October (Tishrei)

Rosh Hashanah means Head of the Year (Jewish New Year) – the brain of the year’s body, a holiday decreed important enough for two days – 48 hours of moments where our words and actions adjust the program for another year (Judgment). People wish each other “Shana Tova” during Rosh Hashanah.

The first day is moreso to think about “Are we living to our potential?”. The second day is more selfless, to think about “How are we contributing to the world?”. Over the period of ten days until Yom Kippur, the code can still be revised, by revising our own hearts and lives. After that, it is burned in; rewrites are awkward.

Customs include dipping apple in honey – it’s not referring to Apple in Garden of Eden (which actually was mistranslated and theories for it include fig, grapes, pomegranate, or wheat), it refers to Jewish people being compared to apples (the fruit grows before its leaves) – meaning we may not understand why we’re here at first, and the honey signifies that the experience will still be a sweet one even if it doesn’t make sense. The apple is similar to when we were given Torah – we said “we will do and we will listen”, meaning we will follow the Torah first even if we don’t understand and then we will listen more and let it resonate so we may eventually understand and get it right. Rosh Hashanah is also about sacrifice – like the story of the Binding of Isaac (Abraham being told to kill his son). It is not about the act of killing, but it’s about being willing to sacrifice what feels important to you – i.e. a young boy willing to give up his life for his sister.

Tishrei 1-2: It is customary on Rosh Hashanah to eat foods symbolizing sweetness, blessings, and abundance. We hear the sounding of the Shofar on both days of Rosh Hashanah during the daytime. On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, we visit a body of water or pond containing live fish and recite the Tashlich prayers. Amongst North African Jews, it is also customary to have a head of the fish to symbolize being at the head of the year (new year) instead of the back.

Tishrei 10: Yom Kippur ‘Day of Atonement’ is the holiest day in the Jewish Year. So holy that the soul is “at one” with G-d. When the soul is at one, all is forgiven. There’s a catch: Nothing must interfere with that oneness. Prohibition of work, eating and drinking, anointing with perfumes or lotions, marital relations, washing (for pleasure) and wearing leather shoes.

As Rosh Hashanah is about judgment, Yom Kippur is the 10th day after Rosh Hashanah, of which those 10 days are about repentance in order to make space for change. This is the final day of judgment and of remembrance. It is good to maintain moderation – we usually run by scripts (routine) and too much structure is not good but too much change is not good either (not healthily sustainable). Teiglach – a confection of dough balls dipped in honey/syrup and eaten at Rosh Hashanah.

Tishrei 15-21: Sukkot – The Sukkah (tabernacle) is a temporary hut with a roof of leaves, branches or sticks, reminding us of G-d’s ‘Clouds of Glory’ which sheltered the Jewish People during their 40 years wandering the Sinai Desert. Sukkot is a joyous holiday. For seven days, we are once again the original People of Moses wandering in the wilderness, surrounded by the Clouds of Glory. Only now those clouds are the greenery of a festive hut-called a Sukkah. All meals are eaten in the Sukkah, barring inclement weather. Food – Casserole food (stuffed vegetables) are traditionally eaten at Sukkot from Ancient Israel and Middle East – stuffed vegetables are still a bounty from the summer during this Fall holiday. 

Tishrei 22-23: Simchat Torah – The joy of Sukkot expands for seven days and then bursts into Shemini Atzeret – a day containing all the joy of the coming year. The second evening of Shemini Atzeret, we celebrate Simchat Torah: All the Scrolls of the Torah are carried from their ark around the bimah seven times, with dance and song. In some communities, this is done on the first night as well. On the morning of the second day, every man and boy is called to the Torah, as we complete the yearly cycle of Torah reading, and begin immediately anew.

The awe and introspective contemplation of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur induce a state of spiritual awakening that allows one to truly enjoy and be happy on Sukkot, the festival called “zman simcha’sainu – the time of our joy.” We are accustomed to think that joy is a spontaneous emotion, requiring no previous training, planning, or accomplishment. In reality, without serious preparation, sacrifices of time and wealth and effort (even deprivation and fasting) – i.e. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, “joy” i.e. Sukkot, in Jewish terms is not a lasting influence on us, authentic, and ultimately not even meaningful; it becomes “a good time,” “a night out,” something which temporarily gives us distraction, but – like drinking seawater – never really satisfies us. So we must condition ourselves to the necessity of preparation and training if we want the experience of joy to influence us in an authentic way. A second lesson of Sukkot is that joy is not a singular, unique emotion that is achieved in a vacuum. The holiday of Sukkot has many mitzvahs connected to it – such as in the booth constructed by Jews to eat and sleep in during the week of the holiday itself.