Rosh Hashanah
Echoes of Reality
Posted by Rabbi Avi Heller | Tags: Rosh Hashanah
When I was a college freshman at Boston University, one of the great Rabbis of our generation - Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik - passed away. I am embarrassed to say that I didn't yet know much about this impressive modern Orthodox Rabbi-philosopher[1]. I was not a rabbi, had no plans to be a rabbi...
A Reinvigorated Evangelical Jew
Posted by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld | Tags: Rosh Hashanah
Recently there was an article about me in an online magazine. It was a very nice article. By that I mean it said very nice things about me, but it had at least one mistake. It said I was the rabbi of Ohev Sholom, located in Dupont Circle. Now this is an honest mistake since I do spend some...
The Story of Hannah: From Loneliness to Community
Posted by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld | Tags: Rosh Hashanah
Who do you think is the loneliest person you know? Who do you think is the loneliest person in Jewish history? In my opinion the answer to that question is Elisha Ben Avuya, also known as Acher (or Other). The Talmud (Tractate Chagigah 15a) tells us the following story. Elisha Ben Avuya...
New Fruit
Posted by Jack Kustanowitz | Tags: Rosh Hashanah
There is an ancient and charming custom of having new fruit at the table on Rosh Hashanah. Classically, this is due to the legal uncertainty of the status of the second day of the holiday. If the two days of Rosh Hashanah are really just one long day, as the Talmud suggests, then one would not...
Going "Off the Record" for the High Holy Days
Posted by Esther D. Kustanowitz | Tags: Rosh Hashanah
This article originally appeared in the NY Jewish Week. It usually happens at social gatherings. Someone says, "I've got an unbelievable story for you." I take out pen and paper and begin writing. Then, at the most interesting part, the person stops and says "you're not going to write...
Repentance, prayer and tzedakah can avert the evil decree
Posted by Shoshana Michael Zucker | Tags: Rosh Hashanah
"The year and its curses has ended." A Sephardic poem sung on Rosh Hashanah Eve repeats this refrain eight times before ending with a glimmer of hope, "May the year and its blessings begin." If we could only close the door and turn the key on everything that happened to the Jewish people and the...
My video divrei Torah on Rosh hashanah by Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
Posted by Jonathan Ginsburg | Tags: Rosh Hashanah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVx0DgiHeH0 general http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFtbs1x_Fc8 blesings http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xKwipaMg68 selihote http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktDfC8yhxhI prepare http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jR20-0sy1Y hear a...
Isaac’s Shofar
Posted by Shoshana Michael Zucker | Tags: Rosh Hashanah
Isaac’s Shofar “Happy are the people that knows the shofar’s sound, they walk in God’s light.” What does it mean to “know the shofar’s sound? How can we walk in God’s light? What is a worthy life? These are among the questions we face today. In rabbinic...
Lift Right Left
Posted by Jack Kustanowitz | Tags: Rosh Hashanah
Ever have hagba (or know someone who had hagba) around this time of year? It's a good time to be a righty, as a full chumash worth of parchment is disproportionately wrapped around the right spindle of the sefer Torah. After this week, your left hand will need to only pick up Haazinu and Vezot...
The Avimelekh Syndrome
Posted by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld | Tags: Rosh Hashanah
(Rosh Hashanah 5767) Here we go again! Every year we celebrate Rosh Hashanah and we accept resolutions upon ourselves. But how many of us really change? How many of us allow ourselves to change? How many of us stop our bad habits for good? This year will be different. This year we will...
