Rosh Hashanah Flashcards
How valuable is RH considered?
Considered the most important and holiest day of the Jewish year alongside Yom Kippur
What is done by the RH time of year?
It is a time of year when Jews look backwards at the year that has passed and forward to the year that has come.
What does Yom Kippur place great emphasis upon?
- atonement
- repentance
When does Rosh Hashanah occur in the year?
- the first and second days of the Jewish month of Tishrei
- anniversary of the day when God creates Adam and Eve
What do Jews believe God does on RH day?
God judges all people for the deeds they have done over the past year
What are the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur called?
- 10 Days of Returning
What happens in the 10 days of returning?
Jews are provided with the opportunity to consider their behaviour in the past year and repent
“a tormented soul…”
“finds peace in confessing.”
Rabbi Soloveitchik
How do the Jews repent in the 10 days of returning?
- contact anyone they might have wronged in the past year to ask for forgiveness
- there is prayers inserted into order of worship that emphasise repentance
“repentance and atonement…”
“stand at the height of Jewish spiritual life.”
How does one prepare for Rosh Hashanah?
- reciting Selichat (prayers for forgiveness)
- encouragement of self-examination
What is the central point of Rosh Hashanah?
- the 13 attributes of Mercy
What is the belief about the 13 attributes of mercy?
- God revealed them to Moses at Sinai, by which people could beg for compassion when required
What do Jews wear on Rosh Hashanah?
- wear white to present themselves as clean of sin
What covers are on the bimah, ark and lectern on RH?
all white covers
What does prayer emphasise on the High Holy Days?
- the sovereignty of God: a God who sits in judgement over the world
What does the prayer ask God on RH?
- asks God to remember humankind but also reminds Jews to not forget everything God has done for them
What do Jews do when leaving the synagogue on RH?
Bless each other with the words “may you be written down for a good year.”
What do Jews believe God does on RH?
- balances a person’s good deeds against their bad deeds and decides what the next year will look like for them in the Book of Life
What is the high point of the festival?
The 100 notes that are blown on the Shofar at the morning service
Why is it customary to have round challot at home?
- represents a crown and thus God as the world
- also symbolises the cycle of life
Where does the ritual of blowing the Shofar originate?
Leviticus 23 which commands Israelites to commemorate the day of rest, being assembled by trumpet blasts
When was a significant time the Shofar was sounded?
- when Jews entered into the covenant with God at Mount Sinai and accepted the Torah
What should the sound of the Shofar remind Jews of?
Their responsibility to keep God’s commandments and to pray for rebuilding of God’s Holy Place
What do the blasts of the Shofar marks the start of?
- 10 days of returning
What did Maimonides interpret the use of the shofar as?
- a device to wake people from their slumber
- to remind them that they need to make a new start with God at the centre of their lives
Tashlikh
- involves the symbolic casting away of previous sins of the year
How is Tashlikh ritual performed?
By tossing pieces of bread into a body of floating water
What is Yom Kippur known as?
- the day of Atonement
- known as the holiest day of the Jewish year
What is done the day before Yom Kippur?
Some give to charity
What custom does giving to charity on YK link to?
- the custom of slaughtering a chicken and giving it to the poor as a festive meal
What is the eating ritual on the eve of Yom Kippur?
- a special meal which is followed by a 25 hour fast
What does the discomfort of the fast of YK do?
- atones for sins that haven’t been atoned for
What is the point of the YK fast?
- isn’t to punish but to take a person’s mind off physical needs so they are able to concentrate on spiritual matters
What is the opening service of Yom Kippur?
- Kol Nidrei
- a declaration that all vows uttered into the coming year are to be declared null and void
What does Kol Nidrei acknowledge?
- That we can’t always keep the promises made to God
- when Jews took great risk living as Jews
What is the aim of the morning service in Yom Kippur?
- Musaf
- releases people from feeling guilty for the past so that they can start to feel free again
What happens when nightfall comes on Yom Kippur?
- single blast on Shofar announces the fast is over
- then at home, the Havdalah ceremony is performed
