The Period Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur

The ten days between New Year and Yom Kippur (inclusive) are known as “The Ten Days of Repentance”. Jewish tradition maintains that this is a time of judgment when all people and nations are called to account for their deeds of the past year, and when their particular fates for the coming year are decided. The day after the New Year holiday is a day of fasting known as The Fast of Gedaliah, and commemorates the murder of Gedaliah, the Jewish governor of Judea, who was appointed by the Babylonians after they captured Jerusalem in 586 BCE; the episode is recounted in II Kings 25:22-25. (If the day after Rosh Hashanah is a Sabbath, as it is this year, the fast is postponed to Sunday.) The fast will extend from sunrise on Sunday, 19 September, until after sunset the same day. Special scriptural readings are recited, but the day is not a public holiday. A single Sabbath, known as the “Sabbath of Repentance”, always occurs between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This Sabbath (18 September this year) is marked by a special reading from Hosea 14:2-10, beginning with, “Return, Israel, unto the Lord your God.” Yom Kippur Yom Kippur (Hebrew for “The Day of Atonement”) begins at sunset on Friday, 24 September, and concludes at sunset on Saturday, 25 September. Its observance is mandated by Leviticus 16:29-31 and 23:27-32. The holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur is the day on which, according to Jewish tradition, our fates for the coming year are sealed. Synagogue services – centering on the penitential prayers – will continue for most of the day and include special scriptural readings (including the Book of Jonah, in the afternoon). Memorial prayers for the deceased, said on four occasions during the year, are also said on Yom Kippur. At sunset, the shofar is sounded once to mark the end of Yom Kippur. (Fast days which fall on the Sabbath are always postponed until the following Sunday; Yom Kippur is the sole exception to this rule.) Yom Kippur is a full public holiday in Israel and almost all establishments, including the GPO, will be closed (The GPO will be closed on Friday, 25 September). There will be no radio or television broadcasts. Since Yom Kippur is a day of introspection, completely separate from the normal course of daily life – the physical aspects of our lives are sublimated while we concentrate on our spiritual concerns – the day is marked by a full (sunset to sunset) fast. The wearing of leather, the use of cosmetics, bathing and marital relations are likewise forbidden. Sukkot The seven-day Sukkot festival, mandated by Leviticus 23:34-35 and 23:39-43, begins at sunset on Wednesday, 29 September and concludes at sunset on Wednesday, 6 October. The first day, from sunset on the 20th until sunset on the 21st, is a full public holiday (even when it does not fall on the Sabbath, as it does this year). All seven days of the holiday are marked by special prayers and scriptural readings – including the Book of Ecclesiastes, which is read on Saturday, 2 October. Sukkot is a joyful, family oriented holiday, which follows – and provides a contrast to – the somber, introspective and private character of Yom Kippur. Many businesses and institutions will operate, some (including the GPO) on a reduced basis during the intermediate days of Sukkot (from Sunday, 3 October, until Tuesday, 5 October). Sukkot is characterized by two central practices. Jews are enjoined to build, take all of their meals in, and (if possible) sleep in, temporary huts topped with thatch or palm fronds during the festival. These huts (sukkot in Hebrew) commemorate the temporary, portable dwellings in which the Jewish people lived during their 40-year sojourn in the wilderness that followed their liberation from slavery in Egypt. The second main Sukkot observance is the special bouquet – consisting of a closed palm frond, a citron, a myrtle branch and a willow branch – that is held during morning prayers on each of the seven days (except the Sabbath); its origins derive from Leviticus 23:40, many traditional explanations of its symbolism have been cited. Shemini Atzeret (Simhat Torah) The Shemini Atzeret (literally “The Eighth Day of Assembly” in Hebrew) holiday immediately follows the last day of Sukkot, beginning at sunset on Wednesday, 6 October and concluding at sunset on Thursday, 7 October. Its observance is mandated by Leviticus 23:36. It is a full public holiday. (Even though it follows the seven-day Sukkot festival and is often considered part of Sukkot, it is, in fact, a separate holiday. The special bouquet is not used and the obligation to sit in the sukkot no longer applies.) The day’s prayer services include the memorial prayers for the deceased, as well as the prayer for plentiful rainfall during the coming winter. Shemini Atzeret, however, centers around its special scriptural readings. On Shemini Atzeret, the yearly cycle of Torah (the first five books of the Bible, i.e. Genesis to Deuteronomy, one section of which is read on each Sabbath during the year) readings is both completed and begun anew. This event is accompanied by dancing and singing, sometimes continuing for several hours; in religious neighborhoods, these celebrations often spill out into the streets. Thus, the holiday is also referred to as Simhat Torah PETER BREUER BPI