Aliyot | Burial of Shemot | Decorum During Services
| El Maleh Rachamin
| Erev Pesach on Shabbat | Hanukah | Havdalah | High Holidays | High Holiday Dress | High Holidays Preparations
| How to Dress for Shul |
Jewish Books | The
Kaddish | Kedushah | Keriah
Mi Sheberach | the Machzor | Mitzvah Minyanaires | Mourning | Pesach | Prayer
| Proper Behavior in Shul
| Proper Dress for Children in Shul | Purim Ritual
Objects | Ritual Practices | Rosh Chodesh | Seudah Shlishit | Shabbat | Shavout
| Shiva | Traditions
| Visiting the Sick
High Holiday Preparation
Alvin Stern
The Tragic holiday of Tisha B’Av marks the beginning of the preparation
leading up to the High Holidays and the ushering in of a New Year. The first
Shabbat following the fast day is known as Shabbat Nachamu (The Sabbath of Comfort)
after the first words of the Haftarah. There are a total of seven “Haftarot
of Consolation” ending on the Shabbat immediately preceding Rosh Hashanah.
So we effectively begin counting seven Shabbatot from Tisha B’Av to Rosh
Hashanah.
Beginning with Rosh Chodesh Elul, we add Psalm 27 to the Ma’ariv (evening
service) and Shacharit (morning) service; and continue reciting this Penitential
Psalm until Shemini Atzeret. In this Psalm, we have the song, Achat Sha’alti
– One thing I ask from Hashem that I be allowed to dwell in the House
of the Lord all the days of my life – that I may find comfort and shelter
there, and thus have the courage and faith to go on.
Each weekday morning, beginning with the first day of Elul, we sound the shofar
just prior to reciting this Psalm. Our custom is to do one blast of each of
the three types of shofar sounds – Tekiyah, Shevarim and Teruah. On Shabbat,
of course, we don’t use the shofar, but still recite the Psalm. On Erev
Rosh Hashanah, we also do not sound the shofar, so that we can recite the Shechechiyanu
on Rosh Hashanah when we hear the complete cycle of shofar calls. This daily
sounding of the shofar serves as an alarm clock, to wake us up to the need to
introspect and look carefully at our lives and our deeds in preparation for
the Day of Judgment.
On the Saturday night preceding Rosh Hashanah by at least four days, we gather
close to midnight to recite Selichot, prayers of penitence, to again remind
us that Yom Kippur is approaching. This service gets us in the mood for the
solemnity of the holiday season, and is preceded by the changing of the Torah
mantles from their colors to stark white, reminding us of the clean slate of
the New Year and the purity of our souls. Tisha B’Av is the Black Fast
– sadness and gloom; but Yom Kippur is the White Fast – full of
confidence and faith in the future (provided we have properly atoned for our
sins”).
Finally, sometime between the beginning of Elul and Yom Kippur, it is customary
to visit the graves of our departed loved ones and symbolically ask for their
forgiveness (just as we are to ask our living friends and loved ones to forgive
us during this period). In addition, this visit serves to remind us of the chain
of Jewish tradition and heritage of which we are but one link, and how we must
carry the memories, hopes, and dreams of those no longer with us into the new
year and, in turn, pass Judaism on to the next generation.
L’shana Tovah Tikatevu! |
