Articles with the tag: rosh hashana
What Is You Worth?
The Rabbi stood before the congregation, leading it in prayer. As Israel’s messenger to the Heavenly Throne, his voice was like a pathway, broad and unbroken, bearing the hopes of his people.
Suddenly there was a dreadful pause. Upon reading the words in the service, “To Him that buys His slaves in the day of Judgment,” his voice broke down.
Anxiety gripped the congregants. Only when the Rabbi took up the text once again, did the congregation breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Later that afternoon, the Rabbi explained to the curious worshippers. “After all these years of reciting this sentence, it dawned upon me that its meaning escaped me. Why would G-d buy slaves he already owns? Heaven decided…
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Be Jewish. Be Happy.
When Rosh Hashana arrives, we wish each other a Happy New Year. The phrase is repeated again and again, but rarely does anyone pause to think about its contents. For example, what exactly is happiness? All of us pursue it, but a survey asking for its definition would produce as many different answers as the number of people questioned.
But if our supreme wish is to be happy, then the term must contain some familiar meaning. Undoubtedly, everyone would agree that a happy home life, a good livelihood, health, and joy from children produce happiness. But life shows us that few of us possess all of these things together. So are we then consigned to unhappiness? Secondly, experience has shown…
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Complimentary Tickets
Rosh Hashana does not find the Jew unprepared. Besides the customary blowing of the Shofar in the final month of the Jewish year, reminders come in the form of New Year Cards, and the High Holiday tickets one must acquire. If all this makes you feel Rosh Hashana has become just a bit commercialized as so many other non-Jewish holidays have - we’ve got the antidote.
To be exact, we’ve got your ticket. In this very issue of Timeless Torah, we are printing complimentary High Holiday tickets. Please do not confuse these special passes with the regular synagogue tickets. Ours offer you benefits you’ve never imagined.
While your regular ticket entitles you to a seat for a few hours, ours…
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After the End & Before the Beginning
There is a certain magic moment that comes but once a year. If you have never experienced it personally, you have missed out on one of life’s mystical junctures in time. It occurs between the last Mincha (afternoon) prayer of the old year and the first Ma’ariv (evening) prayer of the new. More specifically, just after the final Kaddish of the afternoon is intoned, a hush descends upon the congregation. It seems as if everyone realizes the importance of where they are in time. And then, the moment passes. The Chazzan approaches the cantor’s lectern and his melodious voice brings forth the first word of the first Ma’ariv and ushers in the new year.
If time must have a stop,...
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Are You Listening?
Every Jewish festival has its symbols. One cannot think of Chanukah without conjuring up a mental image of a Menorah and one cannot talk about Rosh Hashanah without mentioning the Shofar. Interestingly enough, while the holiday’s nom de guerre is the Day of the Blowing of the Shofar, there is no mitzvah to actually blow a shofar. Instead, the commandment is to hear the shofar.
Since its inception, Judaism has always stressed the importance of the word and the sound. Even at the outset of creation the Bible informs us that it was not the actions of G-d that brought all into being, it was the spoken word. At the Revelation of Sinai there was smoke and thunder, but that…
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Everyone’s Got Religion
It seems only appropriate that we establish our credentials for participating in the services this Rosh Hashana. I say that because I can guess what you’re thinking, “It’s not that I’m so religious or pious, but after all it is the HIGH Holidays!”
If that sentiment is one that you usually associate with, reanalyze your position in the light of my latest premise: Everyone has religion.
At some point in time, each and every individual asks him or herself the following questions. What is the meaning of life? Why am I here? How am I different from all the other animal species? Often these queries are motivated by specific events, such as tragedies or moments of challenge. Maybe you haven’t…
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