The Jewish New Year

Julius T. Loeb, “The Jewish New Year,” Birmingham Age-Herald (Birmingham, AL), Sept. 11, 1909. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85038485/1909-09-11/ed-1/seq-2/ 

THE JEWISH NEW YEAR

BY RABBI JULIUS T. LOEB

    With sunset next Wednesday a new year will be ushered in upon Israel, to be known in the Jewish calendar as 5670 of creation, and in all the ends of the earth, throughout their habitations, the descendants of Jacob will be gathered in solemn meditation at their respective houses of worship, to renew their allegiance to the God of their ancestors and proclaim Him sovereign of the universe, creator and ruler of all human destiny. 

    The liturgy of the day with its elegant passages, its touching and inspiring prayers, its charming poetry, and sweet and ancient melodies, are all designed to fill the hearts of the pious worshippers with thoughts of devotion, and to make the day a veritable “Day of Remembrance” for all generations in Israel. 

    The awesome significance of Israel’s new year is signalized by the blowing of the ram’s horn in fulfillment of the biblical injunction “a day of blowing of the Shofar shall it be unto you” (Num. xxix, 1); also “a memorial of the blowing of the Shofar” (Lev. xxiii, 24).

    The use of the ram’s horn is on the one hand a solemn commemoration of the divine revelation on Sinai, which was effected “midst thunder and the strong sound the Shofar;” while on the other hand it is a sign and symbol of the cheering hope for the day when the “great Shofar of the Lord” shall announce the regeneration of the entire world, the united brotherhood of man, together with the restoration of Israel. “And on that day the Lord shall be one and his name one.” The festival through the principal feature thereof—the Shofar—is thus made to connect Israel’s glorious past with his golden hope for a bright future for all that lives and moves on earth. The observance of Israel’s new year is of a universal bearing.

    The trend of thought permeating the entire order of service during the day is the exaltation of God as King of Justice, and the prayer most conspicuous in the day’s worship is the one which gives expression to the earnest wish for the day “when wickedness and oppression shall be no more; when the rule of presumptuousness shall cease and all mankind be made into one united bond of brethren in the performance of God’s own will. And the Lord alone shall reign over all his creatures; as it is written: The Lord shall reign for ever and ever, even thy God, O, Zion! for all generations. Hallelujah!”

    In a manner as the first of all things in ancient Israel, as well as the tenth of all natural productions with them, were “holy unto the Lord,” so the first 10 days of each years [sic] are devoted to God and His sacred service. The ten days beginning the new year are known as the “Season of Repentance;” the first day being the Rosh Hashanah, while the tenth and last day of the solemn season, forming the crowning point of the repentance, is the Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement; a day of resting, fasting, prayer and spiritual improvement. The Yom Kippur’s fast will begin with sunset Friday, September 24, and will last until the beginning on the following day. This day is the most important of all Jewish holidays. It is based in Lev. xvi, 29, 30, 31; also in the following scriptural passage (Ibid. xxiii, 31, 32): “Ye shall do no manner of work therein; it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your habitations. It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict yourselves; in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.”

    The phrase, “ye shall afflict yourselves,” is explained by tradition to signify the total abstinence from all kinds of food and drink and the gratification of bodily appetites, so therefore “repentance,” or a return to the path of righteousness, as to include an exercise for the earnest attempt to control, and when necessary to suppress such appetites. But the fasting must be accomplished by consciousness of sin and a firm determination for the amendment of life’s conduct.

    The reformed Jewish congregations will observe but one day, Rosh Hashanah, from sunset Wednesday until sunset Thursday next. In the orthodox synagogues, however, the members of the ancient faith, who are in the majority everywhere in the world, will observe the new year’s feast for two days.

    Services will be held at the Knesseth-Israel synagogue, Seventh avenue and Seventeenth street, during the solemn season, beginning Wednesday night at 7 o’clock; Wednesday and Thursday mornings, 6:30 to 12, noon. Rabbi Loeb will conduct the services. The subject of his sermon Wednesday night will be “Israel’s New Year.” Wednesday morning at 9:30 the theme of his discourse will be “The Message of the Trumpet.” For the benefit of the Yiddish-speaking public Rabbi Loeb will preach Thursday morning in Yiddish.

    Aside from the two most important festivals mentioned above, which go to form the solemn season of the first 10 days in the month of Tishri, the Succoth-feast is celebrated from the 15th of Tishri till the 23d [sic] of this month.