L'Shana Tovah 5781

 

 Greetings, Gail-Friends, and Happy New Year!  Where did 5780 go???  

We celebrated Rosh Hashanah yesterday at the synagogue with reflection, contemplation, prayer, and praise.  Oh, yes, and lots of shofar blasts and good food!  

Here are a few photos:

Rabbi Jem did the 100 shofar blasts, and this young man, eight-year-old Abram, joined in.  He is quite the shofar player.  His six-year-old sister can blow it, too, but she was a bit shy about it yesterday.  Abram likes to sit in the front row, and amazes us all with his knowledge of the Bible.  Rabbi asks questions about the parsha, and Abram often pipes up with the correct answer.

His father, Aaron, carried the Torah.  It was his first time to receive this honor, and he was deeply moved.  He also made the beautiful round challah above.

 

After the service, we had food, of course. Lots of it!

These two little girls wanted sit next to Rabbi Jem.

I told you we had lots of food!

We were so blessed to have this service in the midst of the pandemic.  This was our first feast day since Purim and it was good to spend time and eat with one another.  We're still providing plenty of hand sanitizer, masks if someone wants one, and taking cleaning precautions.  We are blessed that no one in our congregation has come down with the virus.  We'll all be glad when this virus is OVER. 

We're looking forward to Yom Kippur.  

Blessings to you all, dear Gail-Friends. 
 

Sabbath Music - BaShana HaBa'ah

 

Shabbat Shalom and Shanah Tovah to you, Gail-Friends.  I'm giving you holiday greetings early because the High Holy Days begin at sundown on Sunday, September 9.   What a blessing -- the Sabbath, followed by Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets -- a double blessing!
 
Rosh Hashanah is also the first day of the year - so Happy New Year - or Shanah Tovah to you.  We'll be blowing the shofar, dancing, singing, and eating the traditional foods - apples and honey during our celebration this Sunday.  These foods represent our prayers and desires for a good, sweet year ahead.   I'm planning on making apple roses.  I'll post all about it when I return.  Here's a traditional song for Rosh Hashanah that tells of the belief that the new year will be a good one.  And I hope you dance, Gail-Friends :  BaShana HaBa'ah

photo courtesy of MiYah Music - used by permission

Rosh Hashanah is the first holy day, which begins this Sunday.  This begins the ten days of awe leading up to Yom Kippur.  During those ten days, we seek Adonai's face to see if any sins have crept into our lives.  Sad to say, it happens, so this is a needed discipline in all of our lives.


If you are not familiar with the High Holy Days, you can learn all about Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot at this LINK.   You'll find my past posts related to these holidays.

Because this is a holy time of introspection, I will not post again until after Yom Kippur. I will be back on Thursday, September 20.  At that time, I will post about our Rosh Hashanah celebration, and also about our Yom Kippur service.  

I will pray for you, dear Gail-Friends, while I am away, and please pray for me.  Until then, I say L'Shanah Tovah B'Yeshua (Happy New Year in Yeshua).  And may the year 5779 be a sweet one for you.

Thankful Thursday - Shana Tova

Greetings, Gail-Friends!  And Shana Tovah - Happy Year.  

Today, I'm thankful for our congregation coming together on a Wednesday evening to celebrate the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah)

 

Here are a few photos from our Rosh Hashanah celebration last night.

                                                     There were 100 blasts of the shofar

It's not easy...takes lots of practice, believe me!  I rarely can make a sound.

We sang, worshipped, and remembered Hashem's commandment to observe this holy day.

Our 358 year-old Torah scroll was taken from the ark. We thanked G-d for preserving

 His Word  for our generation.

As the Torah is passing by, we keep our eyes on it.  We do not turn our backs on it.  It is a tangible lessons for how our lives are to be lived.

And then, of course, we ate apples and honey to symbolize our prayers for a blessed year ahead.

 Lots and lots of apple desserts....and always, our traditional gifelte fish!  Someone asked me what it tastes like.  I laughingly said, "Cat food."  Then added, "It's an acquired taste.  I didn't like it at first, but now I love it.  It's best (to me) with horseradish sauce.

I love this picture of Rabbi Jem, taken before the blessing of the bread and wine.

Rabbi and I wish you a blessed year ahead.  

You can learn more about Rosh Hashanah  and why we celebrate it by clicking on the subject on the right side bar of this blog.

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Shanah Tovah - Happy 5777

Shanah Tovah - to you, Gail-Friends

Last evening, we held our Rosh Hoshanah service. To learn more about this Jewish holiday, read my previous post HERE.

So much was happening last night, that I forgot to take pictures until almost the end, so I only have a few to share with you.  Below is Rabbi Jem parading theTorah.

 During the Torah parade, we sang Ancient Words, 

remembering how precious His Word is to us.

