Preparing for a new year
It may seem unusual to begin a new year in the middle of a day in the middle of September, but that's how Rosh Hashana begins this week.
When the sun rises Wednesday morning, the year will still be 5767 for Jewish people around the world. When the Wednesday sun sets, it marks a brand-new Hebrew day and a brand-new year as the ancient calendar turns over to 5768.
Though Jews still must use the Gregorian year -- 2007 -- for non-religious purposes, of course, "we think of them as the religious year and the secular year," said Hazzan Sarah Alexander of Elgin's Shirat Shalom congregation.
The year 5768 will be used for religious correspondence, she said, and on Jewish marriage, baby naming and death records.
Rosh Hashana, the two-day Jewish new year, continues until nightfall Friday. It also opens the High Holy Days, a 10-day season that culminates with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
"On Rosh Hashana, one takes a spiritual accounting," said Rabbi Jonathan Kohn of Congregation Kneseth Israel in Elgin.
"We look at everything we have done, especially over the last year, and reaffirm our responsibilities to God. We make promises to correct everything that we have done wrong so we can enter the new year."
On Yom Kippur, from the evening of Sept. 21 until dark Sept. 22, Jews typically fast and synagogue services last all day.
High Holy Days sermons, readings and melodies will vary from year to year, but the services as a whole are quite traditional. One thing Alexander is doing differently this year, though, is introducing new blessings.
Apples and honey have long been associated with Rosh Hashana and symbolize the "sweet" new year worshipers ask God to give them. But there are other blessings, too.
This year Shirat Shalom will have pomegranates to eat because "we can ask God to help us be as full of goodness as a pomegranate is full of seeds," Alexander said.
They'll also have dates, carrots and beets because the Hebrew words for those foods remind them of other things they'll be asking from God.
The Hebrew word for "carrot," for example, is very similar to the word for "decree" or "judgment," and who wouldn't want a favorable judgment from the Almighty?
I found it interesting that many synagogues advertise Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur tickets and also run annual membership drives with dues, so I asked Alexander and Kohn about that.
"In Jewish tradition, on a holy day, you're not allowed to handle money because money is connected with work," Alexander said.
"We can't have the 'Christmas Eve offering' or the 'Easter offering' -- we can't have something similar to that on our holiday."
With the ticket system, worshipers are asked to make a specific donation amount, "but we never turn anyone away," she said. "It's always flexible if there's a person or a family who has any kind of financial issues."
And if you buy the annual membership, tickets for High Holy Days services generally are included.
The High Holy Days are all about "obligation, repentance, membership, belonging and becoming. It's a spiritual readjustment to get back on God's path," Kohn said.
Before Yom Kippur is over, Jews will be looking ahead to the next holiday, Sukkot, which follows soon after. More about that in my next column.
Until then, to all our Jewish friends, L'shanah tovah! Happy New Year!
Evangelist to lead revival: Dave Barba, an evangelist, singer and author from Press On! Ministries in Indianapolis will be the guest speaker at a revival crusade hosted by Cornerstone Baptist Church, which meets at Marlowe Middle School, 9625 Haligus Road, Lake in the Hills.
Barba has ministered for more than 30 years all over the world, from the United States to Hungary, from Jamaica to the United Kingdom, and in South America and Africa.
The public is welcome to attend. Meetings will be held at the school at 10:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Sept. 16 and 7:30 p.m. Sept. 17-19.