Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah Which Coincides With Shabbat – Coronavirus

By Popular Demand: Since there will unfortunately be many people forced to pray Rosh Hashanah prayers alone at home, the Halacha is that one should recite all prayers, as usual, obviously besides for the Chazzan’s repetition of the Amida prayer. Such individuals are also obligated to her Shofar blowing. If one knows how to blow…

Unetaneh Tokef: Do We Control our Fate?

The prayer that asks us to consider our mortality is an urgent call to examine our lives. By Cantor Matt Axelrod If there’s one word that is closely connected with the High Holiday season, it’s teshuvah, repentance. It’s a part of the vocabulary taught to even young religious school children: looking at one’s behavior and…

Rosh Hashana- The Power of Shofar

We find an allusion to the Misva of Shofar in Parashat Nisavim, where the Torah warns, Pen Yesh Bachem Shoresh Poreh Rosh Velaana Lest there is among you a root of evil of rebellion (Debarim 29:17). The first letters of the phrase, Shoresh Poreh Rosh Velaana are Shin, Peh, Resh and Vav the…

Joy!

Shemini Atzeret and Rosh Hashanah are parallel in many of the kavanot and higher yichudim. On Rosh Hashanah, though, these are in a mode of elevation and on Shemini Atzeret in a mode of elicitation from on High downward. On Rosh Hashanah man’s avoda is with supplication, submission and intense bitterness; On Shemini Atzeret it is…

Parsha Summary – Parshas Haazinu

Parshas Haazinu Note: The Shabbos Torah Reading is divided into 7 sections. Each section is called an Aliya [literally: Go up] since for each Aliya, one person “goes up” to make a bracha [blessing] on the Torah Reading. 1st Aliya: Moshe begins by describing the presence of Hashem in nature as being as evident as…

Rosh Hashanah 5775

Rosh Hashanah 5775. As the shofar is sounded during our prayers on the two days of Rosh Hashanah we will be reciting the following time-hallowed supplications. From our Machzor. היום הרת עולם Today is the birthday of the world; on this day He calls all the created beings of the worlds to stand in judgment….

Laws of Candle-Lighting on Rosh Hashanah

Lighting Candles on Rosh Hashanah and Preparing on the First Day of Rosh Hashanah for the Second The Laws of Candle-Lighting on Rosh Hashanah On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Tov we customarily light candles before the onset of Yom Tov similar to the way we light them on Erev Shabbat. If the…

The Season of Teshuvah A special season known as Teshuvah, which in Hebrew means “to return or repent,” begins on the first day of the month of Elul and continues 40 days, ending with Yom Kippur. Thirty days into Teshuvah, on Tishrei l, comes Rosh HaShanah. This begins a final ten-day period beginning on Rosh…

The Behavior of Maran zt”l

Customs Related to the Days of Rosh Hashanah-The Behavior of Maran zt”l It is customary to eat red meat and sweet foods on the days of Rosh Hashanah, as the verse in Nechemia states, “Go eat fatty foods and drink sweet beverages and sent gifts of food to those who do not have, for the…

The Human Dimension of Shofar

Based on a shiur by Harav Mosheh Lichtenstein Translated by David Strauss Enhance your deeds, do not break the covenant! Heaven’s enhancer shall heed your prayer, Which pleases Him better than sacrifices. O holy One. (from the Rosh Ha-shana liturgy) I. THE KINGSHIP OF THE SHOFAR When we think about shofar…

Musaf Prayer of Rosh Ha-shana

By Rav Yosef Zvi Rimon Translated by Rav Yoseif Bloch NINE BERAKHOT The centerpiece of each one of our prayer services is the Amida, the silent, standing prayer, which usually follows one of two templates: the weekday nineteen-berakha (blessing; plural, berakhot) structure or the holiday seven-berakha structure. The first three and last three…

Leil Selichot / סליחות

Selichot or slichot (Hebrew: סליחות) are Jewish penitential poems and prayers, especially those said in the period leading up to the High Holidays, and on Fast Days. In the Ashkenazic tradition, it begins on the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah. If, however, the first day of Rosh Hashanah falls on Monday or Tuesday, Selichot are…