 

 At the end of the service, everyone blows the shofar (if they have one).  I grabbed my phone camera, and was able to record just a snippet.  Our synagogue members, David and LaVonne, bought toy shofars for all of the children.  You can hear them on the video:

I hope you can hear this.  I have to laugh, because it sounds like roosters crowing.  Then I realized it is prophetic !  

They are saying, 

"WAKE UP ! ! !  It's time to obey ADONAI, and walk in His ways."   YES ! !  ! 

We enjoyed the beautiful, round and fruit-filled challah, made by one of our  members.

After the service, we had a wonderful time of food and fellowship, enjoying apples and honey. These are traditional foods for Rosh Hashanah and 

symbolize our prayers for a sweet new year.

Rosh Hashanah lasts for two days, and is followed by the ten days of awe.  During that time, we examine our lives in light of His commandments, and make right any relationships that are strained. We do this in preparation for the next holiday -- Yom Kippur. Since this is a time of introspection, I will not be posting until after October 11.  

Rabbi Jem and I pray you have a blessed holiday, and a sweet new year.

Shanah Tovah

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Shana Tova 5776

Happy New Year, Gail-Friends.  Today at sundown we'll celebrate Rosh Hashanah.  It is one of Hashem's commanded Feasts and Festivals:

And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you. Numbers 29:1  (see also
Leviticus  23:23-25)

I'm feeling creative and have enjoyed preparing and decorating for this holiday.  I made a banner (above) and am perusing recipes that use apples and honey.  

As we were decorating the synagogue dining room, I told Rabbi Jem, "You know we are so blessed to have so many holidays to enjoy."  

This morning, I woke up at 4 am, and made this pomegranate decoration.  It was fun, and I think I'll make more.

Pomegranates are mentioned many times in the Bible.  I'll write more about them this week.  It is an interesting study.  

Tonight, we'll have our Rosh Hashanah service, and eat sweet things during oneg.  This is a feast day, so we'll enjoy it fully, because our next appointed time is Yom Kippur, which is a day of fasting.

Tonight, we begin the ten days of awe, which is a time of introspection and soul searching, leading up to Yom Kippur.  We will be still and draw near to Hashem, asking him to reveal any sins that have crept into our lives.  

Rosh Hashanah is also the beginning of the new year on the Jewish calendar.  So, that's why I say, "L'Shana Tovah" - Happy New Year to y'all.  I think 5776 is going to be a very good year!

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Rosh Hashanah 5775

 

 

 L'SHANA TOVAH 

HAPPY NEW YEAR, 5775

The High Holy Days are a busy  time for us at Ma'gen Da'vid Synagogue, so I am glad to back to my regular postings.  

We held our Rosh Hashanah service on Wednesday evening, September 24.  This holiday is also called Feast of Trumpets because the blowing of the shofar is the focus.  We also make the challah round on this holiday as a reminder that the time has come around once again for us to refocus our lives on ADONAI.  The cycle begins and we rejoice.

During the service at our synagogue, there are 100 notes blown on the shofar. Below is a video so that you can hear how it sounds.  The chanting by the rabbi tells the musician how many times to blow the shofar. I'm sorry my video of the event at our synagogue did not turn out because Jeff, our musician, is very talented and did a great job. Thank you to Youtube (and Temple Shalom) for this:







That last note is very long.  I am amazed at how long the one in the video continued, because blowing the shofar is not easy, and blowing  it for 100 notes is even harder.  To have the breath to end like that is great.
 
The shofar blasts are a call to repentance and prayer and a reminder to be in awe of our Holy G-d.  Thus, the time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is known as The Ten Days of Awe. 

For the ten days, we take time to reflect on our lives and ask G-d to reveal any hidden sins.  We also ask Him to show us if any relationships need to be mended.  If so, we go to that person and ask forgiveness.  It is a solemn time of humbling ourselves before Him.  You can learn more about the Feast of Trumpets HERE

After the service, we ate lots of apples dipped in honey, and wished each other a sweet year ahead. 

I love this song about Rosh Hashanah, by MiYah. You can visit her website and hear more of her music  HERE


One of the things that awes me about the High Holy Days is that all Jews come aside to observe this holiday. In some towns, all businesses close down for the entire ten days.  I saw this quote and it caused me to think and I hope you, my Gail-Friends, will consider it, too:

  “Since the days of Pentecost, has the whole church ever put aside every other work and waited upon him for ten days, that the Spirit’s power might be manifested? We give too much attention to method and machinery and resources, and too little to the source of power” –J. Hudson Taylor

Did you know that Pentecost is actually the Jewish holiday of Shavuot?  The Jews were in Jerusalem that day to obey G-d's command.  The observance of Rosh Hashanah and the Ten Days of Awe are also commanded by Adonai.  

My next post will be about our observance of Yom Kippur, and I hope you will come back by for that.
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