Rosh Hashana
Sep. 16th, 2007 02:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cellioWednesday night the associate rabbi spoke, with the refrain being "what does it mean to walk Jewishly [reference to halacha] in America today?". He said lots of good things, including that the ethical mitzvot aren't enough. I don't remember the details very well, so I'm looking forward to reading this one.
It struck me that the Israeli associate rabbi has gotten quite proficient in English in the year he's been with us. I've been seeing him improve week to week, of course, but hearing this sermon and thinking back to last year's, well, what a difference. He knew the language then, of course, but there's a difference between knowledge and comfort. This year he looked relaxed and confident. (I'm impressed by any adult who can master a second language like that, since I have found this so elusive myself.)
Thursday morning we were supposed to have students for all the torah reading, but we only had one (of the four readers). I'm told the late service had all students. So one of the regular lay torah readers read one aliya and each rabbi read one. Had I known, I would have offered to do one that I already know, though I presume the rabbis also already know them.
Thursday morning my rabbi spoke about the akeidah (the binding of Isaac), starting with an interesting midrash (source unknown to me; haven't gone looking yet). Yitzchak (Isaac) and Rivka had separated, each taking one son, and as our story opens the two sons are at Yitzchak's bedside asking why he and mom separated. Yitzchak tells the story of the akeidah from his perspective, with the addition that Avraham didn't stop; rather, the tears of the angels watching this unfold melted the knife. This led into the main part of the sermon, where my rabbi talked about tears that can be strong enough to change the world. Again, I can't do it justice. There was a coda: Ya'akov ("the smart one") said "but you didn't answer my question -- why did you and mom separate?" and Yitzchak says "so that I could never do that to both of you".
An interpretation my rabbi brought out when he read the torah passage: as they climb the mountain Yitzchak asks Avraham where the animal is for the sacrifice, and Avraham says "God will provide the lamb, my son". That "my son" can be read two different ways. The torah (with no punctuation) is nicely ambiguous, so you are free to read it either way. (As you might conclude from the fact that I'm talking about this, my rabbi read it as the one with overtones.)
Last year for the first time we had a service on the second morning. The second day was a Sunday and we got a decent turnout (60 people, maybe?). The service was less formal -- shorter, some "creative" English readings, no sermon, no cantor, guitar music. We got lots of positive feedback and decided it was a success.
This year the second day was on a weekday, and this is a community where many people don't take off work for the festivals, so I wondered what kind of a turnout we would get. (Will people who don't come on Sukkot morning come on the second day of Rosh Hashana?) Well, they did -- the chapel was full, probably 100 people. Even if people have to get friendly and we bring in some folding chairs, I'm going to lobby strongly that we keep the service in the chapel next year too. The intimacy of the chapel contributes to the mood of the service, so until we're in the violating-fire-codes range, let's keep that.
Two other regular lay readers and I did the torah reading. I had to abandon my attempts to memorize the special high-holy-day trope, but the regular trope worked fine. (And the other two read rather than chanting, because they didn't get the portions far enough in advance to do otherwise. Bummer.) We read the first creation story; I read the first three days, pretty well in my opinion. (Interesting compliment: someone came up to me afterwards and said "that was very good, but I really wanted to hear you read the Akeidah because when you did that last year I got chills". Actually, I did that two years ago; it's gratifying to know I made a lasting impression on someone. I told her I didn't get to choose the parts, but I didn't object if she wanted to place a request with the rabbi.)
Thinking about the day of the week for the second-day service led to some broader wonderings about the calendar.
By rabbinic decree Yom Kippur is not permitted to fall on Friday or Sunday because the fast would either impede, or be impeded by, Shabbat. So, first question: how is calendar manipulation justified halachically? That is, there are going to be some years when the new moon falls such that Yom Kippur would be on the "wrong" day so everything gets moved; how is that done (and justified)?
Given those forbidden days, Rosh Hashana (first day) can never be on a Wednesday or a Friday. I know it can be on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Shabbat. That leaves Sunday as the only day not spoken for. I suspect, but do not know, that this day is off limits too -- because Sukkot is the same day of the week as Rosh Hashana, and the seventh day of Sukkot (which would then be Shabbat) involves certain ritual actions that would be forbidden on Shabbat (beating the willows). I wonder if that's right. If so, I wonder how far out this kind of reasoning can go. A first Pesach seder on Saturday night poses some complications too, yet that can happen. It all makes me realize that the details of our calendar are kind of a mystery to me. I wonder what I should read to change that.
