Apples n’ Honey
Rosh Hashanah touches on the various senses. For some it is the taste of Apples and Honey. For others it is the smell of the Rosh Hashanah Brisket. For others it is the touch of the Machzor, the High Holiday prayer book. For some it is the sound of the Rabbi’s sermon or the sounds of Shofar.
This week I’m going to focus on some prayers and traditions leading up to Rosh Hashanah. In the remaining weeks until Rosh Hashanah, I’ll share some insight into the foods we eat, the Shofar and other traditions connected with these holy days.
Interesting enough the prayers of Rosh Hashanah do not focus at all on repentance. There is a slight reference to atonement in certain prayer books in the section of the Shofar. In the fine print between the three sections of Shofar sounds it says “confess here”. This is actually a non verbal silent confession that one ought to meditate on in the few seconds between sections. More on this in a moment.
There are prayers of repentance and atonement that are recited in preparation for Rosh Hahanah. These are known as Selichot.
Sefardic Jews actually recite these prayers early each morning, for the entire month leading up to Rosh Hashanah.
Ashkenazic Jews begin the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah after midnight provided that there are at least three days of these prayers available (ie. Rosh Hashanah begins on a Thursday. If Rosh Hashanah begins on Tuesday (ie. Monday nights, as it does this year) then we begin the Saturday night of the week before. (The fist day of Rosh Hashanah can’t fall out on a Wednesday.)
On the first night, Saturday night, we begin these prayers after true midnight (somewhere around 1:30 AM with daylight savings and here in GA) so as not to interfere with the holiness and spirit of the Shabbos which extends into the night after Shabbat ends.
The next days leading up to Rosh Hashanah, these prayers are recited early in the morning before morning prayers. On Erev Rosh Hashanah an extended set of Selichot prayers are recited.
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One more tradition leading up to Rosh Hashanah.
On Erev Rosh Hashanah, after the morning services, we convene a court. The court is made up of either 10 or 3 people. In the presence of this court we ask for annulment of any vows we may have made this year.
The reasoning behind this; The Torah states that that which comes out of your mouth you should guard. The Torah doesn’t require that we say “I promise” or “I swear”. Just saying that I will do something Biblically obligates me to fulfill that which I said.
Inevitably there are things we say we will do that we don’t actually bring to fruition. We want to enter Rosh Hashanah with a clean slate so we ask the court, who is empowered with the ability to annul vows to release us of any vow-obligation.
This tradition has a similar ring to the Kol Nidrai recited before the beginning of Yom Kippur. Of course there are deeper reasons behind this tradition. I plan to speak about the deeper meaning and Anthony Bourdain at Kol Nidrai this year.
So I hope to see you then!
