are separate holidays, Shemini Atzeret and Simkhat Torah, but are commonly thought of as part of Sukkot.

The word "Sukkot" means "booths," and refers to the temporary dwellings that we are commanded to live in during this holiday. The name of the holiday is frequently translated "The Feast of Tabernacles," which, like many translations of technical Jewish terms, isn't terribly useful unless you already know what the term is referring to.

Like Passover and Shavu'ot, Sukkot has a dual significance: historical and agricultural. The holiday commemorates the forty year period during which the children of Israel were wandering in the desert, living in temporary shelters. Sukkot is also a harvest festival, and is sometimes referred to as Chag Ha-Asif, the Festival of Ingathering.

The festival of Sukkot is instituted in Leviticus 23:33 et. No work is permitted on the first and second days of the holiday. Work is permitted on the remaining days.

In honour of the holiday's historical significance, we are commanded to dwell in temporary shelters, as our ancestors did in the wilderness. The commandment to "dwell" in a sukkah can be fulfilled by simply eating all of one's meals there; however, if the weather, climate, and one's health permit, one should live in the sukkah as much as possible, including sleeping in it.

A sukkah must have at least three walls covered with a material that will not blow away in the wind. Canvas covering tied or nailed down is acceptable and quite common. A sukkah may be any size, so long as it is large enough for you to fulfill the commandment of dwelling in it.  To fulfill the Rabbinical commandments the roof of the sukkah must be something that grew from the ground and was cut off, such as tree branches, corn stalks, bamboo reeds, sticks, or two by fours. The roof covering  must be left loose, not tied together or tied down. The roof covering must be placed sparsely enough that rain can get in, and preferably sparsely enough that the stars can be seen, but not so sparsely that more than 25 centimeters /10 inches is open at any point or that there is more light than shade.

It is common practice, and highly commendable, to decorate the sukkah. In Australia, Jews commonly hang dried fruits in the sukkah to decorate it. Building and decorating a sukkah is a fun, family project, much like decorating the Christmas tree is for Christians.

Another observance related to Sukkot involves what are known as The Four Species (arba minim in Hebrew) or the Lulav and Etrog. We are commanded to take these four plants and use them to "rejoice before the Lord." The four species in question are an etrog (a citrus fruit native to Israel), a palm branch (in Hebrew, lulav), a myrtle branch (hadas) and a willow branch (arava). The three branches are bound together and referred to collectively as the lulav. The etrog is held separately. With these four species in hand, one recites a blessing and waives the species in all six directions (east, south, west, north, up and down, symbolizing the fact that God is everywhere).

Of the four species used in the Succot ritual, the etrog (citron) has both taste and fragrance, the hadas (myrtle) has fragrance but no taste, the lulav (date palm) bears fruit which has taste but no fragrance, and the aravah (willow branch) has neither taste nor fragrance. All four species must be taken together, and the absence of any one makes the mitzvah incomplete (Midrash). The four species are compared to the people of Israel [but could just as easily be applied to the Messianic Jews and gentiles], in it there are people with taste (faith?), fragrance (prayer), fruit (good deeds), and people who have not yet been able to do or need encouragement from us, but collectively we form a body, with all the gifts. The shaking of the lulav could be compared to the encouragement we give each other, so that prayers of faith and good works are released.

The four species are also held during the Hallel prayer in religious services, and are held during processions around the bimah in the Synagogue (the pedestal where the Torah is read) each day during the holiday. These processions commemorate similar processions around the altar of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem.
 

The processions are known as Hoshanahs, because while the procession is made, we recite a prayer with the refrain, "Hoshanah!" (save us!). On the seventh day of Sukkot, seven circuits are made. For this reason, the seventh day of Sukkot is known as Hoshanah Rabbah (the great Hoshanah).

Paul Cohen email
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