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The Jewish Holidays in September

Sat, September 4, 2021 Published by

September 2021 is an interesting month regarding the Jewish Calendar. The Jewish calendar year is 5782 and theoretically dates from Adam and Eve, if you go through the bible with all the years listed for the generations. There are four major Jewish holidays that occur this month. Three of them are described in Leviticus chapter 23. The first is Rosh Hashanah, literally the Head of the Year, as the Hebrew word Rosh is “head” and Hashanah is “the year.” Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown September 6th and is celebrated on the seventh and eight for Orthodox Jews and the seventh for Jews who live in Israel and Reform Jews. It is interesting that Rosh Hashanah begins on the first day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew Calendar and is the beginning of the ten Days of Awe which end with Yom Kippur.

The Beatitudes High Holiday Jewish service, celebrating Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, will be conducted in the Life Center Boardroom on Friday, September 10th at 1 pm. The service will be led by Phil and Hannah Adelman.

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins at sundown on the 15th of September. Leviticus does not use the name Rosh Hashanah and only indicates that is a day of the blowing of the horn. The name for this day was first used in the Mishnah which is a Jewish text written in the first 200 years of the common era. The Mishnah describes the use of the ram’s horn as it was a ram who was sacrificed in place of Isaac by Abraham. Hence, the Shofar or rams’ horn is blown in services on Rosh Hashanah. Yom Kippur is the end of the days of awe and is normally spent in the synagogue praying and fasting. The Yom Kippur fast begins prior to sundown on the fifteenth and ends, traditionally, after sundown on the sixteenth. During this 24-hour day the Jewish fast consists of complete abstinence of food and drink.

Sukkot, the feast of tabernacles, begins on the evening of the 20th of September (14th of Tishrei) and is a seven or eight-day holiday. It commemorates the harvest and traditionally we build a wooden structure, which is covered in palm fronds or other branches from trees. Many Jews eat their holiday meals in the sukkah. Simchat Torah, rejoicing with the Torah, begins at sundown September 28th. It is celebrating with the Torah and ends the annual cycle of reading the Torah in the Synagogue. On this holiday the final chapter of Deuteronomy is read, and the beginning of Genesis is read. The Torah, which is a scroll containing the 5 books of Moses is rewound from the end to the beginning and every synagogue and temple in the world begins the annual reading the Torah on Simchat Torah.

Article written by Phil Adelman, Beatitudes resident and posted on his behalf by Beatitudes Campus

Slow to Speak

Fri, October 23, 2020 Published by

As I have been doing some preliminary reading and preparation for our upcoming Bible Study on the Book of Proverbs (which you can watch on Channel 1-2, 3:00pm, beginning on Wednesday, October 28th), one verse stood out to me, particularly when rendered in contemporary language: “You will say the wrong thing if you talk too much – so be sensible and watch what you say” (Prov. 10:19).

Only the Brave Weep

Thu, July 5, 2018 Published by

Early on in my ministry, I discovered that most people are uncomfortable with crying. I would not be able to count the number of times that someone has apologised to me for crying. “I’m sorry” they say between sobs, as though their natural reaction to their pain and loss is somehow something wrong, or a display of weakness which should be publically avoided

It wasn’t always the case that tears were seen as a sign of weakness. The bible is full of strong heroes who weep freely and very publicly. One of the greatest biblical heroes, King David, was a famous weeper. He breaks down when his best friend Jonathan is killed in battle, and he is inconsolable when his son Absalom is killed. Upon discovering that their camp had been raided by the enemy, their women and children taken captive, David and his troops “wept until there was no strength left in them to weep.” Lest the reader get the impression that this emotional outburst rendered these men helpless, the bible goes on to describe how David and his men tracked the raiders, resumed battle and returned with their wives and children.

In classical literature, the heroes of Homer’s epics are no less adept at displaying their emotions. The battle-hardened Achilles weeps bitterly when his friend Patroklos is killed, and he also has a tearful outburst when Agamemnon takes his new found love. In turn, Agamemnon’s tears flow freely, when he finally admits his mistake “weeping even as a fountain of dark water, that down over the face of a projecting cliff, poureth its dusky stream.”

Rather than seeing tears, particularly in men, as superficial and weak, these ancient sources imply the opposite. Weeping is an expression of a well-developed interior character. Words are inadequate to express the full depth and range of human feeling. Tears flow when language breaks down. When a dear friend of mine suffered a tragic and untimely death, I found language wholly inadequate to convey the full force of my feelings. To fight my tears would have been both a betrayal to myself as well as to the memory of my friend. Tears are important and necessary. Denying this most human of expressions is not always a sign of strength, but sometimes is quite the opposite. Sometimes it takes bravery to cry.*

The Steadfast Love of the Lord Never Ceases

Wed, July 5, 2017 Published by

In the past few weeks, I have had conversations with many of you about the recent losses of innocent life in Britain due to both terrorism and tragedy. These most recent barbarous attacks, as well as the Grenfell Tower fire have left my country reeling, with people struggling to make sense of such intense feelings of anger and the depth of sorrow after such loss.

I can tell you from the heart, that what makes Britain a wonderfully unique place to live and work, is its cosmopolitan identity and socially diverse peoples. Every corner of the earth is represented in the cities of Manchester and London where these tragedies have taken place. Cultures blend in the streets, in the markets, in the schools, and the very real way in which the communities affected by these tragedies have pulled together in these past weeks is a tribute to their dynamism. The one abiding blessing of these past few weeks is to have seen people of every faith, ethnicity and background supporting one another.

Photographs of a memorial wall on the façade of a church in London have been shared around the world to bear testimony to this spirit. Many of the prayers written on that wall, representing many faiths, are heartbreaking. They are raw. They are from the heart. They are a modern lament rooted in anger and confusion. “Our loss is heaven’s gain,” says one – while another writes: “pray for our community”, and most simply and poignantly of all, perhaps – “we are one.”

As I have wrestled myself with the intensity of human suffering being felt in places which are so familiar to me, there is one part of the bible which has resonated with me as I have prayed for all involved.

The Book of Lamentations, in the Hebrew scripture, deals explicitly with the personal consequences of loss and mourning brought about by communal suffering – in that case the destruction of Jerusalem- : “The thought of the affliction weighs me down,” writes the author.. “I cannot get it out of my mind; I am bowed down by it.” And, just like many of us are perhaps feeling when we see again images of the burnt out tower block, or the aftermath of terrorist destruction he adds: “my soul is bereft of peace.”

It is only after he has truly expressed his anger and pain that the writer of lamentations can eventually move on to affirm, in hope and – despite everything – that: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end.” May we all, in whatever anguish or sorrow we face, remember that same truth, and share it readily with others.