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The High Holidays

Alvin Stern

When we think of the High Holidays (Yomim Noraim) we usually think of them as holidays celebrated mainly in the synagogue - after all, it seems that ALL Jews go to shul on these Holy Days! Yet, as with all the other major Jewish holidays, many of the observances connected with them are to be done at home. Think of Pesach with the family gathered around the Seder table, think of building a Sukkah in the backyard, and of course Shabbat with candle-lighting (as on all the major holidays), Shabbat dinner, relaxing at home, etc.

On Rosh HaShana, most of us are familiar with the tradition of using a round challah for the festive meals - round symbolizing the cycle of the year, round symbolizing the wishes for a smooth year to come. Raisins are usually added to the dough as an additional sweetener. We dip the challah in honey as we recite a prayer that G-d should renew for us a sweet new year. Sephardim use a challah shaped like a ladder - symbolizing our prayers for the new year going “up” directly to G-d. In addition, there is a tradition of eating a whole series of foods and reciting special prayers with them - for instance, eating carrots – that our good deeds should be increased, beets – that our enemies be destroyed, squash – that our evil sentence annulled, pomegranate - they are said to have 613 seeds, and fish - that we be fruitful and increase like fish. If the secular saying is “you are what you eat”, we believe you can eat symbolic foods to help our prayers be answered! In general, sweet foods are eaten on Rosh HaShana to represent our wishes for a sweet new year, and we greet each other saying “L’shana Tova u’Mituka” - for a good and sweet year.

On the afternoon of the first day (or if that falls on Shabbat as in this year, on the second day) we take some of the crumbs from the lunch table and walk to a nearby body of flowing water where we cast those crumbs away, representing the “sins” of the past year. This ritual is known as Tashlich and is done outside of the synagogue. In some neighborhoods, groups of friends get together for this ritual; we also gather at the shul and go as a group to the creek on Kresson Road for this short but powerful ceremony.

On the morning preceding Yom Kippur, it is traditional to perform a ritual known as Shluchen Kapporot - using a live chicken swung over our heads representing our “sins”- and the bird is then given to the poor. A much more palatable version (which I recommend doing) is to take a cloth with some money (18 cents in coins or 18 dollars works nicely) and swing this over our heads 3 times, then putting the money in a Tzedakah box. As we do this ritual we state that this money takes our place, and by giving it away we ransom ourselves.

A beautiful tradition takes place later in the day when parents bless their children - using a much longer version than the one done each Friday night. In this prayer, parents ask G-d to protect the children and pray that they grow up and have sons and daughters who will continue to study and follow the precepts of Judaism - as we are about to go off to shul to pray for personal salvation, we also pray for family continuity. When my father did this for me, and now when I recite this for my sons, it is a very emotional moment.

Normally, our holidays begin with a festive meal, but on Kol Nidre night, we eat before the holiday begins by setting the table with a white cloth and our Shabbat dishes, and the meal itself seems like a Shabbat dinner. Although some use a round challah, we use a challah that we shape like a bird - similar to the Sephardic ladder, this bird should carry our prayers on Yom Kippur directly to G-d. When we are finished eating, rather than leave an empty table, there is a tradition of leaving a prayerbook on the table in the place where the challah would normally be placed. Since on Yom Kippur our focus will be on prayers and words and thoughts and not on the materialistic or “earthy” matters - (bread comes from the earth - Hamotzi lechem min ha-aretz), we make the book the centerpiece for Yom Kippur. Before lighting the festival candles, we kindle Yahrzeit candles for those loved ones who are no longer with us physically but are very much a part of our chain of continuity.

As we dress to go to shul, we do not wear leather shoes or belts - since an animal was killed to obtain the leather, we do not want to stand before G-d begging for our lives while having the chutzpah to wear leather; we also do not wear jewelry - since we want G-d to judge us based on our spirituality and not our materialism, and we are all equal before G-d no matter our station in life. (Wedding bands are OK - since a “kosher” band has no jewels on it, it is not really jewelry; watches also serve a different function than pure adornment). We also wear white clothing (where possible) - partly to show our pure souls, partly to remind us of the white shrouds we will wear at our funerals - to remind us of setting our priorities straight, since in the end all of us end up the same way - this is also why we wear a Kittel - white robe - on the High Holidays.

When we return home after the fast is over, it is customary to begin the construction of the Sukkah before breaking the fast - to indicate our optimism in a good judgment, and to show that we are looking forward to the holiday most associated with joy. The cycle of the year begins again!