These sounds are worth hearing again and again. And listening to these prayers for this diary always helps me prepare for the High Holidays.
Rosh Hashanah began this year at sundown September 6, and ended at sundown September 8. Yom Kippur begins at sundown September 15, and ends at sundown September 16 .
There are many sounds we associate with the High Holidays. Perhaps the best known is the blowing of the Shofar, the ram's horn. The commandment, interestingly, is not to sound the Shofar, but to hear it. Thus, the rabbis argued that a Jew passing by a synagogue on Rosh Hashana who stops and listens to the Shofar is fulfilling the commandment. The Shofar is not sounded if the holiday falls on the Sabbath as happened this year, but since there are two days of Rosh Hashana, we still can hear it once. Which is good, because in some synagogues the blasts are counted until there are at least one hundred have been sounded. These are not done all at once, luckily for the person doing the blowing. There are several times during the service when we have a Shofar service. I was lucky enough to find a video of that. Tekia is a long blast; Sh'varim is a blast broken into three, and Teruah is a series of short sounds. The reader calls out the particular blast that comes next. Tekia gedolah is the "great" blast at the end. There is also a Tekia gedolah that marks the end of Yom Kippur.
On the second day of Rosh Hashana we read the story of the binding of Isaac. (Muslims believe it was Ishmael who was almost sacrificed.) Isaac is saved when an angel tells Abraham to stop, and shows him a ram caught by the horns in a thicket.
There is Midrash that says that the ram was one of the few things created before the creation. One of his horns was blown at Sinai when God revealed himself to the former slaves. The second is hidden and will announce the coming of the Messiah.
This year, some of us were able to attend services in person while others of us only heard the shofar virtually, and it did sound different, less ringing. But at least we did get to hear it.
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When I was a child, I thought God was in the music. Now there are new melodies, and it is not easy to find recordings with the melodies I remember. This one of Avinu Malkeinu (Our Father, our King) is a beautiful performance of the old melody:
Our Father, our King, hear our voice. Our Father, our King, we have sinned before Thee. Our Father, our King, have pity upon us, and upon our children and infants. Our Father, our King, protect us from pestilence, sword, famine, captivity, destruction and plague. Our Father our King, cause every oppressor and adversary to vanish from us. Our Father, our King, inscribe us in the book of the good life. Our Father , our King, renew unto us a happy year.
For years I would not listen to the newer melody by Max Janowski, and this is only the third year I include it in this diary. Again, the inclusion of so much technology during services is grating. I am not very observant, but I like my traditions to be traditional. But it does allow me to share some wonderful moments.
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The High Holiday prayer that evokes memories for everyone and is perhaps the iconic prayer, is Unateka Tokef, or B'Rosh Hashana. Until a couple of years ago, I was unable to find a performance with either the melody I remember from my childhood, or that from my adult life. I still haven’t found the melody I remember from childhood.
On Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur will be sealed:
how many will pass from the earth and how many will be created; who will live and who will die; who will die at his predestined time and who before his time; who by water and who by fire, who by sword, who by beast, who by famine, who by thirst, who by storm, who by plague, who by strangulation, and who by stoning. Who will rest and who will wander, who will live in harmony and who will be harried, who will enjoy tranquility and who will suffer, who will be impoverished and who will be enriched, who will be degraded and who will be exalted.
But repentance, prayer and tzedakah “avert the severe decree”. (This is the translation I always hear in my head, remembered from childhood, but it is now more often translated “avert the severity of the decree.”)
These words take on a new poignancy in this time of plague, when more than 600,000 Americans, and so many more people worldwide have died, and which shows no sign of abating as we enter the year 5782. We know what could avert the severity of the decree, but we in this country have not had the will to do it. In the past year very effective vaccines have become available, but somehow getting vaccinated has become a partisan issue, and large numbers of people refuse to be vaccinated and even disrupt public events where vaccines are adminstered. May we find the collective will in the year to come. And may we all be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life.
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For those who will fast on Yom Kippur, may your fast be safe and meaningful.
If I have offended or hurt anyone during the past year, I ask forgiveness.