High Holidays {2012}

Most of you probably opened this blog thinking I was going to talk about the Holiday Season (Thanksgiving and Christmas), but I’m actually referring to the Jewish Holidays (or Hagim in Hebrew). September and October is filled with Jewish holidays.

September 16th-18th is Rosh Hashanah: is the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanah customs include sounding the shofar and eating symbolic foods such as apples dipped in honey.

September 25th-26th is Yom Kippur: also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services.

September 30th – October 7th is Sukkot: The holiday lasts eight days. The first day is a sabbath-like yom tov when work is forbidden. The Hebrew word sukkōt is the plural of sukkah, “booth or tabernacle”, which is a walled structure covered with skhakh (plant material such as leafy tree overgrowth or palm leaves). The sukkah is intended as a reminiscence of the type of fragile dwellings in which the Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of travel in the desert after the Exodus from slavery in Egypt. Throughout the holiday meals are eaten inside the sukkah and many sleep there as well. On each day of the holiday, members of the household recite a blessing over the lulav and etrog.

October 9th is Simchat Torah: is a celebration marking the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. The main celebration of Simchat Torah takes place in the synagogue during evening and morning services. On each occasion, when the ark is opened, we leave their seats to dance and sing with all the Torah scrolls in a joyous celebration that often lasts for several hours.

So if you don’t see me around too much, don’t worry. I’m just off celebrating the Holidays!

Shabbat Shalom.