The two day holiday of Rosh Hashana, ushering in the year, 5770, will begin Friday night, September 18.
Every Jewish holiday is connected to a historical event. Pesach, on the 15th of Nissan, celebrates the Exodus from Egypt; Shavuot, on the 6th of Sivan, commemorates the Giving of the Torah; Purim on the 14th of Adar, and Chanukah, on the 25th of Kislev, celebrate two great miracles in which the Jewish people were saved. Each of these holidays is celebrated on the day in which that event took place on the Hebrew calendar.
Q. Rosh Hashana is on the first of Tishrei. What happened on the first of Tishrei that the Jewish New Year is celebrated on that day?
A. In the Talmud, Rabbi Eliezer says that Rosh Hashana is the day in which Adam and Eve were created.
Q. Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day of creation. Why is Rosh Hashana not celebrated on the first day of creation?
A. The creation became complete and with purpose only when mankind was created. The Torah tells us that G-d created the universe so that man should "tend to it and keep it" (Gen. 2:15). It is up to us to observe G-d’s will and fulfill G-d’s purpose for creation, for through this mankind completes G-d’s creation. Thus, the New Year begins on the day when Adam and Eve were created.
In the Rosh Hashana Musaf prayer we quote the words of the prophet Jeremiah, "Go and call in the ears of Jerusalem saying, thus said the L-rd, I remember to you the kindness of your youth, the love of your bridal state; how you went after me in the wilderness... I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth..."
Q. Why do we quote the verse about "the days of your youth" in the Rosh Hashana prayer?
A. A woman once came to Rabbi Israel, Magid of Koshnitz, complaining that her husband wished to divorce her because she wasn't attractive.
"It is not right," she cried. When I was young I was beautiful and my husband found me very attractive. Is it fair that now when I have grown old and lost my beauty that my husband should abandon me?"
"You are 100 percent right!" said Rabbi Israel to the woman.
Rabbi Israel then began weeping. He lifted his eyes toward heaven and proclaimed, "Master of the Universe, aren't we, the people of Israel, in the same situation. In our youth, when you took us out of Egypt and we first became your people, we went after you in the barren desert. You supplied all our needs and showed us your great love. Now that we have grown old and may have lost the beauty of our youth, is it just of You to abandon us?"
On Rosh Hashana we quote the words of the prophets, "Go and call in the ears of Jerusalem saying, thus said the L-rd, I remember to you the kindness of your youth, the love of your bridal state…” to invoke G-d's love to the people of Israel today as in the days of our beauty in our youth.
Remember GILAD SHALIT who was kidnapped by Arab terrorists. Let us pray for his welfare and safe return.
May G-d protect him together with all members of the Israeli Defence Forces fighting for the safty and security of Israel.
UNITED WE STAND WITH OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN ISRAEL!
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