One more calendar mystery (perhaps easier for someone to answer). When we have a two-day Rosh Chodesh (first day of the month), the dates are the 30th of the old month and the first of the new month. Two-day Rosh Chodesh results from uncertainty. Rosh Hashana (new year) is two days also because of uncertainty, and they are... the first and second of Tishrei, not the 30th of Elul and the first of Tishrei. Um, why? (All two-day holidays share this property -- Pesach in the diaspora is the 15th and 16th of Nissan, not the 14th and 15th, and so on.)
A new issue of Reform Judaism came a few weeks ago, but I hadn't gotten around to reading it until this past week. Many of the articles are on the web (I don't know how long this will be true); I found particularly interesting their take on rebuke. I also enjoyed reading this article about the music for Kol Nidre. There's other stuff too, including articles about damaged relationships and about shopping for colleges, that might interest some of my readers.
Finally, a small comment about music. During the high holy days (every day, not just Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur), there are some different musical motifs (nusach) that show up in the service. (Also text changes.) I find that these changes do something to reach deep inside me and emphasize the themes of the season. I'm not sure why that works for me, since it's a learned association and not something that goes all the way back to childhood, but it does work.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-16 09:11 pm (UTC)As to "how" -- nowadays, our calendar is a rabbinic approximation, and you basically compute the "molad" -- the moment when the new crescent is first visible -- for each Rosh Hashanah, shifting the date of RH as necessary to meet various rules (such as lo adu and not depending on a molad in the last few hours of the day). You can then backsolve for the intervening 11 or 12 Rosh Chodesh dates.
Back when the calendar was determined by witnesses testifying, it was indeed possible for RH to fall on 1, 4, or 6. Except that somehow it didn't work out that way. I won't go so far as to accuse the rabbis of witness tampering, but if you read the Gemara, it's quite clear that they took pains to prevent undesirable outcomes for Elul and Tishre.
And it's just Tishre, because of the "two consecutive days when you can't bury the dead" problem and the "can't beat willows on Shabbat" problem. All other problems can be solved, although you might need to tweak Elul to prevent a force on Tishre.
Which brings me to your other question. A month can be 29 or 30 days, but on the 30th day, we don't yet know if witnesses will arrive to tell us that it was actually the 1st of the next month. So we provisionally call it the 30th, and if witnesses come, we retroactively call it the 1st. Just in case they're going to come, though, we already treat the day as Rosh Chodesh. So, following a month which turns out to have 29 days, the one day of RCh is the 1st of the next month; following a month which turns out to have 30 days, the two days of RCh are the 30th day of the outgoing month and the 1st day of the new month.
Rosh Hashanah is different because it involves a prohibition against melacha. The rabbis were worried that if they called the first day of RH the 30th of Elul, people wouldn't take it seriously. So they decreed that Elul is *always* 29 days, and RH is the 1st and 2d of Tishre; everyone knows that both of those days are RH and no one gets confused.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-16 10:28 pm (UTC)I've noticed that the first of the month doesn't always seem to line up with when the new moon actually occurs astronomically, so I assumed there was some sort of jiggling going on. Avoiding the last few hours of the day would account for some of that.
And it's just Tishre, because of the "two consecutive days when you can't bury the dead" problem
I hadn't heard of that issue before. (I thought Yom Kippur placement was out of concern for Shabbat.) But unless you can bury the dead on festivals, which I didn't think you could, then you can have two consecutive days any time a festival falls on Friday or Sunday, which they certainly do. ?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-17 02:41 am (UTC)Pesach might be able to fall on Friday, but I've never seen it happen (not a colclusive proof by any means...I found one bizarre year that breaks the rule of Naso always being the Shabbat after Shavuot & instead being the Shabbat before. VERY WEIRD.) Shavuot can & does fall on Fridays, thus affecting which parshiyot are read in Israel (where 1 day of yom tov=regular torah reading next day, putting them a parsha ahead) and Chutz L'Aretz (where it is yom tov, so the normal shabbat reading is pushed off to the following week.)
As an aside, I find the easiest mnemonic for RH days of impossibility is that day 2 can't be a normal Torah reading day (mon, thu, Shabbat). Never heard the Gemara's one, but it works obviously.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-17 03:28 am (UTC)Thanks for the mnemonic!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-17 07:45 am (UTC)He's living here, no? I suspect it would be a different case were you actually living in (ancient) Israel.
The thing about rebuking is interesting.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-17 12:59 pm (UTC)True. And they do teach English in Israeli schools -- as a secondary language. I guess being immersed in it is what makes the difference.
The thing about rebuking is interesting.
I was surprised to see an article coming out in favor (and even expressing it as an obligation). Yeah, the torah does say so, but it can be such a land-mine if not done properly, sounding holier than thou or being a hyprocrit, that I thought most people avoided dealing with it.