Rosh Hashana (2nd day)

[cellio]

Several years ago we added a service for the second day of Rosh Hashana. The other holidays are celebrated for two days outside of Israel and one day there, but Rosh Hashana is celebrated for two days everywhere. The Reform movement follows the Israeli calendar (holding that the reason for the extra day no longer applies), but many Reform congregations eliminate the extra day for Rosh Hashana too. Our rabbi decided (with support from other leaders) that if we say we follow the Israeli calendar we should really do it, hence the second day.

Our second-day service is more intimate than the first-day service, but is still a complete service. Members of the congregation share in leading the service and do the torah-reading. There isn't a big sermon like on the first day, but there's a shorter message. Over the years some people have told us that this is their favorite service, preferring it over the grand service on the first day.

As expected, turnout is rather lower for the second day. We started in a year where the second day fell on a Sunday and got about 50 people that year; on weekdays attendance is lower. Last year at this service we re-dedicated the chapel after renovations and got an attendance boost. This year, the second day was on a Tuesday.

We had about 80 people. Some were visitors from out of town who came with members, some I didn't know at all, and some sought us out because we're apparently the only local Reform congregation that does this. We got lots of thanks and compliments after the service.

One lesson I take from this: we have got to start advertising this. We offer a service that fills a void no one else is filling, and we do it well. We don't require tickets on the second day; anybody who hears about it is welcome to come. Next year I want to work a little on helping people to hear about it, like we did with our amazingly-successful children's service on the first day. (Last year we outgrew our space, so this year we rented space down the street at the JCC. As long as we were renting a hall anyway, we invited the community -- and got twice as many people as last year.)

Our second-day service is really pretty special. I'm glad we started it.

Comments

[cellio]

Rosh Hashana is the only holiday that's on the first of the month -- so even if you're relying on local witnesses, by the time they show up you'd be hours into the day. The others are mid-month or later, so that problem doesn't arise.

[dvarin.livejournal.com]

Huh. Does Rosh Chodesh have the same problem then?

[cellio]

Heh. I had a paragraph on Rosh Chodesh but deleted it for fear of providing too much information. :-)

Rosh Chodesh has the same basic uncertainty, but the consequences of missing aren't as severe. The festivals, Rosh Hashana, and Yom Kippur all forbid creative work (melacha), and all but Yom Kippur have a sanctification over wine to inaugurate them. Rosh Chodesh has none of that.

Today about half of the Rosh Chodeshes are two-day observances. Why not all of them? It has something to do with the fact that months can't be more than 30 days long, but I'm not quite sure how that works, nor why we couldn't do the same thing with Rosh Hashana (which is a Rosh Chodesh, though Rosh Hashana trumps that).

There's a lot about Rosh Chodesh that I don't know, so sorry for the fuzziness here.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I'm not the best person on calendar stuff, but I believe that the month is either 29 or 30 days because the actual length of a lunar month is 29 and a fraction days, which ends up sighted/rounded up or down each month. Since it's known that the minimum is 29 and the maximum is 30, by definition Rosh Hashana is known in advance to be one of two days even when we relied on witnesses testifying to the new moon. And because of what you mentioned, RH being the only holiday on Rosh Chodesh, it was codified as both the days it could be.

Rosh Chodesh has some liturgical differences from a regular day, and there is an old, not-much-observed tradition that women get the day off, but otherwise, it's just like a weekday, whereas festivals have almost the same restrictions as the Sabbath, to answer the original question up-thread (in slightly different words).

[dvarin.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the explanation!