New Year 5773
There won't be a lot of champagne corks popping Sunday when sunset marks the start of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year 5773. That's because sundown is also the start of the Jewish High Holy Days that end Sept. 25 with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
Rosh Hashana is a major holiday for the Jewish community, said Cantor Michal Gray-Schaffer, spiritual leader of 70 families that make up Congregation B'Nai Abraham, 519 N. Main St.
The shofar horn, made from the horn of a ram or other kosher animal, is sounded to announce the beginning of the new year, she said.
“It's considered the birthday of the world, when the world was created. It is the beginning of the 10-day period called Aseret Ymei Teshuva between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur when we pray to God for forgiveness,” she said.
It is a period to examine one's ways, engage in repentance and seek to improve in anticipation of Yom Kippur.
Teshuvah is most frequently associated with the High Holy Days, but people can seek forgiveness for wrongs they have committed at any time, Gray-Schaffer said.There are several stages of Teshuvah, including the sinner recognizing his or her wrongs, feeling sincere remorse and doing everything in their power to undo any damage that has been done. If a specific person has been wronged the offender must ask that person for forgiveness.The final stage of teshuvah is resolving to never commit such a sin again.During this time, Gray-Schaffer said, if one has wronged another man or woman, you are obligated to face that person and ask for forgiveness.“I think it is an important concept,” Gray-Schaffer said. “God doesn't absolve us from sins we've committed against other people. You truly have to be repentant and have in your mind that you will not do this again.”“This is a time of reflection,” said Rabbi Daniel Roberts, who travels from Cleveland to attend to the 100 families of Beth Israel Temple in New Castle. “It's a looking inside yourself. This is why people come more (to temple) at this time of year.”But Rosh Hashana itself is a happy holiday, Gray-Schaffer said. It is a time for families to be together and wish each other “a sweet new year” with traditional treats of apples and honey.And the challah, the braided bread used on the Sabbath and holidays, “instead of being made into a loaf, it's made into a circle with sweet raisins,” said Gray-Schaffer. “It symbolizes that we've come full circle.”There is also a tradition that because religious schools start at about the same time as Rosh Hashana, she said, “that we say learning is as sweet to us as honey on the tongue.”In addition to morning Rosh Hashana services on Monday, Gray-Schaffer said there will be an afternoon ceremony called Taschlich that takes place in the presence of running water.She said B'Nai Abraham will have its Taschlich in Butler Memorial Park.“We have a short service. You bring bread crumbs, these are symbolically your sins. At the end of the service, you cast them into the water,” she said.Temple Ohav Shalom's Taschlich service will take place in North Park, said the Allison Park temple's rabbi, Art Donsky.
“As with all religious traditions, there are favorites for people,” said Donsky. “There are Bible verses about casting your sins on the water and washing them away.”“This is another way of getting at the same concepts,” said Donsky. “This is a time of letting go and purification. For some, words are enough. Music is enough for others. Others need the physicality of throwing crumbs.”Gray-Schaffer said Tashlich is especially popular with young children.You wear new clothes for Rosh Hashana, she said, and all prayers are about asking for forgiveness.“You want to return to God in a purer state and there is language in the liturgy about being written into the Book of Life for the following year,” she said.“Rosh Hashana is a homecoming,” said Donsky. “In the sense like many American Christians who attend church a couple of times a year, many American Jews have the same attitude toward religion.”“They come home, if you will, they come back to the synagogue” said Donsky. “Most of the synagogues see the majority of their community in that 10-day period.”That period ends with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which begins at sunset Sept. 25.
This is a very somber holiday, said Gray-Schaffer, concentrated on prayers and asking forgiveness.“You fast for 25 hours, and you are not supposed to wear new clothes. It's traditional that people wouldn't wear animal products like a leather belt or wash. It is a period of deprivation,” she said.“There is a prayer that we say where we collectively own a whole bunch of sins. It's not that you've committed every one, but in your community it is likely someone has and so as a group you confess these sins together. We say that prayer quite a few times,” said Gray-Schaffer.“In the last part of the service, there is a lot of imagery of the gates of heaven closing. The last thing you hear is the shofar blast,” to announce the end of the day of fasting, said Gray-Schaffer.“We'll have food at the temple. It's always a festive meal to break the 25-hour fast. There are traditional foods, foods that are easy on a stomach that has been fasting,” she said, things like orange juice, bagels and lox and blintzes.Donsky said he will hold a service at sunset Sept. 25 and six services through the day Sept. 26, culminating in the Neilah ceremony — a special prayer service held only on Yom Kippur. It symbolizes the final prayers of repentance recited at the close of Yom Kippur.The shofar is sounded to signal that the gates of repentance are closing and the end of the fast, he said.“These two holidays to us, along with Passover, are our biggest holidays,” said Gray-Schaffer. “Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are holidays for coming to the temple. Passover is celebrated at home with the seder meal.”“You face the rest of the year with a clean slate. It's a new beginning, if you will” said Donsky.“America is a melting pot, and it is for a majority of American Jews,” said Donsky. “Many see them first and foremost as Americans. For those two holidays that come together so close, it allows people in a very short amount of time to connect deeply.“For some, the intensity of these days carry them for the year,” he said.
